The Firelight Shocks DVD Review Section

Psycho 3 Distributor: Goodtimes Region: 1 Ratio: 1.85.1 (not enhanced) Sound: Dolby Digital Surround

Hitchcock's originalPsycho, I'm sure you don't need me to tell you, was more than just an 'event' movie and more than just one of the greatest genre films of all time. For Psycho was something else entirely, it was groundbreaking, a cultural event and - perhaps most importantly - a work of very high art: beautifully rendered, perfectly filmed and so ingeniously designed and directed that a certain Gus Van Sant tried to copy every single frame in an ill advised remake. Indeed, the difference between Psycho and any one of its imitators begins and ends right there. For no one can 'do' Hitchcock because Hitchcock was a law unto himself, a filmmaker who never tired of furthering his craft and influencing and forwarding new techniques. Indeed, virtually every one who picks up a film camera is in debt to Hitch in some way or another (even if they might be too ignorant to know it - that might sound harsh but it's also very true). So, in case you haven't gathered, Alfred was an artist, a genius and Psycho is a perfect movie. Psycho 2 (1983), was a bold attempt at equalling the shock value of the first, and it was very, very good - helped in no small part by the late, great Anthony Perkins reprising his Norman Bates role. At the end of Psycho 2 (SPOILERS AHEAD), we found out that 'mother' was not in fact Bates' real parent, instead Norman's real mum was a dapper old lady, alive and well, who had been slashing up some trespassers and trying to keep her son out of trouble. She promptly received a shovel to the head for her trouble, signalling Norman's return to lunacy. Psycho 3, also Perkins' directorial debut and made in 1986, opens with a homage to Vertigo and features an ex-nun, who reminds Norman of Marion Crane and played by Diana Scarwid, finding her way to the Bates Motel. When Bates, inadvertently, saves the young nun from killing herself (he returns to cabin number one for a bit of slashing, but instead finds the poor girl semiconscious having cut her wrists) she falls in love with him. That's the least of his worries however. Norman hires a traveller called Duke (Jeff Fahey) to preside over the motel during the day - but Duke, a vicious misogynist, finds 'mother' and tries his hand at blackmailing Norman in a particularly humorous scene. Above all that is the inevitable snooping journalist, who has a suspenseful showdown with Bates at the finale, and a few meddling teenagers - a couple of whom (this being the eighties after all) meet a bloody end. Psycho 3 also includes enough good-natured Hitchcock references to please even the biggest cynic. Psycho 3 benefits greatly from Perkin's direction, which is confident, inventive and surprisingly stylish. The film looks incredible and some especially daring shots are pulled off with apparent ease (Diana Scarwid falling down the staircase mimics the cop falling down the stairs in the original film tremendously). There is even a first person stalking scene, which works as a great homage to Halloween! Yes, Perkins esteems himself with this movie - his direction is brilliant and his acting is fantastic (this time it's played for laughs, but not so that it dampens your feelings towards the first film). There are still some problems with Psycho 3, however. The script, albeit only a couple of times, calls for a faceless character to be slaughtered ala Friday the 13th, and one especially graphic death seems out of place in amongst the rest of the film. At times, you see, Perkins seems to be trying his best to go the Hitchcock route of actually never showing you a knife penetrate someone's flesh - and then he goes and ruins it with someone having their throat cut. It's not horrendously nasty or anything, in fact it would be fine in a Jason movie, but it just seems unwarranted here. Still, those squabbles aside, this is a very enjoyable movie and well worth seeking out. Perkin's direction alone, not to mention his performance, will - I imagine - assure this movie of a following for a long time. I'm certainly pleased to have it on disc and it provides sound entertainment whenever I feel the need to go back to the Bates Motel for the third time...

EXTRAS: Your only extra here is a trailer, presented in fullscreen. However, it's the film you're buying this disc for and here it is - presented in its (non enhanced) 1:85:1 ratio, and it looks and sounds fine. Certainly the best that I've ever seen this movie appear, but it does seem a little grainy at times and there is some annoying digital blocking during the darker scenes. Still, I can't see Psycho 3 receiving the 'special edition' treatment any time soon and I'm as happy as can be at owning this film in widescreen.