Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" remains one of my favorite films, so I guess it's asking too much that Psycho III (1986) be anywhere near as good. On the other hand, there's no reason for it to be as unimaginative, as dull-edged and tiresome as it is.

Anthony Perkins reprises his role as Norman Bates and the movie picks up where Psycho II left off. This time, however, the late actor (Perkins died of AIDS in 1992) also directs. Good self-directed performances are somewhat rare and this movie is no exception. Perkins (who was brilliant in the original) is somewhat stilted and wooden here and the other performers aren't left with much to play off.

The movie opens with Maureen (Diana Scarwid) — a novice — screaming "There is no God" as she's chased by a group of nuns up the convent steps in a scene right out of Hitchcock's Vertigo. She's troubled and self-destructive like Kim Novack in that film, but unlike Novack she's not the one who will fall out the window. Here she causes another nun to fall to her death.

For that she gets booted out of the convent and is forced to hit the road, where she's soon picked up by Duane Duke (Jeff Fahey: The Lawnmower Man) - a drifter and wannabe musician. The two don't really hit it off — she rejects his advances and he tosses her out in the rain — but they both manage to find their way to the Bates Hotel. Duane appears on the scene first and gets hired on at the hotel on a temporary basis ("I wouldn't be staying around too long," he tells Norman who quickly comments: "No one ever does"). A little later Maureen finds her way there and Duane puts her in Cabin Number One — the very same cabin that Janet Leigh spent some time in.

Scarwid bears a ballpark resemblance to Leigh and Norman finds himself attracted to her. Here the movie picks up a key Vertigo plot point as Norman tries to re-create her in Janet Leigh's image. There's a scene, for example, where he tells her she would look good in a specific, conservative dress which recalls James Stewart dressing Kim Novack in a specific grey suit. But this aspect of the movie isn't played up and is soon dropped for a more standard, slasher-film formula.

It's too bad, because the relationship between Norman and Maureen is (potentially) the most interesting thing Psycho III has going for it. Instead of building on that, however, we get predictable killings and a lame subplot concerning an investigative reporter (Roberta Maxwell) looking to dig up some dirt on Norman.

As I watched Psycho III I kept getting the feeling that Perkins was playing it safe — just going through the motions and not drifting too far from the original. Images and even dialogue are lifted directly from the Hitchcock classic (I groaned, for instance, hearing the line "We all go a little mad sometimes" once again). Recalling these moments, however, only reminds us how uninspired this sequel really is.

There's really only one moment that I liked in Psycho III. It comes near the end when Norman, dressed up like his dead mother — and with knife in hand — stalks that snoopy reporter. He's following her up the mansion's stairs when he pauses for a second to straighten a picture on the wall. It's a small detail, but a nice touch because it has some imagination going for it. Unfortunately, it only serves to point out what the rest of the movie is sorely lacking.



Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age