About thirty years after the original "Pyscho" (the best horror film ever!) came out, Norman Bates is back... at his home wanting to kill again. Yes, in the two sequels I haven't seen, the crazy, mother-obsessed murderer has apparently been deemed "sane" enough to go back to living in the real world. He has even found a wife who loves him "in spite of his past." Anyway, as if this film (and apparently the other sequals) was made to speak against the insanity defense, Norman proves to be apparently not THAT sane...he wants to kill again...this time his wife, Connie, ...because she is pregnant and Norman doesn't want a "bad seed."
We find this all out because Norman, for WHATEVER reason, announces this over a radio show, much to the astonishment of the host ("The Shield's" CCH Pounder), who really doesn't know WHAT to do, except keep Norman(who for some reason first goes by Ed, but is later "figured out" to be Norman) talking. What comes out is a not-that-interesting story about Norman's mother, the cornily named Norma Bates(Olivia Hussey, who certainly...acts like one here), her dull lover, and a "young" Norman (Henry Thomas, who lacks "that certain something" that Perkins has always brought to the role)and all of the bad stuff that happened with all of them that eventually led Norman to murdering his mother and the lover and ...becoming the nut that he is. Why all of that? Because killing his mother and her lover was the last killing that Norman did "with his own hands" (as opposed to killing people "as his mother"), which is something viewers of "Psycho II," at least, might disagree with, but whatever. So, "Pounder" and a lot of radio show listeners learn all about Norman's bad life , and apparently just accept if as great fun, since nobody but nobody calls the cops or anybody that could--I don't know--haul Norman away before he murders his wife.
Instead, Norman and his wife casually go back to the still-there Victorian house that was so pivotal to the first film, for a whole "will he or won't he kill her" sequence, which involves Norman clearing aside a lot of cobwebs and dust(er, didn't at least "Psycho 2" take place there) and carrying around his trusty butcher knife, which nobody thought to confiscate, even though he(or "Mother") almost used it to kill Lila Crane in the first film.
***SPOILER****
Norman...doesn't kill Connie. Instead, he burns down his house in a climax that is a mix between creepy and laugh-aloud bad, particularly when "mother" (the most obvious dummy I have ever seen... not that I expected a real person, but this was Ed Wood bad) burst into flames, only to resurface at the end(would there have been a "Psycho 5: The Bad Seed" if Tony Perkins hadn't died?). And Norman leaving all jovial and redeemed, saying "I'm free." I'm surprised the film didn't end with a statue of Norman being erected somewhere, or--since it was pretty dumb--Norman growing wings and a halo. This IS a man who has murdered numerous times, after all.
Nevertheless, the intrigue of Norman has always been (to me, at least) that despite the fact that he is this insane murderer, he is also dorky, charming and LIKEABLE in spite of that (I got a kick out of such lines as "just me and my trusty umbrella")... at least the older Norman is, and while Perkins' Norman is a lot more hardened this time around (the ever-present smile from the first film is gone),he still plays him with such charisma that his Norman is interesting enough to watch right up to the end, just to see what becomes of him and how he handles it, despite the fact that a lot of silly and pointless scenes have to be endured in order to discover this.
We find this all out because Norman, for WHATEVER reason, announces this over a radio show, much to the astonishment of the host ("The Shield's" CCH Pounder), who really doesn't know WHAT to do, except keep Norman(who for some reason first goes by Ed, but is later "figured out" to be Norman) talking. What comes out is a not-that-interesting story about Norman's mother, the cornily named Norma Bates(Olivia Hussey, who certainly...acts like one here), her dull lover, and a "young" Norman (Henry Thomas, who lacks "that certain something" that Perkins has always brought to the role)and all of the bad stuff that happened with all of them that eventually led Norman to murdering his mother and the lover and ...becoming the nut that he is. Why all of that? Because killing his mother and her lover was the last killing that Norman did "with his own hands" (as opposed to killing people "as his mother"), which is something viewers of "Psycho II," at least, might disagree with, but whatever. So, "Pounder" and a lot of radio show listeners learn all about Norman's bad life , and apparently just accept if as great fun, since nobody but nobody calls the cops or anybody that could--I don't know--haul Norman away before he murders his wife.
Instead, Norman and his wife casually go back to the still-there Victorian house that was so pivotal to the first film, for a whole "will he or won't he kill her" sequence, which involves Norman clearing aside a lot of cobwebs and dust(er, didn't at least "Psycho 2" take place there) and carrying around his trusty butcher knife, which nobody thought to confiscate, even though he(or "Mother") almost used it to kill Lila Crane in the first film.
***SPOILER****
Norman...doesn't kill Connie. Instead, he burns down his house in a climax that is a mix between creepy and laugh-aloud bad, particularly when "mother" (the most obvious dummy I have ever seen... not that I expected a real person, but this was Ed Wood bad) burst into flames, only to resurface at the end(would there have been a "Psycho 5: The Bad Seed" if Tony Perkins hadn't died?). And Norman leaving all jovial and redeemed, saying "I'm free." I'm surprised the film didn't end with a statue of Norman being erected somewhere, or--since it was pretty dumb--Norman growing wings and a halo. This IS a man who has murdered numerous times, after all.
Nevertheless, the intrigue of Norman has always been (to me, at least) that despite the fact that he is this insane murderer, he is also dorky, charming and LIKEABLE in spite of that (I got a kick out of such lines as "just me and my trusty umbrella")... at least the older Norman is, and while Perkins' Norman is a lot more hardened this time around (the ever-present smile from the first film is gone),he still plays him with such charisma that his Norman is interesting enough to watch right up to the end, just to see what becomes of him and how he handles it, despite the fact that a lot of silly and pointless scenes have to be endured in order to discover this.