Psycho II

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Ribs
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 1:14 pm

Psycho II

#1 Post by Ribs » Fri Apr 21, 2017 10:24 am

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IT’S 22 YEARS LATER, AND NORMAN BATES IS COMING HOME.

Just when you thought it was safe to step back in the shower, Norman Bates returns in this expertly crafted sequel to Alfred Hitchcock’s acclaimed horror classic.

Deemed fit to return to society more than two decades years after his original crimes, Norman Bates has returned to his family mansion and adjacent motel. Joined by an unlikely house guest in the form of young Mary (Meg Tilly), things seem to be looking up for Norman – until the grisly murders start up afresh. Has Norman really put his terrible past behind him, or is he losing his grip on sanity all over again?

Aided by a fiendishly clever script from Fright Night director Tom Holland, Psycho II is regarded by many as one of the most successful horror sequels of all time, with a plot that will keep you guessing until the very end…

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

• Digital Transfer from Original Film Elements
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original Stereo Audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Audio commentary with writer Tom Holland
• Never-before-heard audio interview with director Richard Franklin
• Archive Interview with star Anthony Perkins
• Vintage EPK material featuring interviews with cast and crew
• Trailers & TV Spots
• Still Gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Adam Rabalais
• PLUS MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED!

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector’s Booklet with new writing on the film alongside a reprint of the Psycho II chapter from Richard Franklin’s unpublished autobiography

beamish13
Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2007 5:31 am

Re: Psycho II

#2 Post by beamish13 » Fri Apr 21, 2017 10:49 am

Nice release. Richard Franklin was a wonderful filmmaker, and this film is incredibly fun.

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therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Psycho II

#3 Post by therewillbeblus » Thu Apr 28, 2022 1:52 am

After putting this off for years assuming it would be a guaranteed stinker, I'm pleased to report that the sequel is a masterpiece of psych-thriller camp. Franklin and Holland respectfully churn out a 180 degree shift of intentions and attentions to align us with Bates as the quasi-sympathetic protagonist in a different kind of perverse way than Hitchcock did in his midpoint pivot. Here we already have concrete evidence of Bates' dangerous potential and are still encouraged to match his confusion with considerable empathy as he and we wonder what the fuck is going on, while holding space for an inclusive reading that perhaps he is the killer again after all! As the endless series of unpredictably destabilizing events sends us dizzily down a twisty slide of insanity, Bates increasingly loses his, and so we are simultaneously repelled by our focal point of identification and drawn closer in affinity with his confusion. I mean, if I were released from an insane asylum after 23 years, trying to acclimate to a new yet familiar and triggering milieu, and had significant trauma-based psychosis, doubting my own sense of reality, I don't think I'd make it half as far as this resilient murderer does! That the filmmakers grant us access to this reading is a testament to their brilliant treatment of the material, taking Hitchcock's conceit from our identification in the infamous montage of Bates covering up the murder in the first film and pushing it to new lengths, incredibly risky with so many obstacles of doubt to this person stacked against us from the start. Maybe it needed 23 years for us to forget just enough- though, to be fair, every other prospectively innocent audience surrogate character dodges an opportunity for such a role with their sketchiness, and Bates is at least the principal who is most openly naked regarding the truth of his condition! I love it.

Beyond the point of entry, this is a tremendous accomplishment; a boldly relentless forward progression of chaotic psychological regression in all areas except creativity, as the impressively imaginative impulses combined with a willingness to devolve into a gonzo-ride of schlocky pretzeling narrative strands destroys any bearings of groundedness. It's the annihilation and retooling of the cinematic rule book though that forces an anxious need to trust the filmmakers to take us safely through this deranged, rogue monster of a film, and they don't let us down. This was a real treat after a binge of HK action cinema, which operates in the same kind of 'throw-everything-at-the-wall' inventiveness prioritized over narrative grammar, yet so confidently and persistently committed to actualizing these ideas with infinite energy that it manages to succeed in spades.

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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Psycho II

#4 Post by colinr0380 » Fri Apr 29, 2022 1:40 am

I would have imagined Psycho II to be almost the perfect therewillbeblus film, due to how deeply it goes into the psychological manipulations, real or imagined, of the main character! This is also almost the perfect sequel in how it furthers all of the action from the previous film, does not forget the previous characters and action
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(Vera Miles as Lila Crane, now Lila Crane-Loomis, is as important a returnee here as Perkins is and her character is almost as mentally tormented by the past trauma of losing her sister that is twisting her into taking on the role of a new Mother-like monster, both with forcing her own child into a double role and with what she is doing to Norman. Maybe the 'boring' Sam Loomis dying unleashed her and otherwise would have been the controlling force holding her back, and once he died there was nobody to stop her quest for vengeance consuming her?)
, and pays homage to the original classic in certain moments of re-staging iconic scenes from the first film with ever increasing ironic twists. Which creates its own sense of characters trapped in repeated and flaring cycles of quick violence interspersed with long periods of calm. It is a film about the almost overwhelming impossibility of rehabilitation in that sense, as even when everybody is actually rooting for you to rebuild your life, it just takes one person with a long festering grudge to drag (no pun intended!) the recently released person back to their old ways.

I like Psycho III a lot too, which is directed by Perkins, though it is a much different film from Psycho II and much more influenced by the slasher film period with a cast of many expendable victims to slice through now that Norman has returned to his previous behaviours (rather than Psycho II's relatively restrained approach to violence until almost the very end, because it is all about Norman's tragedy of returning to the knife, not entirely through choice), though with many overt homages to Hitchcock (rather unexpectedly more aimed towards Vertigo than Psycho, particularly in the opening bell-tower accidental murder sequence) and more surprisingly nods towards the vibrant stylisations of Italian horror in its canted camera angles and neon hued scenes.
Last edited by colinr0380 on Sat Apr 30, 2022 10:40 am, edited 8 times in total.

Orlac
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2009 4:29 am

Re: Psycho II

#5 Post by Orlac » Fri Apr 29, 2022 5:00 am

Due to TV scheduling quirks, I saw Psycho II before the original. Which isn't necessairly a bad thing, but it opens with the first film's shower murder (though curiously minus the blood going down the plughole shot), which reduces the impact when I finally the original. It also makes you spend the original really disliking Lila Crane!

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therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Psycho II

#6 Post by therewillbeblus » Sat Apr 30, 2022 2:49 am

colinr0380 wrote:
Fri Apr 29, 2022 1:40 am
I would have imagined Psycho II to be almost the perfect therewillbeblus film, due to how deeply it goes into the psychological manipulations, real or imagined, of the main character!
Ha, I guess you're right- also I'm glad it's that and not me being some crazy guy playing second fiddle to a more dominant loon! I like your reading of all these people trapped in cycles of violence, but ones that are ultimately self-driven and isolating, while the obsessive or compulsive behaviors are being triggered by a source in others' harm... it's the worst of both worlds and really tragic if you think about it.
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My favorite moment of the film is when Meg Tilly goes to stab Perkins without her own consent, believing he's going to kill her- a cumulative fate given their respective anxious conditions growing and diverging with so much alienated space between them... only for the police to barge in at that exact moment and shoot her dead. It's devastating, but it happens so fast that the whiplash rarely leaves time to soak in the pain, and such continued forward momentum -that devalues this human life and paints a false collective narrative with the police in the next scene at the station- is even darkly humorous, in a very surreal way. It felt a bit like the "WTF happened?" ending to the Coens' Burn After Reading.

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domino harvey
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Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Psycho II

#7 Post by domino harvey » Sat Apr 30, 2022 8:57 am

I like the film too, but I think far less than you did TWBB. Here’s my thoughts on it and the next two sequels while I’m at it, since Colin got the ball rolling and they’re in the same post. Also, glad to see my blingeed celebratory image still works!
domino harvey wrote:
Sat Jul 18, 2015 1:44 am
Psycho II (Richard Franklin 1983) Opening with footage of the most memorable scene in the original Psycho, this sequel doesn't prompt much good will at the outset. But this tale of Norman Bates' return to the outside world and a series of murders he may or may not have committed gets so complicated and unlikely as it layers on twist after twist that at a certain point I could only admire its convoluted structure and sense of play. Especially when stacked up against the awful later sequels, this film's callbacks are at least novel and tease audiences with the expected instead of just quoting it (as evidenced by, say, the callback to Martin Balsam's infamous spill in the first film, here given two grim punchlines in short order). Vera Miles reprises her role as well (and admirably participates in the film's best gross-out special effect moment) and Meg Tilly is a welcome presence here as the dreamy young girl who inexplicably takes a shine to ex-murderer Bates (though not so inexplicably if you look at the online cast listing for the film in advance like I foolishly did-- thanks, internet!)

Two additional notes about Psycho II:
01 Norman Bates and I share the same brand loyalty when it comes to bread. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel about that.
02 Psycho II is, according to my records, the 100th slasher film made in the 80s that I have seen since starting out on this viewing journey. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel about that either, other than that obviously it calls for celebration:

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Psycho III (Anthony Perkins 1986) Perkins returns and steps behind the camera as well for an even more unnecessary sequel, this time involving Norman Bates befriending a runaway nun and employing Jeff Fahey's dirtbag to man the front desk. Here the references are just grabbed in full from the first film without wit, and the storyline of the pic is as ugly as Fahey's behavior. I didn't think a Psycho sequel could be much worse than this (and the second hundred 80s slashers tally is off to an inauspicious start), but then I watched...

Psycho IV: the Beginning (Mick Garris 1990 Norman Bates calls into a radio therapy program and informs the host that he's going to kill his wife, but not before he regales the host and her audience with stories from his youth. Flashbacks ensue. If you ever wanted to see Olivia Hussey as Norma Bates screech at a teenaged Norman (played by Henry Thomas, a long way down from ET and Cloak & Dagger) that his "Pee pee is only to be used for wee wee," then good news. Here the references are literally phoned in, and John Landis pulls a Landis by showing up in the radio station control booth for some reason. This is just the worst, and the grotesque things Bates' mother and her lover do to Kid Psycho can't even bother to be interesting. Though I've only seen the first season, at least Bates Motel embraces its stupidity. This movie's just stupid.

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