Psycho IV: The Beginning

NavyVet07🔥🔥🔥2.5

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Ian West3.5

"I should have killed you in my womb! You sure as hell tried to kill me getting out of it!"Part sequel, part prequel, Psycho IV was the perfect late night Halloween hangover for me. I love this franchise, it’s low key one of my favorites and the movies following the monolithic first entry aren’t really shown that much love... which I guess I get because sacred cinema cow, but also fuck that because the Psycho sequels are ALL solid and worth any genre fans time if you ask me.This picks up a few years after the events of Psycho III and 30 years after the events of the first film, with a rehabilitated Norman Bates calling in to a talk radio show telling his life story to host CCH Pounder and matricide expert Warren Frost. Henry Thomas and Olivia Hussey are great as younger versions of Norman and Mrs. Bates, as we see their pasts unravel via flashback while present day Norman fears an imminent hereditary return from ‘Mother’ and it works so well for me—I love the idea of Norman calling in to a radio show and spilling out details of his life while acting increasingly more manic. Out of all the movie monsters, masked deranged killers, supernatural demons, and serial killers in cinema, Norman Bates is the one I feel the most empathy for, especially in the later Psycho films.This Mick Garris directed made for TV movie premiered on SHOWTIME in 1990, and it really does have some swell moments of tension/interesting additions of lore added to the Bates story—I think it's a fitting conclusion to the Psycho legacy (also check out the documentary, The Psycho Legacy!) with an ill Anthony Perkins giving it his all in one last hurrah as Norman Bates, the character he could never ever escape.

MizfitMathew4.0

This was by far my favorite of all of the Psycho sequels. I have the benefit of watching it for the first time ever, 36 years later. See, to me, this isn't just a TV movie. This is Psycho IV. The forth disc on my Bluray Boxset of Psycho movies that I picked up from the library. Support your local libraries! 💚Going into this, I had no idea it was a prequel/sequel. What a fantastic idea! I mean, how much more could you do with the series?The other two sequels were good, but just a little more campy. Definitely went the slasher route of the 80s. Which I didn't mind. Slasher is my favorite horror genre. So honestly I was just kind of expecting the same with this one. I was pleasantly surprised with the introspective into Norman Bates life and childhood. I thought this was superbly well done. That kid from ET was amazing in this role. And CCH Pounder! Heck yeah. Just watched her in Face/Off as well. Give me more of her! Everytime I see her though, I constantly think of Dennis Reynold's impersonation of her. 🤣I was invested this whole movie. The lady that played mother was also fabulous. Man did she make you hate her, and feel for Norman. The scene where Norman locks the girl in the car, and sends it into the lake, and you can hear her pounding on the trunk. Man...that was vicious. Heck of a performance from Perkins. I think it's his best one in the series since the original.This movie had no right being this good, but I thoroughly enjoyed this, and it's probably my favorite sequel in the series now. Heck of a way to end it. Do I dare watch the remake? I've heard...things. I think I have to, for completion sake. 🤷Great movie, great series, so glad I finally finished it. 🤙🔪🔪🔪🔪