Psycho II (1983)

Director: Richard Franklin

Starring: Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, Meg Tilly, Robert Loggia, Dennis Franz

More info: IMDB

Tagline: It's 22 years later, and Norman Bates is finally coming home

Plot: Now declared legally sane, Norman Bates is released from a mental institution after spending 22 years in confinement over the protests of Marion Crane's sister Lila Loomis, who insists that he's still a killer and that the court's indifference to his victims by releasing him is a gross miscarriage of justice. Norman returns to his motel and the old Victorian mansion where his troubles started, and history predictably begins to repeat itself.

My rating: 8.5/10

Will I watch it again? Yes!


This is the PSYCHO movie for people who don't like the original 1960 version. PSYCHO (1960) is in my top 10 horror films of all time. I love, love, LOVE that movie. It's brilliant in so many ways. Anthony Perkins' performance as Norman Bates is one of the all-time best, one that was so good he had a hard time shaking it for the rest of his career. Fortunately for us, he eventually embraced it and as a result we have a sequel.

Meg Tilly is sooooo scrummy and needs to have my babies.

Normally this would be one of the dumbest ideas of all time except that it works incredibly well. It picks up in real time from 23 years earlier as it's now 1983. The performances are taken seriously with the right talent and Jerry Goldsmith's score was definitely the right choice. I would be remiss if I failed to mention Tom Holland's very clever script. This is not a cash grab sequel, it's a logical continuation that begged to be filmed.


Here are a couple of clips that are two of my many favorite moments. I had to rip 'em and up 'em to YT because I love them so much. These are the ones that will stay with me through to my dying days.

Nobody says, "cutlery" like Norman Bates...

Watch it a few times. It's hilarious!

And then there's the greatest shovel sound effect EVER!

It straddles the horror of 1960 and the gore that was prominent in 1983 very well. And to top it all off, it's a fun ride with some wonderfully dark humor and another outstanding performance by Perkins. If you weren't sold on his talent from the 1960 film, you should be by this one. He nails it in a way that suggests that he's lived with Norman Bates inside him for 23 years. Maybe he did. I don't know but all I do know is this is one hell of a fun flick that is a worthy sequel to one of the greatest and most influential horror movies ever made.