Psycho II (1983) on Netflix
Declared sane after twenty-two years in a mental institution, Norman Bates returns to his old house and the Bates Motel. Lila Loomis, sister of his victim Marion Crane, protests his release.
- Netflix3.1/5
- IMDb6.6/1035,702 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes60%
Trailer
Plot summary
Declared legally sane after twenty-two years in a mental institution, Norman Bates returns to the house behind the Bates Motel, against the advice of Dr. Bill Raymond. Lila Loomis, the sister of Marion Crane, protests the release and calls the court's decision a miscarriage of justice. Norman takes a job in a diner, where he meets a waitress, Mary Samuels, and when her boyfriend Scott throws her out, Norman offers her a room at his home. He also finds that Warren Toomey, the motel's new manager, is selling drugs, and dismisses him. Then telephone calls and notes begin arriving from someone who calls herself Mother.
Cast
- Robert Alan Browneas Ralph Statler
- Ben Hartiganas Judge
- Tim Maieras Josh
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Psycho II (1983)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Universal only made Psycho II because Robert Bloch, author of the original novel, published his own sequel novel in 1982 that mocked Hollywood slasher films. The studio went ahead with a completely different story of its own.
- Hilton A. Green, who had been assistant director on the 1960 Psycho, worried Alfred Hitchcock would have hated the idea of a sequel, so he sent the script to Hitchcock's daughter Patricia. She gave her blessing and said her father would have loved it.
- Before Anthony Perkins signed, Universal looked at recasting Norman Bates with Christopher Walken. Jamie Lee Curtis, the real daughter of original star Janet Leigh, was wanted for Mary before Meg Tilly took it, and John Gavin could not return because Ronald Reagan had made him ambassador to Mexico.
- The Bates house had stood on the Universal lot since 1960, and set designers John W. Corso and Julie Fletcher dug out original props for the new film, among them two Tiffany lamps, the stuffed owl and raven, the brass hands from Mrs Bates's bedroom and the 40-foot threadbare stair runner.
- Director Richard Franklin and writer Tom Holland hid tributes to Hitchcock in the film. When Mary and Norman first enter his mother's room, before the lights go on, Hitchcock's silhouette can be seen on the wall to the far right.
- Franklin kept the ending secret exactly as Hitchcock had done in 1960: the last pages of the shooting script were withheld from the cast and crew until the final day of filming.
- The film's poster began life as a crew Christmas card. Franklin disliked Universal's concept art, so editor Andrew London proposed using the Christmas card shot of Norman outside the house and wrote the tagline about Norman Bates coming home 22 years later.
- Jerry Goldsmith wrote a theme for Norman Bates that was turned down for this film. He did not waste it: the music turned up in the second segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie.
