Here we are with the Psycho movies I can be honest and not spoil anything really by saying that I like them on a sliding scale with each one I liked them less and that goes for the waste of time that was the remake. The fourth movie was released in 1990 four years after the conclusions of the third film – which is reviewed on this list somewhere (currently 360 SPOILERS!!!). It went straight to video and didn’t trouble the box office numbers. Should I dive straight into the story before I give my verdict.
This involves a telephone call radio chat show where people are asked to call in and Norman decides to call into the show. He basically talks through the history of his life explaining how he descended into the psycho killer from previous films. When his father died when he was six years old and he and his mother lived in isolations together. Until it was her that met another man who did not get on with Norman and the relationship began to breakdown, I won’t spoil the rest but when Norman is talking you get to see the story in flashbacks. This is the reason for the subtitle of the beginning and he also explains that he now has a woman and this woman has decided to get pregnant without asking and how can he knowingly bring another monster into this world. The DJ realises that ‘Ed’ on the other end of the line sound like he’s describing the history of Norman and they should trace the call and get someone over there. Norman then says that his mother possessed him before and worries that she will do it again and kill his wife or child so he decides to test the theory by bringing them to his mother’s house on the side of the hill…
Well this is an enjoyable film to watch it follows more in the sequel’s footsteps rather than the original and see Anthony Perkins remain in the role of Norman a role he was labelled with throughout his entire career. He plays the role well and you are left pondering throughout the whole movie of whether you should have pity for this killer or scared that he is going to kick this all off again by starting a fresh killing spree. Its clever but very low budget and you can pick holes in this quite easily as people may expect the history to give you a bloody gory horror which won’t be delivered there is just an air of mystery of what will happen now.
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