The first Psycho sequel, the economically titled Psycho II came out in 1983. At the start of the film Norman Bates (played of course by Anthony Perkins, because there would be no point in making these films without Anthony Perkins) "is released from a mental institution after spending 22 years in confinement. Lila Loomis (Vera Miles), sister of Marion Crane, vehemently protests with a petition that she has been circulating with signatures of 743 people, including the relatives of the seven people Norman killed prior to his incarceration, but her plea is dismissed. Norman is taken to his old home behind the Bates Motel by Dr. Bill Raymond (Robert Loggia), who assures him everything will be fine.
Norman is introduced to the motel's new manager, Warren Toomey (Dennis Franz). The following day, Norman reports to a prearranged job as a dishwasher and busboy at a nearby diner, run by a kindly old lady named Emma Spool (Claudia Bryar). One of his co-workers there is Mary Samuels (Meg Tilly [sister of Jennifer]) a young waitress. After work, Mary claims she has been thrown out of her boyfriend's place and needs a place to stay. Norman offers to let her stay at the motel, then extends the offer to his home when he discovers that Toomey has turned what had been a shabby but respectable establishment before Norman was committed into a sleazy adult motel.
Norman's adjustment back into society appears to be going along well until "Mother" begins to make her presence known. Norman gets mysterious notes from "Mother" at the house and diner. Phone calls come from someone claiming to be Norman's mother. The next day, a drunk Toomey picks a fight at the diner after Norman fires him. Later, a figure in a black dress stabs Toomey to death with a kitchen knife as he is packing to leave the motel. As Norman begins to reconstruct his motel, he begins to doubt his sanity when he begins hearing voices in the house. He enters his mother's bedroom to find it looks exactly as it did 22 years ago." - (from Wikipedia). And so it goes.
While kind of slow at first this film improves as it goes along and does a really good job of making you unsure what's going on. You don't know, for the longest time, if Norman is going back to his old ways, if he's hallucinating, if someone is killing in Norman's name, and that is a lot of what makes the movie satisfying. So I'll limit my spoilers to one that is basically unavoidable considering that there are two more 'canonical' sequels in this franchise, so whatever Norman may or may not have done murder wise through the bulk of the film, by the end he's a killer once more.
Psycho III is probably the weakest entry in this series, not bad per say but not great, though interestingly it was actually directed by Perkins. This film attempts to give Norman a legitimate love interest, but what kind of legitimate love interest would Norman have? Well in this case a shy young nun who has just renounced her vows after accidently causing the death of a sister. Said ex-nun is named Maureen Coyle, same M. C. initials as Norman's most famous victim Marion Crane, this girl even looks like Crane, down to build and short blond hair. Maureen Coyle is played by Diana Scarwid, the same actress who played Christina Crawford in Mommie Dearest, thus on a subtle level enhancing the "mommy fixation" aspect of the Psycho franchise. By the end of this film Norman is again to be committed to a mental institution, which makes it a bit surprising to find him out of the hospital at the start of Psycho IV.
Psycho IV: The Beginning has an interesting structure, most of the film is presented as conversations Norman has with a talk radio host (C. C. H. Pounder) accompanied by flash back depictions of Normans difficult childhood in which he is played by Henry Thomas (Elliott from E.T.) and his mother Norma by Olivia Hussey (best known as Juliet in the classic 1968 film version of Romeo and Juliet). Hussey's characterization in this is so sensual that you can understand why Norman would be so messed up when it comes to sex. So this film explores a lot of the same territory that I image the A&E series Bates Motel does, I haven't seen that series but I want to more now that I've seen this. This final canonical movies gives some good closure, but also opens the way for more possible sequels, which of course never happened in large part due to actor Anthony Perkins death from AIDS in 1992.
The final entry in this Psycho four pack is Bates Motel, not canonical with the other Psycho movies in this set Bates Motel is a 1987 TV movie intended as the pilot for a proposed but never produced spin off Psycho TV series also to have been titled Bates Motel. In all my decades of watching movies I don't know if I've ever encountered one that got the source material more wrong then did this film. The story "is about Alex West, a mentally disturbed youth who was admitted to an asylum after killing his abusive stepfather. There he befriends Norman Bates and ends up inheriting the infamous Bates Motel."- Wikipedia.
Alex West is played by Bud Cort, an odd fellow who is best known for playing Harold in the cult hit 1971 Hal Ashby comedy Harold and Maude. After spending the bulk of his life in a mental institution, where he is mentored by Norman Bates no less, Alex is let free to go a run the Bates Motel by himself, this seems like a bad idea not least of all because Alex has basically no real world experience, how is he supposed to run a motel by himself? The movie doesn't even go in the expected direction of Alex picking up were Bates left off as a serial murder, but rather purses a strangely lite and awkwardly goofy tone, with Alex befriending a number of misfit characters including a Jersey run away (Lori Petty) and black handy-man who once worked for the Bates (Moses Gunn), and they proceeded to run the motel together, after having it significantly remodeled through a loan they were able to get because the Bates Motel land has significantly appreciated in value over the years.
It is apparent from this pilot that the proposed series was not even to have been primarily about Alex and his staff, but rather about the guests in the motel in a kind of quirky Highway to Heaven or Fantasy Island sort of way. This movie/pilot even features a woman saved from suicide by the ghosts of dead teenagers! What on earth does this have to do with Psycho? This is nothing like Psycho! In fact it feels more like this was supposed to be just a quirky show about a motel that got the Psycho tie in grafted onto it as a way to secure funding, it is basically a betrayal of its supposed source marital. Difficult to watch, no wonder it wasn't picked up.
Psycho II (1983): ***
Psycho III (1986): **
Psycho IV (1990): ***
Bates Motel (1987): *
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