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.
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