Director: Richard Franklin
Screenplay: Tom Holland
Starring: Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, Meg Tilly, Robert Loggia, Dennis Franz
Running Time: 113 minutes
Genre: Crime, mystery, horror
After 22 years in an institution Norman Bates (Perkins) is deemed sane and safe to return to the community. One person who vocally disagrees is Lila Loomis (Miles), whose sister was one of those murdered by Norman. Despite Lila's protests, Norman is released and returns to his old house overlooking the old Bates Motel. He starts work as a chef's assistant at a small local diner, where he soon befriends young waitress Mary (Tilly). However Norman soon starts receiving strange phone calls and threatening notes, apparently from his dead Mother, and then the murders start up again. Is Norman back to his old ways? Or is there someone else trying to tip him into insanity?
This film is obviously nowhere near as good as the Alfred Hitchcock original, but it is a good film in it's own right. It is suspenseful and plays more as a psychological drama than a full on horror film. Perkins again provides a great, tormented performance as Norman. The film is stylishly shot, with a predilection for odd camera angles, however it looks very stagey (even some of the exterior scenes look as if they were filmed on a sound stage). The script by Tom Holland (and no, not the current Spider-Man) has a few too many last minute rescues and a few too many twists, but it keeps the suspense and is always creepy. It also benefits from a strong vein of dark comedy.
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