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Rating: - A surprisingly good sequel to Htichcock's classic "Psycho"
The idea of doing a sequel to Alfred Hitchcock's classic "Pyscho" is not a stupid idea. Doing a shot for shot remake of the original is a stupid idea. But the idea of Norman Bates coming home 22 years later having been declared cured and released from the mental institution where we assume he never even hurt a fly during all that time, is certainly an interesting idea. The only other character it would be interesting to see when they got back out and tried to pick up where they left off from would be Brigid O'Shaughnessy, and that is never go to happen (I have dibs on the first draft).

Anyhow, Norman has been released and is working at a local diner in town, where he makes friends with Mary Samuels (Meg Tilly), a young waitress. But Lila Loomis (Vera Miles), the sister of Marion Crane, who was murdered in the shower long ago, is not happy that Norman is out and about. She predicts nothing good can come of his release and sure enough Norman starts finding notes from his mother at work and sees her sitting in the window of the Bates mansion. Then people around town start dying and everyone is looking at Norman, who insists he is not killing anybody. After all, he is cured.

Director Richard Franklin ("Road Games") and writer Tom Holland ("Class of 1984") seem fully aware of what can happen to those who try to ride the coattails of a classic horror film, because "Psycho II" is a fairly intelligent script. The key is that our sympathies are with Norman Bates. After all, we know from the first film that he really was nuts and that it was "Mother" who did the killing. If she is gone, then he deserves a break and for one of the few times in a splatter flick we are hoping that the original psychotic mass murderer did not do it.

Franklin can at least claim Hitchcock as a mentor, having struck up a friendship as a USC film student with the director in the late 1960s. The fact that Franklin got both Perkins and Miles to sign on is a testament that the script is not an embarrassment and the Meg Tilly part was originally offered to Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh's daughter, but the "Halloween" star was tired of being the queen of the slasher movies. But Franklin actually does a pretty good job as director of this film and whatever objects we might have to the idea, there is less to be offended by in the execution.

I would strongly urge that you go back and watch "Psycho" again before you watch this sequel, not because you need to remember any of the key details of the classic film, but because refamiliarizing yourself with the shots and dialogue of the original will allow you to appreciate how Franklin incorporates key ones into his film, but with an interesting twist. "Psycho II," to my surprise, an intelligent sequel. While "Psycho" is a 5 star film on its own plateau that relegates all other splatter flicks to the lower ground, this sequel is not an embarrassment, and what a surprise that turns out to be. Just come to this one with an open mind or not at all.

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Rating: - Not bad at all
This was truly a great film, a very special sequel indeed.
No sequel will ever beat Hitchcock's shocker but Psycho 2 almost did.
The idea of the film is good, we see Norman bates returning to the Bate's Motel after 22 years but soon after he returns bodies start to pile up again could this mean that the evil is back.
The Film also has one of those endings were you know there is going to be a sequel.
See it, it is really great.

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Rating: - Interesting
Psycho 2 is not exactly the real sequel to Psycho as Hitchcock didn't direct this so Psycho 2 might be treated as a seperate story altogether. Apart from that, this film is very watchable and should have been the last as the 2 that followed were horribly bad. Unlike the original, Psycho 2 has the slightest twinge of sadness through it as Norman is showing remorse for his actions. Not exactly Titanic class tears but a lump isn't very distant from your throat in certain scenes.

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Rating: - Well who'd have thought? It's actually quite good
Psycho then. One of Hitchcock's finest gets the sequel treatment in the 80s, the slasher era. Time to feel worried, but you shouldn't be as this is the most surprising film I've seen in that, unlike most sequels that merely re-tell the original, this has the brilliant twist that you are watching Norman Bates thinking "Is he doing it? Is he being set up? Why is this film so clever?" You will watch this film feeling glad that it is so good and like the first film, it has another big reveal-all speech at the end but this time THEY GET IT WRONG! Fantastic stuff.

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Rating: - It could have been bad
It isn't though. This sequel to the 1960 classic is so much better than any other addition to the franchise. Tom Holland, who later went on to write and direct Fright Night, shows a perfect understanding of what a sequel should be, by setting up a new story using old charectors. There is even a mystery element this time - who is it killing everyone - and adds new dimension to Norman Bates's madness. He is released after twenty years in mental hospital and goes back to the old hotel. It isn't long before people start getting chopped up, and Vera Miles from the original reprises her role as a revenge-seeking victim. Another sympathetic preformance form Perkins, and the twist at the end is fantastic. The gore is much increased - it was made in the eighties, after all - and a twisty-turny plot make this one a winner. Not in the same leauge as its predocessor, but it could have been so much worse.