7¾ Pies

Reviewed by Limey

Plot Summary

Norman Bates has been accepted back into society but can he fight the memory of his Mother when he falls in love with a young woman who comes to stay at his motel?

Review

This review has been in the works for months but only today did it progress beyond the first line. Similar to my experience with Psycho and Psycho II, I just couldn't seem to make any headway at all. For a long time, it was a mystery as to why.

Today the mystery was solved and progress was finally made. The reason it is so difficult for me to write about these movies is because they are so hard to categorise. Each entry in the series delights in playing with your expectations and your loyalties, refusing to be placed in a box. Ordinarily, regardless of my opinion on the film in question, I at least always know what it is I'm reviewing. Not so with Psycho.

Psycho III, for example, could be looked at as a straight forward slasher film. Unlike the first two pictures, it does not work as a murder mystery. This time we know who the culprit is from the outset, so when watched at a surface level the film is about waiting to see who dies next and how the villain is caught.

If you dig a little deeper, however, you start to realise just how many layers it has. Take the connection between Norman and Maureen. Two souls, each defined by their mother – Norman and the Mother that tormented him; Maureen and the Holy Mother – and each looking for redemption. It is a story of darkness and light coming together and finding the understanding they crave in one another.

Quotes:

Duane Duke: You're about as warm as a cry for help.

Norman Bates: I can't have that sort of thing going on in my motel. It gives the place a bad name.

Spook Factor: ½ Pie

That is possibly too generous. The only potential scares here are from the slasher aspects of the script, which do not spook me at all; still, I know plenty of people who get jumpy during something as corny as a Friday the 13th sequel. Supported by a much cleverer script, the death scenes here may well spook them.

Antagonist: ¾ Pie

Even if you have never seen the previous movie, the cheesy poster and tagline not only do the film no favours but also leave you in no doubt that Norman is the villain of the piece. However, in some ways he is also the hero of the piece. That is the brilliance of the Psycho series. He is a genuinely well crafted character.

As for the missing quarter pie, well, that is for when they occasionally make him a little weird – such as using a spoon for both stuffing a bird and then immediately for eating with. It is probably a personal thing, but tiny bits like that felt like someone going for shock value or a caricature of a madman more than anything else.

Story: ¾ Pie

Bit of a mixed bag, leaning more towards good. I love almost every aspect of the plot – the love story, Norman 's struggle to overcome his demons, even the final sequence where it undoes the frankly horrendous twist at the end of Psycho II. Sadly, like its predecessor, it all falls down in the final minutes.

It almost has the perfect ending. Norman spends the entire picture trapped between who he was and who he wants to be, struggling to overcome his demons and striving desperately to do good. What initially seems like the end would have been the absolute right way to conclude the Norman Bates story. Tragic but right.

However, the studio did not think audiences would accept it. As such, they had an additional scene tacked on; a scene that adds nothing, takes an awful lot away and can lead absolutely nowhere, which is one reason why when Psycho IV eventually arrived, it ignored the previous sequels entirely.

Acting: 1 Pie

The run of strong acting in this franchise continues. Anthony Perkins understood Norman better than anyone at this point. He may lose some of his earlier subtlety from time the time, perhaps because he was both acting on camera and directing behind it, but he still delivers a masterful performance. This time, he receives tremendous support from the likes of Diana Scarwid and Jeff Fahey.

Directing: 1 Pie

While negotiating his return to Psycho III, Perkins offered to both act and direct for a single fee. The studio readily agreed despite the fact that he had never directed before. Considering he was stepping into the mighty shoes of Alfred Hitchcock and Richard Franklin, and would also be starring in the film, it could have been a disaster. It is, instead, a triumph. I particularly adore his scene transitions.

Soundtrack: ¾ Pie

Another traditional strength of the Psycho franchise is the soundtrack and Perkins made perhaps the best decision possible in order to keep that streak alive – hiring Carter Burwell, the greatest composer working in film today. The main theme is chilling and several other tracks are inspired. The missing slice is primarily for overusing the main piece in other numbers; it became a little distracting.

Special Effects: ¾ Pie

There wasn't much necessity for anything beyond some fake blood splashed about the place and bits that had been done plenty of times elsewhere. It all looked good but hardly deserving of a big score.

Gore: ¾ Pie

This is perhaps the most obviously gory of the four films, though, with the phone box scene in particular holding nothing back in terms of selling you the pain and horror of the situation, principally through the use of the aforementioned fake blood.

Replay, Rewatch, Rewind: 1 Pie

Yes. It's that simple really. Yes, I shall be watching this again, because it is a worthy entry in a well made franchise and it offers up something new every time.

Pros

The pros would have to be the strong acting, directing and music which by this point have become signatures of the franchise and the at times beautiful depiction of the tragedy that is Norman and also Maureen.

Cons

For the second time running, it is principally the final scene that bothers me. Everything else can be overlooked but that scene almost spoils the movie.

Final Word

So here we have another oft forgotten film sitting in the shadow of the original Psycho. These sequels really do have an uphill battle on their hands; overlooked, usually tagged as terrible by people that have never seen them, and relentlessly compared to possibly the most influential horror ever made. Here, the slasher elements do its cause no good at all. Take the time to scratch away at that veneer, however, and you will find a movie that is more than worth your time.

You must think I've gone mad.