Rating: 
Summary: A surprisingly good sequel to Htichcock's classic "Psycho"
Review: The idea of doing a sequel to Alfred Hitchcock's classic "Pyscho" is not a stupid idea. Doing a shot for shot remake of the original is a stupid idea. But the idea of Norman Bates coming home 22 years later having been declared cured and released from the mental institution where we assume he never even hurt a fly during all that time, is certainly an interesting idea. The only other character it would be interesting to see when they got back out and tried to pick up where they left off from would be Brigid O'Shaughnessy, and that is never go to happen (I have dibs on the first draft). Anyhow, Norman has been released and is working at a local diner in town, where he makes friends with Mary Samuels (Meg Tilly), a young waitress. But Lila Loomis (Vera Miles), the sister of Marion Crane, who was murdered in the shower long ago, is not happy that Norman is out and about. She predicts nothing good can come of his release and sure enough Norman starts finding notes from his mother at work and sees her sitting in the window of the Bates mansion. Then people around town start dying and everyone is looking at Norman, who insists he is not killing anybody. After all, he is cured. Director Richard Franklin ("Road Games") and writer Tom Holland ("Class of 1984") seem fully aware of what can happen to those who try to ride the coattails of a classic horror film, because "Psycho II" is a fairly intelligent script. The key is that our sympathies are with Norman Bates. After all, we know from the first film that he really was nuts and that it was "Mother" who did the killing. If she is gone, then he deserves a break and for one of the few times in a splatter flick we are hoping that the original psychotic mass murderer did not do it. Franklin can at least claim Hitchcock as a mentor, having struck up a friendship as a USC film student with the director in the late 1960s. The fact that Franklin got both Perkins and Miles to sign on is a testament that the script is not an embarrassment and the Meg Tilly part was originally offered to Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh's daughter, but the "Halloween" star was tired of being the queen of the slasher movies. But Franklin actually does a pretty good job as director of this film and whatever objects we might have to the idea, there is less to be offended by in the execution. I would strongly urge that you go back and watch "Psycho" again before you watch this sequel, not because you need to remember any of the key details of the classic film, but because refamiliarizing yourself with the shots and dialogue of the original will allow you to appreciate how Franklin incorporates key ones into his film, but with an interesting twist. "Psycho II," to my surprise, an intelligent sequel. While "Psycho" is a 5 star film on its own plateau that relegates all other splatter flicks to the lower ground, this sequel is not an embarrassment, and what a surprise that turns out to be. Just come to this one with an open mind or not at all.
Rating:
Summary: Please Put Out a Widescreen DVD!
Review: My favorite movie in the Psycho movie series will always be the original classic Alfred Hitchcock movie starring Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh and Vera Miles but this sequel that stars Anthony Perkins, Meg Tilly and Vera Miles is very good and very spooky and would be a great scary movie to watch on Halloween. I have always liked Anthony Perkins but this movie also made me a fan of Meg Tilly who I think was great as Mary. I wouldn't mind having Psycho II in my DVD collection but I want widescreen not this edited to fit a regular TV screen pan and scanned DVD. By the way, this sequel is very gory so some fans of the original movie which actually wasn't gory may be put off by that just like some fans of very gory movies are probably put off by the fact that the original wasn't gory.
Rating:
Summary: NORMAN'S BACK!
Review: 23 YEARS LATER, NORMAN IS DECLARED SANE ENOUGH TO BE RELEASED FROM THE ASYLUM. NOT LONG AFTER HE GETS OUT, MURDERS BEGIN TO HAPPEN AND NORMAN BECOMES THE PRIME SUSPECT. MUCH MUCH BETTER THAN EXPECTED. GOOD PLOTTING, GOOD SCRIPT, AND A LOTTA LOGIC. THIS IS A CLEVER WAY TO CONTINUE THE 1960 CLASSIC THAT JUMP STARTED THE SLASHER GENRE. YEP, YOU'D BETTER WATCH OUT, CAUSE NORMAN BATES IS BACK!
Rating:
Summary: great movie, disc should be better
Review: I love this movie, infact i like it better than the first, i think that's because of the murders and the music, a great goldsmith score. I live in the united kingdom and these movies have only been available on video, well part 1 is out on DVD. I just had some great news, Universal home video UK are releasing the Psyhco collection on DVD on the 20th oct 2003 all of them even the tv movie starring olivia hussey,
let's just hope that part 2 is in wide screen.
Rating: 
Summary: Good To Rent!
Review: This sequel is definitely not as good as Psycho but it's way better then Psycho III which is horrible and Psycho II has good performances by Tony Perkins and Meg Tilley and is a good movie to rent, especially on a day when there's nothing good on TV.
Rating: 
Summary: a Worthy Sequel
Review: I loved the original Psycho, and I feel this sequel is very much a worthy sequel to such a great film. The Story is very well done and I like how it manages to make you feel for Norman Bates, even though he is a Psychotic Killer.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: Hitchcock's Psycho starring Janet Leigh and Antony Perkins was a massive success, we all know that! The shower scene is probably one of the most memorable scenes imaginable as well as classic dialogue. Was a sequel ever an area of discussion? Certainly not for Hitchcock. The fear of continuing a movie so successful must have been immense but some brave so and so decided to continue the legacy and does so brilliantly. The year is 1982, 22 years after Norman Bates was convicted of murder. Now, after years of psychological tests he is released much to the protests of Marion Crane's (shower victim) sister Leila (Vera Miles). Furious at the news of his release she, together with her daughter attempt to put Norman back in prison by making him go crazy. However someone is also leaving Norman a few notes from his dead mother. But if it's not Norman who could it be? This film is an early version of a guess who murder mystery and works extremely well.
Perhaps the only thing that is missed is Bernard Herrman's original musical score which could have given this film the extra lift. However, despite all this, Psycho 2 is a worthy sequel and well worth the watch. Watch out for an exciting ending and a twist with a difference!
Rating:
Summary: Cut from the same cloth as the original
Review: I saw this movie in the theatre when it came out in 1982 and have been a big admirer or it ever since. Norman Bates is released from incarceration in a mental facility, and seems to have all his faculties about him if not a bit stiff and nervous. But lo and behold, the sister of the woman he brutally murdered in the original Psycho is out for revenge. Norman returns to his duties at his hotel to find it's being used as a haven for drugs and prostitution, and on those grounds he fires the manager (Dennis Franz). He takes a job at a local diner where he befriends the despondent Mary. Mary reluctantly agrees to stay with Norman while she works out problems she's having with her boyfriend. As it turns out, Lila Loomis, the sister of Marian Crane, is hellbent on driving Norman Bates crazy again by leaving notes as his dead mother, calling him as his dead mother, and sneaking around the house. Slowly, Norman begins to question his own sanity when people are being reported killed that he has no recollection of. Maybe he did do it after all, he wonders. The beauty of this film is the mystery, that you never truly know what plot twist the film is going to take, in the spirit of Hitchcock. Exhuming graves, dredging the swamp, deception, and murder are some thrilling elements of this film. The atmosphere is wonderful, with some incredible cinematography and a soundtrack that compliments it's dark beauty perfectly. Will Norman Bates be driven back into the insane asylum? Buy this movie and find out if he deserves another chance.
Rating:
Summary: A worthy sequal to Hitchcock's original
Review: Twenty-two years after the original "Psycho" that took the cinematic world to storm, Anthony Perkins again stars as Norman Bates, the role that made him an international star. Over two decades have passed since Norman was declared insane after committing horrible murders at his motel in Fairvale. Upon Norman's release from the psychiatric hospital he returns there to try and get on with his life.
The past, however, has a way of creeping up on Norman. Not only in his vivid memories, but also in the figure of Lila Loomis; the sister of a woman killed by Norman all those years ago. I must say I was both surprised and impressed to learn "Psycho" had a sequel. Surely after Hitchcock's famous (and yet perhaps slightly overrated) original there couldn't be another movie to match up to it? What makes this movie such a good sequel is that the overall feel of the original is adopted so well. The same chilling house on the hill. The return of both Anthony Perkins and Vera Miles as the two main characters. The clever storyline slowly unfolds and the viewer is kept in the dark on the identity of the killer until the very end of the movie, which is undeniably a master stroke!
I would also like to mention the atmospheric music by Jerry Goldsmith and the excellent and original camerawork, both of which suit the atmosphere of the movie so extraordinarily well. The original "Psycho" was a worldwide succes. What impresses me the most about this movie is the fact that cast and crew dedicated enormous effort into making this a worthy sequel. And that they have in fact succeeded in doing exactly that.
Rating:
Summary: Not Psycho I or III but enterning and great sequal
Review: Whean I orded this from Amazon I got Psycho III in the mail first so thats probly why I prefear Psyhcho III over the second.............. No one could play the role better in my mind thean The man himself Anthoney Perkins.Psycho II picks up 23 years later, This movie is quite good becuase now its in color and you get to see more of inside the house witch is something you only saw a few times in the first movie.
Alough this movie has a little bit of blabbing in it its for a good cause you find out a lot about Norman like who is his real mother......... IF you wear to buy this you might as a well order Psycho III along with it becuase it leaves you hanging at the very end. Alough i was a little dissapointed with the DVD!!, Nothing exsept some small lettered production notes, But o well you buy it for the movie dont you???
This is a definit collitable in the Psyhco Triligy!
| 
