Psycho II (spoilers)

My Mum forced me into watching the original Psycho when I was 11 years old, and I must admit I got pretty creeped out. Anyway, I loved that movie a lot, and when I heard that Psycho II (1983) was going to be on television, I knew I had to watch it, out of curiosity. Sequels annoy me, probably because most sequels go on a completely different wavelength then their predecessor, and end up ruining the whole series of films. This sequel did annoy me, because 1. Alfred Hitchcock movies are hard to beat, and if this film was going to be as great as the first then he'd have to direct it, but he had died three years before. 2. I felt that there was nothing more to go on from the original, Norman Bates was locked up and probably shouldn't have been let out. 3. It was 22 years on, and the Norman Bates case was old news, and now Norman Bates was pretty sane, so all the exciting bits from the first Psycho had been taken out. However, the sequel did annoy me, but I was very entertained by this 80s horror. The way I see it, 70s and 80s horror's are really cool, because they are unashamedly cheesy and crass, and just throw everything in them. Psycho II wasn't that scary, but quite creepy and chilling in some spots. Anthony Perkins is back as Norman Bates, who is let out from jail on the grounds that he has restored his sanity. He moves back to the old Bates Motel, and is haunted by his past. At a new job, he meets a young girl Mary (Meg Tilly), who decides to stay at his house, and soon discovers his dark past which may just come to catch up on him. Vera Miles returns as the sister of Marion Crane (who is killed in the first film), but this time tries to seek revenge on Bates. We don't really see the true Bates until the end, but it's well-worth the wait. Can't wait to watch Psycho III next week.
6/10