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Psycho III (1986)

Rate: 4
Viewed: 8/07, 6/19

Psycho3
8/07: Aiming to be nothing but a cash cow sequel for the franchise, Psycho III fails to muster anything new.

About fifty percent is recycled from the first part with another quarter from the second part. What helps is the remainder that feels fresh which are better camera work, more structured story, and faster pace.

I was thinking during the last two films, "When will I see Norman Bates in a drag?" The final ten minutes didn't disappoint me in this regard. When it comes to acting, I don't think anybody but Anthony Perkins deserves accolades. Jeff Fahey comes close to stealing the show, but his character got offed in a weird way. There are several good one-liners such as "You could have been comin' instead of goin'," "Watch the guitar," and "No one ever does" after Norman was told Duke wouldn't stay that long.

For Anthony Perkins as a newbie director, he pulls off an admirable job of being visually creative, but he should've stayed away from Bela Lugosi's trap by doing something else. Then again, he didn't have much longer to live, having found out he was tested HIV-positive during the filming of Psycho III and passing away from AIDS-related pneumonia six years later.

All in all, Psycho III is an empty subpar sequel that manages to be neither enjoyable nor boring.

6/19: The race is on: was Norman Bates or Anthony Perkins more of a psycho?

For an hour, Psycho III was going okay, but the last thirty minutes is when the shit hit the fan with everybody running out of ideas. Littered throughout are ripped-off moments from the original with one more from Vertigo at the beginning. There's not much of a story; it's just the same old shit being rehashed. By the way, the tagline of the movie poster exclaims, "The Most Shocking Of Them All." Um, they lost me there as the original had already did that.

The cast is okay. Playing as the misogynistic rapist in one of his earliest movie roles, Jeff Fahey looks like he can take on Norman Bates, but his character dies without putting up a fight. Diana Scarwid may have seen the death of her career as a potential B-list actress after appearing in Psycho III along with other forgettable films that were released in 1986.

All in all, it's time for Anthony Perkins to put Norman Bates in the grave once and for all.