Psycho II – Review

It’s twenty-two years later from the original film’s events, and Norman Bates is on the verge of freedom from his psychiatric care hospital. Lila (Miles) protests his release considering the fate of her sister years prior, yet to no avail. His doctor, Dr. Raymond (Loggia), argues Norman is no longer the man who entered the facility long ago, and he has been adequately rehabilitated, knowing reality from the former “motherly” fiction in his mind.

Against doctor’s recommendations, Norman returns home, both to his house and the motel in front of it, which is currently being managed by Warren Toomey (Franz). Norman notices that Toomey does not care about deplorable inhabitants or drug crime on the premises, which irks him and leads to a fight over the motel’s standards.

Unfortunately for all involved, Norman begins receiving odd messages, both calls and written notes, from his long-dead mother. Norman begins questioning his sanity over, while bodies start piling up, again.

This movie turns the story into more of a whodunnit slasher type horror movie with a different mystery element than the first. The plot summary above leaves out additional characters and elements, all of which are decently important, but are better left to the viewer to discover.

The mystery is decently interesting, as is figuring out what the characters are really up to. While it is nowhere near as strong as the original, this is a worthy sequel and continues the story in unexpected, but mostly realistic ways.

Who or what is really happening at the Bates Motel this time around?

There is a Psycho III which was… alright. And a Psycho IV which I haven’t watched yet. Probably best to stop with II unless you just can’t get enough and understand diminishing returns.