After twenty-two years of psychiatric care, Norman Bates attempts to return to a life of solitude… but the specters of his crimes — and his mother — continue to haunt him.
How do you follow up a classic? Well you wait over 20 years and hope your main actor is still interested. That is what we have here, with Norman Bates being released from psychiatric care and allowed to go back home we see him try to return to a normal life.
With this sequel I was a little skeptical but with Anthony Perkins reprising his role I knew it would at-least be entertaining, he truly was a great actor and although “Psycho” did more harm to his career than good you see him embrace the character.
The storyline to the film is a stroke of genius, with Bates never convicted of murder by reasons of insanity and now classed as sane he is free to go and you see how much things have changed since he was last out, with sex, drugs and rock & roll in swing he sees his beloved modest and quiet Motel has become something very seedy due to a court appointed manager.
As we see Norman try to slip back in-to some form of normality we also see that some aren’t happy at all about his release, the main person being Lila Loomis, the sister of Marion Crane who want’s to see Bates back inside asap. She is convinced he will kill again and will do whatever is needed to push him over the edge.
Without giving too much away this film has some great twists and turns with a bang of an ending that will leave you with your jaw on the floor. It slides right in next to it’s predecessor which is great. Unfortunately it doesn’t get the credit it deserves, If you stayed away from this then I beg you to give it a chance, I’m sure you will be surprised.
I think this is a sequel that Mr. Hitchcock would have been proud of and it certainly is a great instalment in the series.
Miscellaneous facts about the film:
The original house set was used and the motel was reconstructed.
Meg Tilly was never allowed to watch any sort of television as a child, and so had never seen the original Psycho and was unaware of its significance. She didn’t understand why the press was giving all the attention to Anthony Perkins for his comeback role in this movie, and one day on the set Perkins overheard her say, “Why is Tony getting all the attention?” Perkins was upset, didn’t talk to her during filming, and recommended that she be replaced, even though half of her scenes had already been shot.
Meg Tilly’s character’s name, Mary Samuels, is a reference to the original Psycho. In that film Marion Crane signs her name as Marie Samuels in the Bates Motel. The book upon which the film was based had Marion named “Mary”.
When Mary and Norman first go into Norman’s mother’s room, before they turn the lights on, you can see Alfred Hitchcock’s silhouette on the wall to the far right.
The reflection of young Norman Bates in the doorknob when he flashes back to his mothers’ poisoning is Oz Perkins, Anthony Perkins’ son.
The town of Fairvale where Lila is tailed by Dr. Raymond was the same town as in Gremlins and Back to the Future. It is located on the Universal Studios (California) back lot.
In the shooting script an extended scene in the sheriff’s office at the end of the movie reveals Mary survives the gunshot and “she’ll pull through okay” but goes mad.
The original shower head used in Psycho was supposed to have been used in this film as well. However, just before filming was to commence, someone stole it.
The film was originally conceived as a made for TV movie however when Anthony Perkins decided to reprise his role as Norman Bates, the film became a theatrical release.
Producer Hilton A. Green originally suggested Jamie Lee Curtis to play Mary Loomis due to her being the daughter of Janet Leigh and having success with Halloween.
Director Richard Franklin was a Hitchcock student and even visited him on the set of Topaz.
The way that Norman says “cutlery” in the scene in the kitchen was conceived during a table read of the script. Anthony Perkins accidentally stuttered when he said the line and director Richard Franklin loved it and told him to say it like that in the film.
The film was shot in 32 days.
Richard Franklin was selected to direct the movie because of a film he made called Road Games that was considered to be influenced by Rear Window, one of Hitchcock’s most famous films.
In 1960, Psycho made over 32 million dollars in worldwide box office returns where as this film made over 34 million dollars.
The final scene was not given to cast and crew until the last day of shooting. All the shooting scripts ended with a message saying: “The final scene will be distributed to cast and crew on the last day of shooting”. The only people that knew about the ending were director Richard Franklin and writer Tom Holland.
Actor Anthony Perkins was given a cassette tape of the opening title theme by composer Goldsmith. The music allegedly brought Perkins to tears.
