Taglines: It’s 22 years later, and Norman Bates is coming home.
Psycho 2 movie storyline. Now declared legally sane, Norman Bates is released from a mental institution after spending 22 years in confinement over the protests of Marion Crane’s sister Lila Loomis, who insists that he’s still a killer and that the court’s indifference to his victims by releasing him is a gross miscarriage of justice. Norman returns to his motel and the old Victorian mansion where his troubles started, and history predictably begins to repeat itself.
Psycho II is a 1983 American psychological thriller slasher film directed by Richard Franklin and written by Tom Holland. It is the first sequel to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and second film in the Psycho series. It stars Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, Robert Loggia, and Meg Tilly. The original music score was composed by Jerry Goldsmith.
Set 22 years after the first film, Norman Bates is released from the mental institution and returns to the house and Bates Motel to continue a normal life. However, it soon becomes apparent that his troubled past is going to continue to haunt him. It is unrelated to the 1982 novel Psycho II by Robert Bloch, which he wrote as a sequel to his original novel Psycho. Psycho II grossed over $34 million at the box office. The film was followed by Psycho III (1986) and Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990).
About the Story
In 1982, Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) is released from a mental institution after spending 22 years in confinement. Lila Loomis (Vera Miles), sister of Marion Crane, vehemently protests with a petition that she has been circulating with signatures of 743 people, including the relatives of the seven people Norman killed prior to his incarceration, but her plea is dismissed. Norman is taken to his old home behind the Bates Motel by Dr. Bill Raymond (Robert Loggia), who assures him everything will be fine.
Norman is introduced to the motel’s new manager, Warren Toomey (Dennis Franz). The following day, Norman reports to a prearranged job as a dishwasher and busboy at a nearby diner, run by a kindly old lady named Emma Spool (Claudia Bryar). One of his co-workers there is Mary Samuels (Meg Tilly), a young waitress. After work, Mary claims she has been thrown out of her boyfriend’s place and needs a place to stay. Norman offers to let her stay at the motel, then extends the offer to his home when he discovers that Toomey has turned what had been a shabby but respectable motel into a sleazy adult one.
Norman’s adjustment back into society appears to be going along well until “Mother” begins to make her presence known. Norman gets mysterious notes from “Mother” at the house and diner. Phone calls come from someone claiming to be Norman’s mother. The next day, a drunk Toomey picks a fight at the diner after Norman fires him. Later, a figure in a black dress stabs Toomey to death with a kitchen knife as he is packing to leave the motel. As Norman begins to reconstruct his motel, he begins to doubt his sanity when he begins hearing voices in the house. He enters his mother’s bedroom to find it looks exactly as it did 22 years ago. A sound lures him to the attic, where he is locked in.
At the same time, a teenage couple, believing the house to be abandoned, sneaks in through the cellar window. They notice a female figure pacing in the next room. As they try to climb out, the boy is stabbed to death. The girl escapes and alerts the police. Mary eventually finds Norman in the attic. Minutes later, the sheriff arrives and questions them about the boy’s murder. He finds the cellar neat and orderly.
Norman is about to admit that something suspicious is going on, but Mary claims that she has cleaned up the basement herself. After the sheriff leaves, Norman asks Mary why she lied. She explains that she had to save him from being arrested. Norman collapses into the chair with his head in his hands and moans, “It’s starting again!” Norman is aware that he is slipping into insanity again.
Psycho II (1983)
Directed by: Richard Franklin
Starring: Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, Meg Tilly, Robert Loggia, Dennis Franz, Hugh Gillin, Claudia Bryar, Lee Garlington, Jill Carroll
Screenplay by: Tom Holland, Robert Bloch
Production Design by: John W. Corso
Cinematography by: Dean Cundey
Film Editing by: Andrew London
Costume Design by: Peter V. Saldutti, Marla Denise Schlom
Set Decoration by: Jennifer Polito
Music by: Jerry Goldsmith
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: June 3, 1983
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