Psycho III | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Anthony Perkins |
Written by | Charles Edward Pogue |
Produced by | Hilton A. Green |
Starring |
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Cinematography | Bruce Surtees |
Edited by | David Blewitt |
Music by | Carter Burwell |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 93 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $8.4 million [1] |
Box office | $14.4 million |
Psycho III is a 1986 American slasher film, and the third film in the Psycho franchise. It stars Anthony Perkins, who also directs the film, reprising the role of Norman Bates. It co-stars Diana Scarwid, Jeff Fahey, and Roberta Maxwell. The screenplay is written by Charles Edward Pogue. The original electronic music score is composed and performed by Carter Burwell in one of his earliest projects. Psycho III is unrelated to Robert Bloch's third Psycho novel, Psycho House , which was released in 1990.
The film takes place one month after the events of Psycho II where Norman Bates is still running the Bates Motel with the corpse of Emma Spool still sitting up in the house. A suicidal nun, with whom Norman falls in love, comes to the motel along with a drifter named Duane Duke. A reporter also tries to solve the mysterious disappearance of Mrs. Spool as someone begins another murder spree.
Released on July 2, 1986, Psycho III grossed $14.4 million at the U.S. box office on a budget of $8.4 million, becoming the lowest-grossing film in the series. It received mixed reviews from critics and was followed by a television prequel, Psycho IV: The Beginning .
In 1982, Norman Bates works at the Bates Motel and lives with the preserved corpse of Emma Spool, a waitress who told him she was his real mother after murdering several people. When Spool remains missing after a month, Norman's ex-boss, Ralph Statler, and local law enforcement grow concerned. Duane Duke, a sleazy musician desperate for money, is offered the job of assistant manager at the motel. Tracy Venable, a journalist from Los Angeles, is working on an article about serial killers being released from custody. Believing that Norman is killing again, Tracy appears at the diner, and attempts to talk with him. Norman opens up to her but is distracted when Maureen Coyle, a young, mentally unstable former nun, enters. Maureen resembles his former victim, Marion Crane, who Norman killed twenty-two years earlier which resulted in his incarceration. Seeing the initials "M.C." on her suitcase, Norman panics and leaves the diner.
"Mother" enters Maureen's bathroom that night, intending to kill her, only to find that she attempted suicide by cutting her wrists. The shock of this causes Norman to reassert his personality while a delirious Maureen mistakes "Mother" holding a knife for the Virgin Mary holding a crucifix. Norman brings Maureen to a hospital and offers that she stay as long as she needs to. After she is released, they begin a romantic relationship. That night, Duke picks up a girl named Red at a bar, but after Red makes it clear that she wants more than a fling, Duke rejects her. Red tries calling a cab, but "Mother" shatters the phone booth door and stabs Red to death. The following day, tourists arrive at the motel, planning to watch a football game. Tracy searches Spool's apartment, discovering the motel's phone number written on a magazine cover.
Patsy Boyle, the motel's only sober guest, is murdered by "Mother" on the toilet. Norman finds her body and buries her in the motel's ice chest. The next morning, Sheriff Hunt and Deputy Leo appear to investigate Patsy's disappearance. Tracy tells Maureen about Norman's past, causing Maureen to stay with Father Brian, who took care of her at the hospital. Norman discovers that Spool's corpse is gone, with a note in its place. Walking into Duke's cabin, Duke attempts to blackmail Norman by threatening to turn him in to the police. Norman attacks Duke with an ashtray, finally subduing him with Duke's guitar. Norman drags Duke and Patsy's corpses to his car to dump them into the swamp behind the motel. Duke, still alive, attacks Norman, causing him to lose control of the car and sending them into the swamp. Norman narrowly avoids drowning and swims ashore while Duke drowns.
Tracy talks to Statler about Spool and discovers she was working at the diner before Statler purchased it from Harvey Leach. Tracy meets with Leach, a resident at an assisted living facility, and is informed that Spool was also institutionalized for murder. Maureen convinces herself that Norman is her true love and returns to the motel. They share a tender moment at the top of the staircase when "Mother" shouts furiously at Norman, startling him. He loses his grip on Maureen's hands, causing her to fall down the stairs, killing her. Tracy enters the house and finds Maureen dead, then sees Norman dressed as "Mother" bearing a knife, but is unable to flee.
Tracy tries reasoning with Norman by explaining his family history. Spool was not Norman's mother; she was actually his mother's sister who was in love with Norman's father. When he chose her sister over her, Spool snapped and killed him. She then kidnapped the infant Norman, but was later institutionalized. Norman, in a rage, destroys Spool's corpse, severing Mother's control over him. Sheriff Hunt arrests Norman. Hunt tells Norman that he will probably be incarcerated for the rest of his life. Norman replies "But I'll be free, I'll finally be free". As Norman is driven off by the police, he caresses Spool's severed hand and smiles menacingly at the camera.
Psycho III: Music from the Motion Picture | |
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Soundtrack album by | |
Released | July 1986 |
Genre | Soundtrack |
Length | 30:39 |
Label | MCA Records |
Producer | Carter Burwell |
Singles from Psycho III | |
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All tracks are written by Carter Burwell, except where noted [2]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Scream of Love (Theme Song From the Motion Picture Psycho III)" | Carter Burwell/David Sanborn/Steve Bray | 3:47 |
2. | "Maureen in the Desert" | 1:56 | |
3. | "Dirty Street" | Carter Burwell/Stanton-Miranda/Steve Bray | 3:37 |
4. | "Before and After Shower" | 3:36 | |
5. | "Warm as a Cry for Help" | 2:20 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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6. | "Sisters/Catherine Mary" | Carter Burwell/Stanton-Miranda/Steve Bray | 4:13 |
7. | "Mother?" | 2:45 | |
8. | "Bad Boys and Body Bags" | 3:53 | |
9. | "Revenge of a Thankless Child" | 2:47 | |
10. | "Electroshock Waiting Room" | 1:45 |
Carter Burwell was approached by Perkins to compose the score to the film, since Perkins had enjoyed Burwell's work on Blood Simple . Perkins stated that he wanted to take the score in a more contemporary direction than Jerry Goldsmith had for his more traditional score for Psycho II . Burwell flew to Los Angeles and recorded the score largely on a Synclavier electronic music station, augmented by women's and boys' choirs as well as percussion by Steve Forman. [3]
After Universal suggested the film contain some pop songs so that the film could be marketable to the MTV generation, Burwell composed and performed songs with colleagues Stanton Miranda and Steve Bray. After Universal claimed the songs weren't sufficiently bankable, Burwell attempted to create a song with Oingo Boingo frontman and then burgeoning film composer Danny Elfman, using sampled strings from Bernard Herrmann's score to the original Psycho . This idea was also rejected. [3]
Universal finally agreed to let Burwell take a motif from the score he'd composed and develop it into an instrumental electronic pop song. The song, "Scream of Love"—co-written by jazz saxophonist David Sanborn—was released as a 7" single and a series of dance remixes were commissioned from Arthur Baker and featured on the 12" version. MCA also commissioned a music video for the song featuring Burwell, Perkins and a "Hitchcockian woman". Perkins introduced the video on MTV as a guest VJ on July 2, 1986. [3] The rest of the songs composed by Burwell, Miranda and Bray were used as background music in the film, playing from car stereos and jukeboxes.
Burwell's score was sampled by the hip hop group Insane Poetry on "Welcome to the Grim Side", the intro to their 1992 debut album Grim Reality , as well as on British musician Aim's 1999 electronica album, Cold Water Music .
When the film opened on July 2, 1986, it earned $3.2 million in its opening weekend and went on to gross $14.4 million at the domestic box office, becoming the lowest-grossing theatrical film of the Psycho series. [4]
Reviews from critics were mixed. Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote a generally positive review, calling Perkins a "very creditable director" and Pogue's screenplay "efficient", concluding that "Psycho III expresses its appreciation of the Hitchcock legacy without seeming to rip it off". [5] Variety wrote that the film "has its moments—about 20 minutes' worth—but the rest is filler in which the filmmakers gamely but futilely try to breathe new life into a tired body". [6] Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times thought that the film was "better in most respects than 'II'", but "it fails any sequel's acid test. It feeds off the original without deepening it". He added that "if the movie proves anything, it's that everyone should give Hitchcock a rest". [7] Paul Attanasio of The Washington Post called it "a playful, artfully made horror movie" made "really fun" by "Perkins and Pogue's morbid humor, the way they've captured the Hitchcock spirit and made it their own". [8] Tom Milne of The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote that Perkins gave "an excellent performance" but "there isn't very much more to be said about Norman Bates". [9]
Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert were split on the film's effectiveness. On their television show At the Movies , Ebert gave the film a "thumbs up" positive appraisal, saying it was a "much better movie than part two", and adding, "in his first directing effort, Perkins shows that he knows Norman better than anyone else". Siskel, however, gave the film a "thumbs down" negative rating, reasoning that he was "turned off by some of the violence" and that the film "just sort of lay there". [10]
As of September 2023, the film holds a 59% approval rating based on 34 reviews on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 5.5/10. The site's consensus states: "While it can't come close to the original's elemental horror, Psycho III makes a persuasive -- and blackly funny -- case for itself as a sequel". [11]
Psycho III has been released four times on DVD. The initial release came in 1999 when Universal Studios leased the film out to GoodTimes Home Video. [12] The second release came in 2005 from Universal Studios itself. [13] The third release came in 2007 as part of a triple feature package with Psycho II and Psycho IV: The Beginning . [14] Shout Factory released a special edition on DVD and Blu-ray in September 2013. [15]
Psycho is a 1960 American horror film produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The screenplay, written by Joseph Stefano, was based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch. The film stars Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin, and Martin Balsam. The plot centers on an encounter between on-the-run embezzler Marion Crane (Leigh) and shy motel proprietor Norman Bates (Perkins) and its aftermath, in which a private investigator (Balsam), Marion's lover Sam Loomis (Gavin), and her sister Lila (Miles) investigate her disappearance.
Norman Bates is a fictional character created by American author Robert Bloch as the main antagonist in his 1959 horror novel Psycho. He has an alter, Mother, who takes from the form of his abusive mother, and later victim, Norma, who in his daily life runs the Bates Motel.
Anthony Perkins was an American actor, director, and singer. Perkins portrayed Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's suspense thriller Psycho, which made him an influential figure in pop culture and the realm of horror films.
Carter Benedict Burwell is an American film composer. He has frequently collaborated with the Coen brothers, having scored most of their films. He has also scored films by other directors such as Bill Condon, Todd Haynes, Spike Jonze, Martin McDonagh, James Foley, Brian Helgeland, and John Lee Hancock. Burwell received Academy Award nominations for Best Original Score for Haynes's Carol (2015) and McDonagh's films Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), and The Banshees Of Inisherin (2022).
Psycho IV: The Beginning is a 1990 American made-for-television slasher film directed by Mick Garris, and starring Anthony Perkins, Henry Thomas, Olivia Hussey, Warren Frost, Donna Mitchell, and CCH Pounder. It serves as both the third sequel and a prequel to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, focusing on the early life of Norman Bates and the flashbacks that took place prior to the events of the original film. It is the fourth and final film in the original Psycho franchise, and Perkins' final appearance in the series before his death in 1992.
Psycho II is a 1983 American psychological slasher film directed by Richard Franklin, written by Tom Holland, and starring Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, Robert Loggia, and Meg Tilly. It is the first sequel to Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho and the second film in the Psycho franchise. Set 22 years after the first film, it follows Norman Bates after he is released from the mental institution and returns to the house and Bates Motel to continue a normal life. However, his troubled past continues to haunt him as someone begins to murder the people around him. The film is unrelated to the 1982 novel Psycho II by Robert Bloch, which he wrote as a sequel to his original 1959 novel Psycho.
Bates Motel is a 1987 American made-for-television supernatural horror film and a spin-off of the Psycho franchise written and directed by Richard Rothstein, starring Bud Cort, Lori Petty, Moses Gunn, Gregg Henry, Jason Bateman, and Kerrie Keane. Outside of the 1998 remake, this is the only installment not to feature Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates as Kurt Paul portrays the character. The film premiered on July 5, 1987. It is a direct sequel to Psycho, ignoring the other sequels.
Psycho is a 1998 American psychological horror film produced and directed by Gus Van Sant, and starring Vince Vaughn, Julianne Moore, Viggo Mortensen, William H. Macy, and Anne Heche. It is a modern remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film of the same name, in which an embezzler arrives at an old motel run by a mysterious man named Norman Bates; both films are adapted from Robert Bloch's 1959 novel.
Psycho is an American horror franchise consisting of six films loosely based on the Psycho novels by Robert Bloch: Psycho, Psycho II, Psycho III, Bates Motel, Psycho IV: The Beginning, the 1998 remake of the original film, and additional merchandise spanning various media. The first film, Psycho, was directed by filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. Subsequently, another film related to the series was made: an Alfred Hitchcock biopic, and two new novels, by Takekuni Kitayama and Chet Williamson, were released. Also, an independent documentary called The Psycho Legacy was released on October 19, 2010, mostly focusing on Psycho II, Psycho III and Psycho IV: The Beginning, while covering the impact and legacy of the original film.
Psycho is a 1959 horror novel by American writer Robert Bloch. The novel tells the story of Norman Bates, a caretaker at an isolated motel who struggles under his domineering mother and becomes embroiled in a series of murders. The novel is considered Bloch's most enduring work and one of the most influential horror novels of the 20th century.
"Motorpsycho Nitemare", also known as "Motorpsycho Nightmare", is a song written by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that was released in 1964 on his fourth studio album Another Side of Bob Dylan.
Psycho House is a 1990 horror novel by American writer Robert Bloch. It is a sequel to the 1959 novel Psycho and the 1982 novel Psycho II.
Kurt Paul is an American actor and stuntman.
Emma Spool is a fictional character created by screenwriter Tom Holland for the 1983 film Psycho II. She serves as the primary antagonist, and is portrayed by Claudia Bryar. More attention is given to her character in Psycho III, although she only appears as a corpse.
Norma Bates is a fictional character created by American author Robert Bloch in his 1959 thriller novel Psycho. She is the deceased mother and victim of serial killer Norman Bates, who had recreated her in his mind as a murderous alternate personality.
Marion Crane, also under the alias Marie Samuels, is a character created by American author Robert Bloch in his 1959 thriller novel Psycho. She is portrayed by Janet Leigh in the 1960 version of Psycho directed by Alfred Hitchcock, by Anne Heche in the 1998 version of Psycho, and by Rihanna in the television series, Bates Motel (2017). For her performance in Psycho, Leigh was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in the Academy Awards and won a Golden Globe Award in the same category.
Lila Loomis is a fictional character created by American author Robert Bloch in his 1959 thriller novel Psycho; she is the sister of Norman Bates's victim Marion Crane. She is revealed as the real protagonist of the novel in the final chapters, after several false protagonists, including her sister, who gets murdered. Lila is portrayed by Vera Miles in the 1960 film version and by Julianne Moore in the 1998 version. Additionally, Lila appears in Bloch's 1982 sequel novel Psycho II, and the unrelated 1983 sequel film of the same name, in which she serves as an antagonist.
The Psycho Legacy is a 2010 American independent direct-to-video documentary film that examines the history of the Psycho film franchise and the continuing legacy of the original Psycho. It also pays a tribute to actor Anthony Perkins for his portrayal of character Norman Bates. It is written and directed by Robert Galluzzo. It includes interviews with the cast and crew who were involved in the productions of Psycho, Psycho II, Psycho III and Psycho IV: The Beginning. It also features interviews with current horror filmmakers who are fans of the Psycho series.
Bates Motel is an American psychological horror drama television series based on characters from the 1959 novel Psycho by Robert Bloch that aired from March 18, 2013, to April 24, 2017. It was developed by Carlton Cuse, Kerry Ehrin, and Anthony Cipriano for the cable network A&E.
The first season of Bates Motel aired from March 18-May 20, 2013. The season consisted of 10 episodes and aired on Mondays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on A&E. The series is described as a "contemporary prequel" to the 1960 film Psycho and follows the life of Norman Bates and his mother Norma prior to the events portrayed in the Hitchcock film. The series takes place in the fictional town of White Pine Bay, Oregon.