Psycho 3 (1986)

Excellent directorial debut by Anthony Perkins, exploring themes a little darker and a tad bit sleazier than in the previous films. A young nun, having lost her faith in God, is expelled from the Church after her attempted suicide results in the death of another nun. Lost and confused, she is forced to hit the road thumbing her way along the highway. She eventually winds up at the Bates Motel, where a now fully deranged Norman confuses her for the ghost of Marion Crane, the first chick he killed in the original "Psycho". Another character in the story is that of Duke, played by Jeff Fahey. Duke is essentially a sleazebag type on his way to L.A. to be a "rock star". His trek stops at the Bates Motel as well, as he is hired by Norman to be the "assistant manager" just long enough however, to fix the breaks on his car and earn a little spending cash. This film differs from the second one in that where in the previous film we saw Norman slowly descend back into his madness, this third entry picks up with him now fully drowning in his personal sea of torment and insanity. We also get an extremely annoying reporter type who's constantly nagging at Norman about his past and generally being a pain in the ass.

I have to admit right now, that even though Norman is as nutty as they come, I cheer for and sympathize with the poor bastard. So what if Norman, excuse me, "mother" has to off someone every now and then? In the words of the county sheriff, "leave the poor slob alone!". But of course they never do, and I guess there would be no movie without those annoying types. Norman soon falls for the runaway nun, and of course mother is none to happy about her little boy hanging around some "little slut". Normans love for the ex-nun, named Maureen, is actually rather touching to watch. The man is truly in love, yet his mental illness prevents him from enjoying his life, as he should, with the mother side of him constantly making him feel guilty for feeling what a normal man should feel. I feel for you Norman, I really do. This film is loaded with tons of nice little touches that really help you understand the Bates character. From eating with the same spoon that he uses to stuff his dead birds, to the passionate kiss delivered to a dead victim, "Psycho 3" shines with tons of little treats Hitchcock would have loved. My personal favorite shot in this film is the scene of Norman walking along the motel to confront a blackmailing Duke who is holding mother for ransom. In this scene you can truly grasp the insanity of the character, in which Norman's face is full of psychotic twitches and confusion...you can literally see the man's insanity on his face, truly awesome to watch. The murder scenes are a tad bloodier than usual, though it's nothing that detracts from the film as some have ignorantly said. "Psycho 3" is a very fine directorial debut, resulting in a damn fine feature film. Rest in Piece Tony, we miss you.