What I Didn’t Like: Can we skip to the next section?
Overall Impressions: The story they came up with for
this is awful. The events of Psycho II and III are ignored which is fine but going back to when Norman
was a teen and being abused by his alive mother (Olivia Hussey (Ice Cream Man)) isn’t all that interesting. We
already know they had a fucked up relationship so this doesn’t shed any new
light on the character. The whole thing
builds towards Norman poisoning his mother (which is done by iced tea instead
of hot tea which Psycho II used, is this some kind of jab at that
movie?) but, again, we already know this so the big moment isn’t nearly as
dramatic as the film thinks it is.
Plus the intercut scenes that take place in modern day with
Anthony Perkins are the worst. Having
Norman Bates call into a radio talk show to discuss his past murders isn’t an
idea I can get behind. Sure, a lot of
serial killers want the credit for their work but Norman was never a boaster so
this idea doesn’t fit. Also Perkins does
not give a very good performance.
And the ending where complete redemption is attempted makes
no sense to me. This is something that
keeps coming up in the series too. Each
of these films pitches the idea that Norman can be cured and if we only give
him another chance we’ll see that he’s a changed man. You know, forgive and forget the numerous
grisly murders he committed, he owned up to them what’s the big deal? With crimes this serious I have a real hard
time believing that this person will ever be able to re-enter society and live
a somewhat normal life. This may sound
harsh but the guy can’t be trusted on that kind of unsupervised level ever
again.
I don’t understand this compulsion in the horror genre to
give us an origin story way down the road when the series has run out of
gas. Leatherface, Hannibal Rising
and Dracula Untold are just a few in the last bunch of years that went
this route. They’re all unnecessary
after thoughts that make these characters less scary because they’re not nearly
the threat they will eventually become.
They pale in comparison to when they’re fully formed so there isn’t a
need to watch a watered down version.
Anyway, Psycho IV: The Beginning is another one to add to the
pile.
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