Directed by Anthony Perkins
Starring Perkins, Diana Scarwid, Jeff Fahey and Roberta Maxwell
All personal biases aside, some of my favorite movies as a kid forgotten about, if someone had told me that Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho would have a series of sequels that would (a) keep the same damn main actor, and (b) actually manage to be pretty damn good in their own right, I would have said you're insane. Alas, that's what we continue to get with the third film in the franchise, with Anthony Perkins himself stepping in the director's chair and a bit more focus on dark stuff and a cast of people who actually take the material that they're presented seriously. This very easily could have been the high-end horror franchise of the '80s.
Unfortunately, Psycho III was a bit of a flop. The second movie made its budget back seven times over, but this one struggled big time in that regard. Maybe it was that four-year gap between sequels; this was at a time when horror moved at light speed, with the big franchises pumping out new theatrical installments sometimes within ten months of each other, but this movie was expected to be a BIG DEAL. Hell, it even got a music video. Youtube it. FORTUNATELY, it's been released on DVD many times and can be appreciated today for its entertainment value and good performances, so let's get right to the aspect of these reviews that everyone just adores: the plot description.
This whole review is going to be very spoilerish when it comes to the ending of Psycho II, so readers take heed. That movie ended with the kindly old Emma Spool revealing herself to be Norman's real mother, followed immediately by Norman whacking her over the head with a shovel and taking her upstairs to pick up right where he left off. Appropriately enough, this movie picks up almost immediately where THAT left off. What we've got in Psycho III is essentially an amped-up version of the first movie - the mystery aspect is gone, with frequent conversations between Norman and "Mother" peppered in between a few murder scenes, which, while graphic in nature, are again tame in comparison to the the many like-styled films of the era.
Once again, we've also got a movie that is very heavy on atmosphere. The movie introduces us to its main anciliary character before we spend any time with Norman - disgraced nun Maureen Coyle, hitchhiking around the California desert after being kicked out of her convent in a suicide attempt gone horribly wrong. Diana Scarwid is fantastic as Coyle. Dare I say it, she's more empathetic than Janet Leigh in the original movie. She has a skeevy meeting with wannabe rock star Duane Duke (the always enjoyable Jeff Fahey) while out on the road, and in one of those movie coincidences that you just love, Duke later shows up at the Bates Motel looking to answer the "Help Wanted" sign.
Maureen showing up at the hotel is the event that really kicks the movie into high gear. We get something resembling a romance between Norman and Maureen; it's occasionally awkward but also occasionally believable, and if that's not a ringing endorsement, I don't know what is. During this section of the movie, we get some conversations between Norman and Mother that used to creep the holy hell out of me as a 12-year-old. As you can imagine, Mother is none too thrilled about this new woman in Norman's life, and we get a couple "substitute" murders in the process - one of them being Juliette Cummins of Friday the 13th Part V relative fame.
Our other principal character is reporter Tracy Venable (Roberta Maxwell), a somewhat dislikable shrew out to prove that Norman had something to do with the disappearance of Emma Spool. The script by Charles Edward Pogue does a decent job balancing out all of these various chess pieces in varying degrees of success. By and large, the acting isn't QUITE as strong this time around, with Maxwell standing out as the weak link in that core four, but it's a minor complaint. We've got some good horror stuff this time around - my favorite bits are Cummins' murder, Norman's showdown with Duke and the bit where the hapless town sheriff pops ice cubes into his mouth, not noticing that they're covered with the blood of a recent victim.
Oh, and the final twist is one of those shockers that really does hit you in the gut like ONLY a good horror movie can. I'll just leave that up to the viewer to discover what that event is.
Overall, Psycho III is a pretty damn good movie. The cast of characters this time around isn't quite as captivating as it was in the first two films, but it makes up for it with a bit more visceral quality in regards to the horror and the again superb performance by Anthony Perkins as Norman. He also shows a deft hand as a director, and it's a shame he didn't get to helm more horror films.
*** out of ****. HIGHLY recommended for fans of the series and Norman Bates himself, and strongly recommended for horror fans at large.
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