Psycho III

Infobox_Film
name = Psycho III


caption = original movie poster for "Psycho III"
director = Anthony Perkins
writer = Charles Edward Pogue
starring = Anthony Perkins
Diana Scarwid
Jeff Fahey
Roberta Maxwell
producer = Hilton A. Green
music = Carter Burwell
cinematography = Bruce Surtees
editing = David E. Blewitt
distributor = Universal Pictures
released = February 2, 1986
runtime = 94 min.
country = USA
language = English
gross = $14,482,000 (USA)
preceded_by = "Psycho II"
followed_by = ""
amg_id = 1:39580
imdb_id = 0091799

"Psycho III" is a 1986 sequel to Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 classic "Psycho". The film stars Anthony Perkins (who also directed the film), Diana Scarwid, Jeff Fahey and Roberta Maxwell. The screenplay is written by Charles Edward Pogue. The original music score is composed and performed by Carter Burwell.

Taglines

* "Norman Bates is back to normal. But Mother's off her rocker again."

* "The Most Shocking of them All"

* "Just Leave Him Alone"

Plot summary

The film begins with Maureen Coyle (Diana Scarwid), a mentally unstable young nun, on top of a bell tower about to commit suicide. When another nun tries to get her to come down, Maureen accidentally pushes her over the railing to her death. Another nun tells Maureen that she will burn in hell. She is forced to leave the convent after this ordeal.

Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) is still manning the desk at the Bates Motel and keeping the dressed corpse of Emma Spool (Claudia Bryar), his "true" mother as she herself revealed in the ending of Psycho II before being hit on the head by Norman with a shovel and falling dead. For the police and Norman's ex-boss Ralph Statler (Robert Allan Browne), Mrs. Spool has been missing for over a month and hasn't yet been found. Duane Duke (Jeff Fahey), a sleazy young musician desperate for money, takes the job of the assistant to Norman at the motel. Maureen, now the new long-term tenant, has some issues to resolve in her life. She gave up her vows as a nun only days before, and she isn't sure just how she feels about either spiritual or earthly matters.

Sheriff Hunt (Hugh Gillin) and Statler have a conversation at the diner, when Tracy Venable (Roberta Maxwell), a pushy journalist, emerges in their chat. She is writing an article about serial killers being put back on the streets. Venable is trying to prove that Norman is beginning a series of murders once again. Norman appears and Venable grabs the chance to talk with Norman, not aware of Hunt's warnings, but Norman is distracted by an exhausted Maureen who appears. Norman takes an interest in Maureen because he feels she strongly resembles Marion Crane -- the girl he murdered in the shower 22 years earlier. Her initials, "M.C." on her suitcase are the same as those of Marion Crane. He and his "mother" argue about Norman's interest in Maureen.

After a conversation, Maureen decides to take a bath. What the audience sees is not Maureen's joyful cleansing in the shower, but the surrender of an acutely dispirited woman. When "Mother" opens the curtains, "she" sees not a hardy woman in a shower, but rather, a broken woman in a bathtub. She is attempting suicide by slitting her wrists with a razorblade.

Maureen looks up at "Mother" who is so weakened by what "she" sees, "she" lowers the knife. Maureen sees not a blade, but a shimmering crucifix. What Maureen was staring at was not Norman's mother coming to kill her, but Mother Mary coming to save her. Meanwhile, Tracy has met with Duane at a bar where they discuss Norman, and it seems Tracy blames Norman for Mrs. Spool's disappearance. When she leaves, Duane meets with another girl at the bar, Red (an early appearance of Juliette Cummins). Norman gets Maureen to the local hospital to save her life. After she is released, he invites her to stay back at the motel and they begin a romantic relationship.

The same night, Duane and Red arrive at the motel and hear an argument between Mrs. Spool and Norman but pay no attention and run in Duane's room where they make love. Later that night, Red and Duane argue and he, furious, throws her out along with her clothes. Red goes to the payphone to make some calls. She realizes she is wearing her blouse backwards, and, as she takes it off to put on right-way-round, "Mother" emerges with a knife and brutally slaughters her. The next morning, Duane finds Norman cleaning the payphone booth, washing away the blood from the murder the night before.

A group of young people arrive at the motel where they are to watch a football game. Tracy comes to find Norman and ask questions about his past and "Mother". Norman becomes defensive with the reporter and tells her to leave, never to return. Later that night, he and Maureen go to a restaurant, where they dance and talk romantically, while Tracy searches Mrs. Spool's apartment where she discovers the Bates Motel's telephone written on magazines several times. Norman and Maureen return to the motel to find most of the young people drunk. Norman goes with Maureen to her room and they fall asleep in each other's arms having refused to make love. Some time afterwards, Patsy Boyle (another early appearance, this time by Katt Shea), the only teenager not drunk, wakes up Maureen to ensure her safety as Norman had left door open, a bad idea with all the drunken guests around. Patsy then goes to the toilet, but "Mother" again emerges and slashes her throat. Norman (in the style of how he discovered Marion dead in the shower in the original) gasps at finding Patsy dead. He hides her in the ice box outside.

The next morning, Sheriff Hunt and Deputy Leo appear at Norman's house to investigate Patsy's disappearance. Norman tries to prevent Hunt from entering his mother's bedroom, when he discovers that "Mother"/Mrs. Spool has disappeared completely. Outside, Tracy tells Maureen about Norman, and she, rather upset, leaves the motel and goes to stay with Father Brian, who took care of her at the hospital. Meanwhile, Tracy is convinced Norman is behind the latest disappearances. Norman searches for his mother all over the house and finds a note from her stating that she is in the last cabin of the motel. There, he discovers "Mother" watching Woody the Woodpecker cartoons on TV, and he encounters Duane who blackmails him into giving him money to not reveal his dark secret. They fight and Norman seemingly kills Duane by hitting him several times with his own guitar. Terrified of what he has done, he blames "Mother" for this.

Tracy talks to Statler and waitress Myrna (Lee Garlington) about Mrs. Spool and discovers she was working at the diner before Statler bought it from Harvey Leach. Tracy meets with Leach, an aging man at an old men's hospital, and in horror discovers that Mrs. Spool had been taken to an institution for commiting murder. Meanwhile, Norman drives Duane's car to the swamp with Duane and Patsy's bodies in it. Duane turns out to be alive and attacks Norman, who accidentally drives the car into the swamp. He struggles out of the car while he lets Duane drown. Tracy reads some old newspapers at her study and discovers about the "Bates kidnapping".

Maureen convinces herself that Norman is her true love. She returns to the motel and takes a shower before visiting Norman at his house. They share a tender moment at the top of the staircase when "Mother" shouts furiously at Norman, making him drop Maureen down the staircase. Her head is impaled on the end of arrow on a statue of an angel at the foot of the stairs. She falls dead, and Norman, stressed out, screams and confronts his mother that he will get her for this. "You don't have the guts boy!" utters "Mother". Then, Tracy arrives at the motel and tries to find Maureen. She enters the house only to find her lying dead on the couch of the living room which is filled with lit candles. Then she sees "Mother", bearing a knife, and tries to flee. She runs up the staircase, struggling to talk to Norman about solving of the mystery: Mrs. Spool, who was in fact his aunt, was in love with Norman's father, but Norma Bates had stolen him away from her. Mrs. Spool, having serious psychological problems, kidnapped Norman when he was a baby, after she killed Mr. Bates, thinking Norman was the child she and his father had.

She stumbles upon Mrs. Spool's corpse in the bedroom, and Norman takes off his mother's dress. "Mother" orders him to kill Tracy, and when Norman raises the knife, he brutally attacks "Mother", killing her for good. The last scene shows Sheriff Hunt taking Norman to the police car, with Father Brian and Tracy behind, and Hunt informs Norman that they may never let him out of the institution. Norman, before leaving with the police, replies "But I'll be free...I'm finally free." Norman, silent in the police car on the way to the institution, finally free of his mother, enjoys his victory by caressing his trophy: the severed hand of Mrs. Spool. He smiles sardonically as the screen fades and the credits roll.

Main cast

Production notes

Filming on "Psycho III" began on June 28, 1985 at Universal Studios. Director and star Anthony Perkins clearly made an effort to make "Psycho III" in a style reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's original "Psycho". Its style is rooted in the original film, not that of "Psycho II". For instance, during a conversation between Maureen Coyle and Norman Bates in the motel's office, Maureen expresses her concern that she may have "gone a little mad" when she left the nunnery. Norman echoing himself from the original film replies: "We all go a little mad sometimes."

DVD release

"Psycho III" was released on DVD in Region 1 as part of a triple feature package with "Psycho II" and "Psycho IV" on August 14, 2007 by Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

Music

There were many songs recorded for "Psycho III", some of them were performed by Stanton Miranda. Carter Burwell did some songs that play on the jukebox in the diner and on the radios in cars. The soundtrack for "Psycho III" was originally released on MCA Records.

The song, "Scream of Love" was released as a single on vinyl only. The dance remixes by Arthur Baker was featured on the 12" vinyl. MCA commissioned a music video featuring Carter Burwell, Anthony Perkins and a Hitchcockian woman. Perkins presented the video on MTV as a guest VJ.

ee also

* "Psycho" (1960 film), directed by Alfred Hitchcock
* "Psycho" (1998 film), a remake directed by Gus Van Sant
* "Psycho II", a 1983 sequel to the first film (unrelated to the novel "Psycho II")
* "", a 1990 prequel to the first film
* "Bates Motel", 1987 television movie

External links

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