Psycho III

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Psycho III
Movie poster for Psycho III
Directed by	Anthony Perkins
Produced by	Hilton A. Green
Written by	Charles Edward Pogue
Starring	Anthony Perkins Diana Scarwid Jeff Fahey Roberta Maxwell
Music by	Carter Burwell
Cinematography	Bruce Surtees
Editing by	David E. Blewitt
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	July 2, 1986
Running time	93 min.
Language	English
Budget	Unknown
Preceded by	Psycho II
Followed by	Psycho IV: The Beginning
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Psycho III is a 1986 sequel to Psycho & Psycho II. 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 music score is composed by Carter Burwell. The film is marketed with the tagline "Norman Bates is back to normal. But Mother's off her rocker again!"

[edit] Plot summary

The film starts off with Maureen Coyle (Diana Scarwid), a mentally unstable young nun, is on top of a bell tower about to commit suicide, one of the nuns try to gets her to come down but the nun gets pushed off and dies. Another tells Maureen that she will burn in hell, after this ordeal she is forced to leave The Abbey.

Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) is still manning the desk at the Bates Motel, where he now has an assistant, Duane Duke (Jeff Fahey), a sleazy young musician desperate for money. Maureen, now the new long-term tenant, has been seeing Duane and 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.

Maureen finds herself at the diner, where Norman is a short order cook since his release from the asylum. Norman takes an interest in Maureen because she strongly resembles Marion Crane -- the girl he murdered in the shower 25 years earlier. Her initials, "M.C.", are also the same as those of Marion Crane.

Director and star, Anthony Perkins, clearly made an effort to make Psycho III in a style reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's original classic: its style is rooted in Psycho, not Psycho II.

For instance: During a conversation between Maureen and Norman in the motel's office, Maureen expresses her concern that she may have "gone a little mad" when she left the nunnery. Norman, echoing himself from Psycho, replies: "We all go a little mad sometimes."

After this conversation, Maureen decides to take a bath. But what we see is not Marion Crane's joyful cleansing in the shower, but the surrender of an acutely dis-spirited woman. When "Mother" opens the curtains, she sees not a hardy woman in a shower, but, rather, a broken woman in a bathtub. She is committing suicide by slitting her wrists with a razorblade.

Maureen looks up at Mother and Mother, weakened, lowers the knife. Maureen, then, sees not a blade, but a shimmering crucifix. What Maureen was staring at was not Norman's mother coming to kill her, but Mother Mary coming to save her. Norman "returns" and 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 began a romantic relationship.

One day Tracy Venable (Roberta Maxwell), a nosey journalist, is writing an article about serial killers being put back on the streets. She comes to seek Norman and ask questions about his past and "Mother". Norman becomes defensive of the reporter and tells her to leave. But Tracy is trying too hard to prove that Norman is beginning a series of murders once again.

[edit] Main cast

• Anthony Perkins....Norman Bates
• Diana Scarwid....Maureen Coyle
• Jeff Fahey....Duane Duke
• Roberta Maxwell....Tracy Venable
• Hugh Gillin....Sheriff John Hunt
• Robert Alan Browne....Ralph Starler
• Lee Garlington....Myrna

[edit] External links

• Psycho III at the Internet Movie Database
• Psycho III at The Psycho Movies website

v • d • e Psycho series
Robert Bloch's novels	Psycho • Psycho II • Psycho House
Films	Psycho • Psycho II • Psycho III • Psycho IV: The Beginning • Psycho (1998 remake)
Other	Bates Motel • Robert Bloch's Psychos • Norman Bates