The Psycho Sequels Legacy

This past Monday, A&E aired the series premiere of the re-imagined prequel of Psycho called Bates Motel. The title may sound familiar for some of you as there was a two-hour made-for-TV movie of the same name that served for a backdoor pilot for a purposed weekly anthology series, which was never picked up due to the movie’s low ratings. The failed version killed off Norman Bate (big mistake) and focused on a new character, Alex West (played by Burt Cort), who inherited Norman’s house and motel shortly after he was released from the asylum. Lorri Petti costarred as a teenage runaway, Willie, along with Moses Gunn as the handyman, Henry Watson. The plot has Alex reopening the motel, only to encounter strange happenings. I only saw the movie by accident several years ago on the former Sci-Fi Channel. The problem with the movie’s premise was it ignored the previously established continuity.

The first official sequel, Psycho II, came out twenty-two years after the original, but it completely ignored the plot from Robert Bloch’s novel sequel of the same name. Anthony Perkins returned as Norman Bates, who is being released from the asylum despite the protest from Lila Loomis (played once again by Vera Miles). Norman returns home to meet the manager (played Dennis Franz) of the Bates Motel, whom he later fires. After settling back into the house, Norman starts his job at a local dinner as part of his rehabilitation, where he meets the young Mary Samuels (played by Meg Tilly). Before long, Norman receives messages from someone claiming to be Mother along with a few strange occurrences that only he can see. Psycho II is definitely the superior sequel of the series, though it is obviously missing Albert Hitchcock’s magical touch.

Three years later, Psycho III was released, but with Anthony Perkins directing. Mrs. Spool has been missing for three months. Norman Bates has gone to back to his motherly ways and he’s once again managing the motel. He hire a drifter, Duane Duke (played by Jeff Fahey), as the new assistant manager. A runaway nun, Maureen Coyle, checks into the hotel. Norman is fascinated by her, but we all know what his mother would think of her. A Los Angeles reporter, Tracy Venable, begins investigating Mrs. Spool disappearance just as the body count rises. Though it is not a well made as the previous films, it does contain a few scary moments that takes it well above other 80s slasher movies.

Anthony Perkins returned one last time for the made-for-cable sequel/prequel Psycho IV: The Beginning, which ignores everything that took place in II and III. Norman is now married to a nurse and is soon to be a father, but he fears the child will go grow up to a murderer. He calls a radio talk host and tells her how he became a killer. The movie flashbacks to a young Norman (played by Henry Thomas) and explains how he murdered his mother. Despite great performances from Perkins and Thomas, it is definitely the weakest link in the series, besides from the horrible shot-by-shot 1998 remake which almost killed the franchise.

All hope now lies on the shoulders of Freddie Highmore who stars as the young Norman Bates in A&E’s Bates Hotel. Hopefully the series will become as popular as The Walking Dead, so it can have a proper ending with Marion Crane checking into the motel.