Psycho III is a 1986 sequel to Alfred Hitchcock's 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 electronic music score is composed and performed by Carter Burwell in one of his earliest projects.
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 living with the preserved corpse of his "true" mother, Emma Spool (Claudia Bryar), whom Norman killed at the end of Psycho II. Local law enforcement and Norman's ex-boss Ralph Statler (Robert Alan Browne) are concerned since Mrs. Spool has been missing for over a month. Duane Duke (Jeff Fahey), a sleazy musician in his 20's desperate for money, is offered the job of assistant manager at the Bates 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 John Hunt (Hugh Gillin) and Statler have a conversation at the diner, when Tracy Venable (Roberta Maxwell), a pushy journalist from Los Angeles, interrupts them. She is working on an article about serial killers being put back on the streets. Venable is trying to back up her theory that Norman is back to his old ways again. Norman appears and Venable jumps at the chance to talk with him. Unaware of her ulterior motives Norman opens up to her, but is distracted when an exhausted Maureen enters and sits at the lunch counter. He is startled by Maureen's presence, because he feels she strongly resembles Marion Crane (Janet Leigh). Seeing the initials "M.C." on her suitcase Norman freaks out and leaves the diner.
After the conversation with "Mother", Norman spies on Maureen as she undresses and heads into the bathroom to take a shower. Keeping "her" word, "Mother" enters Maureen's motel room with plans to kill her. Upon pulling back the shower curtain, it is revealed Maureen has attempted suicide by cutting her wrists, a sight which snaps Norman back to his "normal" side. Maureen looks up at "Mother" who is so weakened by what "she" sees, "she" lowers the knife. Due to blood loss, Maureen hallucinates and she mistakes Norman, dressed up as "Mother," is the Virgin Mary holding a silver crucifix.
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 picks up another girl at the bar, Red (Friday the 13th: A New Beginning's 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 "Mother" and Norman, but think it's just a TV turned up too loud. Red and Duane, head to cabin 12 where they make love. Later that night, Red, makes it clear she wants more than just a fling. Calling him a pig, they argue. Duane, infuriated, throws her out of the cabin. Red heads down to the payphone to call a cab, where she realizes she is wearing her blouse backwards. As she takes it off to put it on the right way, "Mother" shatters the phone booth door and stabs a trapped Red to death. The next morning, Duane finds Norman scrubbing down the phone booth.
A group from out of town arrive at the motel where they plan to watch the local 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. She discovers the Bates Motel's telephone number written on a magazine cover. Norman and Maureen return to the motel to find most of the other guests engaged in drunken stupor. 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 (Katt Shea Ruben), the only sober guest, wakes up Maureen to ensure her safety as Norman had left the door open, a bad idea with all the drunken guests around. Patsy needing to use the bathroom finds the one in Norman's parlor unoccupied, but "Mother" again emerges and slashes her throat. Norman (an homage to the reaction of finding Marion dead in the shower in the original) gasps when he discovers Patsy's body. He buries her in the motel's ice chest outside the office.
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 cabin 12. When Norman arrives at the cabin, he learns it was Duane who took "Mother". Duane attempts to blackmail Norman into giving him a large sum of money to keep quiet about his secret, and Norman nervously tells him he wants his mother back to which Duane replies "Take her. But you know what I want in return, and you know what I'll do if I don't get it". He agree's to Duane's blackmail demands, but he then unexpectedly throws an ashtray at Duane's head. 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 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, a resident at an assisted living facility, and is informed that Mrs. Spool had also once been institutionalized for 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 Duane drowns. 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, which startles and causes him to lose grip on Maureen's hands. She falls down the stairs into the cupid statue at the base of the stairs. She goes limp and sinks to the floor revealing the arrow had punctured her skull. Distraught, Norman, 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 Norman dressed as "Mother," bearing a knife, and tries to flee. She tries to reason with Norman by explaining his family history: Emma Spool, who was in fact his aunt, was in love with Norman's father, but he married her sister, Norma, instead. Mrs. Spool, having serious psychological problems, kidnapped Norman when he was a baby, after she killed Mr. Bates, believing Norman was the child "she should have had with him."
She discovers 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", dismembering her preserved remains. The last scene shows Sheriff Hunt taking Norman to his squad car, with Father Brian and Tracy following behind. Hunt informs Norman that they may never let him out of the institution again, Norman replies "But I'll be free...I'll finally be free." Norman, sitting silently in the back of the squad car on the way to the institution, enjoys his victory over his mother by caressing a trophy: the severed hand of Mrs. Spool. He smiles sardonically as the screen fades to black 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 (as well as the 1958 film Vertigo) as opposed to Psycho II. For instance, during a conversation between Maureen Coyle and Norman Bates in a hospital room, 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 composed the main soundtrack and also 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.
See also
External links
