Tag Archives: mother

Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990) | Mick Garris

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Psycho IV: The Beginning is the fourth and final film in Universal’s Psycho franchise, and the last to portray Anthony Perkins in his most famous of roles.  It’s the first of the series not to be released theatrically, debuting on the premium cable channel Showtime in 1990.  This film is a sequel in theory, as it does take a step forward in showing Norman Bates trying to live the semblance of a normal life today, finally in a relationship with a woman, with a baby on the way.  Trouble is, Norman does not want a baby, thinking that being a homicidal maniac is a genetic trait that passes on from generation to generation, and he wants his mother’s psychopathic tendencies to end with him.

On this night, Norman is listening to a late-night radio program about why sons kill their mothers, and after hearing what the doctors have to say about it, Norman ends up calling the show to tell how it really went down for him.  Under the pseudonym of ‘Ed’, Norman relates the tale of his adolescence, and how his mother Norma’s severe mood swings, psychological abuse, and sexual repression drove him to commit murder, including his own mother.

Although much talked about in the previous films, Psycho IV: The Beginning is the first to show a living Norma Bates (Olivia Hussey), and to give is a first-hand viewing of how bizarre an upbringing a young Norman (Henry Thomas) would have, resulting in an overwhelming feeling of guilt in his actions that he didn’t have the maturity or mental balance to keep a grip on. In addition to Norma’s stamping out of her son’s masculinity and sexuality, there is also an element of Norman becoming a bit of a surrogate for male companionship in her life in between finding a suitable partner, though never physically consummated between mother and son. Mick Garris directs from a screenplay from Psycho screenwriter Joseph Stefano.

Psycho III (1986) | Anthony Perkins

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The events of Psycho III take place not long after Psycho II, as Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), still the sole caretaker of the Bates Motel, ends up hiring a temporary new assistant in the wily rogue musician who goes by the name of Duane Duke (Jeff Fahey). He also has a new patron staying in cabin #1, a spiritually faltering (and suicidal) former nun with an uncanny resemblance, not to mention the same initials, of victim Marion Crane, Maureen Coyle (Diana Scarwid). Norman is intensely attracted to Maureen, and the feeling is perhaps mutual, but with jealous Mother Bates always dictating Norman’s actions, that doesn’t bode well for her longevity. Meanwhile, tenacious reporter Tracy Venable (Tracy Maxwell) is trying to discover the whereabouts of a missing woman and is sure that she must have met her fate with Norman, though Sheriff Hunt (Hugh Gillin) thinks it another case of people just out to pick on poor Norman for his past transgressions. Anthony Perkins directs.

Psycho II (1983) | Richard Franklin

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Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) finally gets his release from a California mental institution after he is found guilty by reason of insanity for the heinous murders he committed over 22 years prior. Lila Loomis (Vera Miles), sister of one of Bates’ victims, has her pleas for a non-release fall on deaf ears. Having been declared of ‘sound mind’ again, Norman returns to his gothic childhood home and Bates Motel near Fairvale, CA, and takes up a job while on parole at a diner nearby. Norman becomes fast friends with a waitress there named Mary Samuels (Meg Tilly), and he ends up offering her a room for a while after her boyfriend tosses her out for someone new. However, as much as Norman tries to put the past behind him, he is beginning to get that old feeling again, as he begins receiving handwritten notes and phone calls from his mother, as well as her appearance in the house at various times, and people begin to start dying once again.

Psycho (1960) | Alfred Hitchcock

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Janet Leigh starts off the film as Marion Crane, a clerk in a real estate office engaged in a romantic fling with Sam Loomis (John Gavin), the manager of a hardware store in Phoenix, Arizona.  When she’s given the task of depositing $40,000 in cash into the bank, Marion impulsively decides to keep it, and drives off to California, perhaps to Sam’s hometown, Fairvale, with the freedom to pursue Sam without concern for finances. En route, her paranoid fears get the best of her, as she begins to have second thoughts, but a powerful storm forces her off the beaten track in search of a place to stay, and she comes to the Bates Motel, a completely vacant establishment with “12 cabins, 12 vacancies”.  The motel is run by Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), a shy but friendly man who is excited to not only have his first visitor in weeks, but also one as attractive as Marion, who signs in under a pseudonym.  But Norman’s mother, who resides on a small hill overlooking the establishment, isn’t going to lose Norman to just any visiting trollop who comes along without a fight. Alfred Hitchcock directs.

Amityville 4: The Evil Escapes (1989)

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In this made-for-network-TV entry, a crack team of Catholic priests comes in to exorcise the demonic presence within the possessed Amityville home. Cornered, the demon finds refuge by traveling through the power cable into a hideous-looking floor lamp. Sensing the evil is gone from the home, the contents of the home are put up at a yard sale, where a frolicsome older woman spies the lamp for a hundred dollars that would make for a great gag gift to send her sister in California.

That sister is Alice Leacock, who lives in a Victorian house overlooking the Pacific Ocean in the fictional northern California town of Dancott. Alice is a bitter fuddy-duddy set in her ways, and unhappy to have to take in her newly widowed daughter, Nancy Evans, and three grandchildren until they can get back on their feet. Alice receives the lamp, placing it prominently in her home, despite her household cat and parrot reacting with alarm to its presence. Not long after, strange occurrences erupt as the evil gets unleashed throughout the house, with the malevolent spirit especially targeting and influencing the youngest of the grandchildren by convincing her that it is her dead father. Meanwhile, one of the priests concludes that the evil may have transferred into one or more of the house’s yard sale items and begins sleuthing, trying to warn the family that they are in possession of a powerful demonic presence that will surely destroy them all.