Psycho II (1983) - Piece 1

Norman "lost in his thoughts" while Mary eventually feels the tension.

I’ve always had a fondness for “Psycho II” (1983) every since I watched it when I was around 12 or so. Yes, a bit young, I agree, but I had watched this before even “Psycho” (1960) a film that is one of my all time favorite films period. It actually introduced "Psycho" (1960) to me. I just had to see it after watching the sequel, and eventually I did. I found it on WGN one night and later watched it on a weekday afternoon. I knew I had seen something truly special. The film would be in my life always. And I was still evolving as a horror fan.

The sequel, though, has these moments that really sink in deep with me. They are just so sad, such as Norman returning home for the first time, having spent so much therapy and rehabilitation with his doctors (including his current psychiatrist, Dr. Raymond (Robert Loggia) to remove mother from his mind so he could live outside the institution again, free from the confines of the hospital, but would he ever truly be relieved of that dominant personality brought about by guilt for killing Mrs. Bates with poison in her tea as a youth? Goldsmith’s score, of course, fits the tone of Norman’s situation so completely, vividly in his melancholy melody, that I can’t possibly imagine “Psycho II” without it. There are a lot of things I like, if not love, about this film. 

Norman locked in the attic, removing him from consideration as the killer

But I’ll go ahead and get the irritants out of the way early. I have come to agree with critics who were bothered by how Lila Loomis (she married Sam, and they had a daughter, Mary (played by the delicious Meg Tilly)) was portrayed in this sequel, 22 years after her sister was murdered in the shower by Norma(n). At the time when I watched the sequel as a youth, I hadn’t yet rationalized why it would be disrespectful to Lila to have her such a nagging, ruthless, barking mad hag. Early in the film when she’s in the courtroom, the judge, district attorney, and tone of the scene set makes her out to be the bad guy although her reasoning had merit…her sister was murdered horribly and she was right about how it would be their fault if Norma(n) killed again. All Lila could see was how dangerous Norma(n) could be to the public and that drove her to try to get him locked up again. But her message seemed dulled by how the court considered her this loudmouth pissant who needed to know her place and have some decorum in a court of law…but it wasn’t their loved ones murdered. So I think you could empathize with her even if the screenplay treats her embarrassingly as this desperate, dogged, unscrupulous, grasping antagonist…a villain, basically. 

• Mary, even, is up and down the spectrum from someone who is right along with her mother an antagonist, coming to realize that their treatment of Norman was inexcusable, even if he killed Marion. If Norman is trying to stay straight and seriously start with a clean slate, he needed a day to day where mother wasn’t always reminded to him. 

Of course, returning to the house and the Bates Motel was perhaps not a good idea, but this film had to give “Psycho” fans to fan service, right? This was back when “fan service” wasn’t a coined description for classic films given such overt homage (complete with the silhouette of the Master in a room when the light is off when Mary forces Norman to confront his fears and face them by seeing that Mother isn’t there). Richard Franklin also had a couple of violent sequences that are so hokey they jolt me such as the knife in Lila’s mouth—the obviousness of the fake head is right out of William Castle and cheap slasher films—and the shovel to the back of Miss Spool’s head—where she leans down and a stuntwoman takes the shot to the back of the head—leaves much to be desired.

•  I know the twist about Spool being Norman’s mom instead of Norma has divided Psycho franchise fans. While “Psycho III” and “Psycho IV” later sort of “corrected” this just considering Spool a nut, the first sequel really went all in, but series/franchises often at one point or another have a sequel that wants to change things up. I consider the twist just a WTF? moment that didn’t take too much away from most of the film.

And along with Goldsmith’s haunting score (it just stays with me much like Perkins’ performance), Cundy’s camera work is so impeccable (I will always brag about those distance shots from above, such as inside the kitchen after Norman smacks Spool in the head with the shovel, whistling without a concern at all for this action, or the overhead of the Bates’ home as it looks down from high above down to the basement as two teenagers go to make out and smoke dope), there is some serious Hitchcockian vibes where the camera starts one place and gradually works its way from an attic window to inside the basement. Cundy shoots Norman and shiny knives effectively, too, such as when he’s in his child’s room with Mary, not wanting her to lie to him about being “confused again”…damn, Perkins’ eyes give me the willies. And there is this Goldsmith touch where when something bad is about to happen, his score intensifies. I think that is why Goldsmith is so brilliant with his music in the film…it knows when to impact your emotions in a myriad of ways, both to increase tension and wrap you in sorrow/woe.

I own the old barebones GoodTimes DVD release with production notes. Probably got it in the early 2000s, maybe 2001.