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Psycho III

Psycho III

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Worth watching
Review: Norman Bates is a great charicter, and therefore any Psycho sequal is a movie to see. They're all different from the original, of course. The value of this one comes primarily from the carefull arrangement of parallels. Of course, even if you don't like it, which would be hard to do, just watch Anthony Perkins.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the best sequels around
Review: The sequel to Psycho and Psycho 2,Psycho 3 manages to be a very good,well paced thriller.Abought one month after the events in Psycho 2,a drifter discovers a lonely nun wandering the desert highway near the bates motel.But in the middle of the night she screws up and is kicked out.The next morning the drifter gets a job at the motel.The nun gets a room there.Because of her stunning resembalance to Marion Crane,Normans memory is triggered off and again,mother is talked to.Wonderfull movie,great charecters and the best sequel sence the empire strikes back

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: AWESOME! AWESOME! AWESOME!
Review: This is by far the best of the Psycho sequels! Anthony Perkins did an incredible job staring and directing in this one. This was one of the scariest movies I've ever seen and still Perkins found ways of throwing humor into the flick. Most people who say they don't like the movie didn't see it and just said they hated it.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A Shock to the System!
Review: Not only is the script and plotline weak, this second sequel to the original is dark, crude, and very gory. As I watched this movie I was thinking to myself....Alfred Hitchcock must be rolling over in his grave!!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Norman Bates is back to normal but Mothers another story...
Review: 3.5 stars - Reasonably well done second sequel to Hitchcock's masterpiece marks Anthony Perkins' directorial debut. This one plays it tongue in cheek at times- Eg: The sherrif on the lookout for a missing girl helps himself to some ice cubes from Normans motel freezer neglecting to notice that they are bloodied - the girls corpse lies underneath!!. Film is as competent as Psycho's 2 and 4 - just a differing style. Much better than the Psycho remake (1998). If Psycho's 1-4 aren't enough for you, check out Robert Blochs interesting novel 'Psycho House' which was never filmed and is available in paperback from Amazon.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Highly Entertaining Sequel!
Review: Picking up where Psycho 2 left off, Norman Bates is a free man living in his old home behind the Bates Motel, his new stuffed mother his only roommate. He lives a quiet life managing the less than successful business, spending most of his time practicing taxidermy on the local birds that eat from his poisoned feeder. But things get all shook up again when Maureen Coyle, a young, runaway nun, enters his world. Maureen's short, blonde hair reminds Norman far too much of his most unforgettable victim, Marion Crane, causing a myriad of conflicting feelings to well up within him. But Norman is not the only one who is disturbed and confused. Maureen has left the Church because she has so lost her faith that she recently attempted suicide and caused the death of a fellow nun who attempted to stop her. With her feelings of hopelessness and guilt, Maureen still hasn't given up on the idea of taking her own life. And Maureen is not Norman's only problem. Duane Duke, a pretty boy, would-be singing star with a dark side on his way to L.A., has come by the Bates Motel looking for a job. Norman immediately makes him Assistant Manager in charge of the day shift. But while Norman should be keeping a close eye on Duane's improper interests and activities, it's Duane who's keeping a sharp eye on him. And Duane isn't the only one. A nosy reporter has turned up in town and is asking questions about Norman, who wants nothing but to be left alone to TRY to have a normal life. Things aren't looking good for Norman at all. It's hard enough for him to battle off his mother's urges while he attempts to start a relationship with Maureen, without having to deal with all the watching eyes springing up around him. When Duane's nocturnal sextivities and a group of anxious young sports fans eventually result in an abundance of "sluts" at the usually peaceful motel, it quickly becomes more than Norman, or Mother, can stand.

Anthony Perkins' directorial debut is an excellent example of how not all sequels, even number threes, have to stink. In fact, except for the Bates Motel series pilot "movie" that didn't have Perkins in it at all, I'd have to say all the Psycho films are pretty darn good. None of the sequels make any attempt to be Hitchcockian, yet they all keep the stories and characters intact and a step above the usual slasher fair. The duality of the Norman Bates character that Hitchcock presented so well in the original is clearly what gives the sequels so much to work with. This man's entire life is interesting and worth chronicling, not just that first major incident in the 60s. Of course, as with the other sequels, this film is in color, and quite gory and sexual, unlike the original classic film. But this just helps to provide a nice separation for those who dislike sequels and feel the Hitchcock Masterpiece should have been left alone. For the rest of us, this film is an excellent addition to Norman Bates' legacy, with plenty of moments that keep you guessing about what will happen next.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good Sequeal
Review: I first saw Psycho 3 back in 1986 with my wife when it first came out to the movies. I thought it was a surprisingly good sequeal, however, it offered the most graphic, gory violence of the "Psycho" series. So for those of you who are turned off by extreme violence, this film is not for you. Anyway, Anthony Perkins did such a great job portraying Norman Bates that he gave me the creeps as I watched the movie. Overall, a very good sequeal, and a great horror movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Worthy Sequel
Review: Anthony Perkins delivered yet another brilliant performance in the role of Norman Bates and also directed this film with great skill and bravado. The lighting and theme music in this 3rd sequel are perfection. Scarwid and Fahey are also quite good in well written supporting roles. I really would like to buy this and the second one but they are out of print or not readily accesible in stores used. The "Psycho" series is actually pretty tight in terms of horror franchises (1, 2, 3 and 4 the made for tv movie are really really strong - check out Henry Thomas' impressive turn as Norman in the fourth film.) I would put it right behind the Elm street series in this respect and in many ways it is much better and more satisfying in its conclusion. I wonder what Hitchcock thought of the idea of "franchises" and movie sequels.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Still going strong
Review: "Psycho III" takes place a few weeks after part II ended. Norman is as crazy as ever, still talking to 'Mother'. But now he is trying to help suicidial ex-nun Maureen Coyle (Diane Scarwid) and thug guitarist Duane Duke (Jeff Fahey) while trying to aviod a nosey reporter. Well, it's part three, and it really has nothing new to add to the formula. But dose have dark humor and some grisly violence. Anthony Perkins directed this entry, and he did a competant job. My favorite scene was when Norman leaves a hospital room and closes the door into his own room, it was such a smooth transition that I never noticed until the door was closed; it was great and I loved it. Norman Bates is still a boy trapped in a man's body, trying to do the right thing but still obaying 'Mother'. Scarwid is ok as the doubting nun, good but not great. Fahey's theif was cool, a kind of strung out James Dean. "Psycho III" just not great, but it is still very good for a part three in a series.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: All you need to know: Anthony Perkins directs Norman Bates
Review: "Psycho II" was a surprisingly good sequel to the classic Hitchcock film and the same is true of 1986's "Psycho III." Richard Franklin, who directed "Psycho II," had developed a friendship with Hitchcock towards the end of the master's life and could be trusted to have the appropriate amount of respect towards the original characters and story. The same came certainly be said for the director of "Psycho III," Anthony Perkins.

One of the things that made "Psycho II" work was the idea that Norman Bates was now a sympathetic figure. We know that he was abused by his mother, so when he is released from the mental institution with a clean bill of health we are rooting for him. But the fates conspired against him and it became clear poor Norman is a figure in a Greek tragedy. Perkins understands that key idea, both as an actor and a director. There is a moment when he finds a note in the mansion from his mother, tell him to meet her in Cabin 12. Norman knows that his mother is long past being able to actually write anything, so as he dutifully heads towards the Motel all the horrible possibilities play out on his face. From "Fear Strikes Out" to "Psycho" and beyond, Perkins has been a master of portraying inner demons.

that is the real secret of Norman Bates, and one of the reasons that "Psycho III" works as a movie: Norman is not a mad-dog killer, a wholesale slasher like the amoral villains of the Dead Teenager Movies. He is at war with himself. He is divided. He, Norman Bates, wants to do the right thing, to be pleasant and quiet and pass without notice. But also inside of him is the voice of his mother, fiercely urging him to kill. It suddenly dawns on me that the theme of "Psycho III" has been wonderfully realized in a more recent movie, "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers," in the scene where Gollum and Smeagol have their argument. Carrying off such things is difficult (compare it with the same scene between Norman Osborn and the Green Goblin in "Spider-Man").

The plot of "Psycho III" picks up relatively soon after the end of the previous film. Maureen Coyle (Diane Scarwid), a young novice at a nearby convent blames herself for an older nun falling to her death. Soon she is getting a ride to the Bates Motel with scuzzy Duane Duke (Jeff Fahey), the new night clerk. For once it looks like Norman will be able to turn off the "Vacancy" sign because lots of people want to spend the night there, including an investigative reporter out to do a story of poor Norman. At this point you have the stage set for a standard slasher movie, but Perkins steadfastly refuses to go the expected route. If there is anything we knew going into this film, it was that the director totally understands the main character.

Charles Edward Pogue wrote the script for this film, but I have to believe that Perkins had considerably input because there are just too many little things put into this film that I have to believe come from an intimate understanding of the character of Norman Bates. Perkins is also smart enough to know in his directorial debut to go out his way not to invite comparisons to Hitchcock, although he does have a few moments where his sense of macabre humor gets to go a bit farther, thanks to the R-rated world of modern movies. This movie is not "Psycho," but then it never tried to be, and that is why it ultimately works on its own terms.


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