| Psycho III | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Anthony Perkins |
| Written by | Charles Edward Pogue |
| Produced by | Hilton A. Green |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Bruce Surtees |
| Edited by | David Blewitt |
| Music by | Carter Burwell |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 93 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $8.4 million[1] |
| Box office | $14.4 million |
Psycho III is a 1986 Americanslasher film, and the third film in thePsycho franchise. It starsAnthony Perkins, who also directs the film, reprising the role ofNorman Bates. It co-starsDiana Scarwid,Jeff Fahey, andRoberta Maxwell. The screenplay is written byCharles Edward Pogue. The original electronic music score is composed and performed byCarter Burwell in one of his earliest projects.Psycho III is unrelated toRobert Bloch's thirdPsycho novel,Psycho House, which was not published until 1990.
The film takes place one month after the events ofPsycho II whereNorman Bates is still running the Bates Motel with the corpse ofEmma Spool still sitting up in the house. Maureen Coyle, a suicidal nun, with whom Norman falls in love, comes to the motel along with a drifter named Duane Duke. Reporter Tracy Venable 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, which was released onShowtime in November 1990. Later in 1987, Perkins' performance in this third installment of thePsycho screen anthology would garner him a nomination for aSaturn Award for Best Actor, and the film itself would also be nominated for aSaturn Award for Best Horror Film at the14th Saturn Awards.
In 1983,Norman Bates works at the Bates Motel and lives with the preserved corpse ofEmma 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 fromLos 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 theVirgin 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 afootball 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 John 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, pierced and killed by the arrow on a statue. 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 John. When he chose her sister over her, Spool snapped and killed him. She then kidnapped the child 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.
Principal photography ofPsycho III took place between June 28, 1985, and September 10, 1985.[2][3]Anthony Perkins, who took on the role of director for the first time, commented: "I liked how wild the script was, and how tight it was at the same time. It's the perfect blend of the reasonable and the unreasonable. I've always been looking for a project to direct with which I have an affinity with the subject and characters. I felt this would be a good script for an unknowing director to take on because the scenes were so well written, they directed themselves."[4]
| Psycho III: Music from the Motion Picture | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | |
| Released | July 1986 |
| Genre | Soundtrack |
| Length | 30:39 |
| Label | MCA Records |
| Producer | Carter Burwell |
| Singles from Psycho III | |
| |
All tracks are written byCarter Burwell, except where noted[5]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Scream of Love (Theme Song From the Motion PicturePsycho III)" | Carter Burwell/David Sanborn/Stephen Bray | 3:47 |
| 2. | "Maureen in the Desert" | 1:56 | |
| 3. | "Dirty Street" | Burwell/Stanton Miranda/Bray | 3:37 |
| 4. | "Before and After Shower" | 3:36 | |
| 5. | "Warm as a Cry for Help" | 2:20 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6. | "Sisters/Catherine Mary" | Burwell/Miranda/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 onBlood Simple. Perkins stated that he wanted to take the score in a more contemporary direction thanJerry Goldsmith had for his more traditional score forPsycho II. Burwell flew toLos Angeles and recorded the score largely on aSynclavier electronic music station, augmented by women's and boys' choirs as well as percussion by Steve Forman.[6]
AfterUniversal suggested the film contain somepop songs so that the film could be marketable to theMTV Generation, Burwell composed and performed songs with colleaguesStanton Miranda andSteve Bray. After Universal claimed the songs weren't sufficiently bankable, Burwell attempted to create a song withOingo Boingo frontman and then burgeoning film composerDanny Elfman, using sampled strings fromBernard Herrmann's score to the originalPsycho. This idea was also rejected.[6]
Universal finally agreed to let Burwell take a motif from the score he'd composed and develop it into an instrumentalelectronic pop song. The song, "Scream of Love"—co-written byjazz saxophonistDavid Sanborn—was released as a 7" single and a series ofdance remixes were commissioned fromArthur 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 onMTV as a guestVJ on July 2, 1986.[6] 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 thehip hop groupInsane Poetry on "Welcome to the Grim Side", the intro to their 1992 debut albumGrim Reality, as well as on the title track of British musicianAim's 1999electronica album,Cold Water Music.
Psycho III was originally scheduled to be released on February 14, 1986, on Valentine's Day.[7] 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 thePsycho series.[8]
Reviews from critics were mixed.Vincent Canby ofThe New York Times wrote a generally positive review, calling Perkins a "very creditable director" andCharles Edward Pogue's screenplay "efficient", concluding that "Psycho III expresses its appreciation of theHitchcock legacy without seeming to rip it off".[9]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".[10] Michael Wilmington of theLos Angeles Times thought that the film was "better in most respects thanII", 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".[11]Paul Attanasio ofThe 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".[12]Tom Milne ofThe Monthly Film Bulletin wrote that Perkins gave "an excellent performance" but "there isn't very much more to be said aboutNorman Bates".[13]
Gene Siskel andRoger Ebert were split on the film's effectiveness. On their television showAt the Movies, Ebert gave the film a "thumbs up" positive appraisal, saying it was a "much better movie thanPart II", 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".[14]
As of September 2025, the film holds a 60% approval rating based on 35 reviews on the review aggregatorRotten 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".[15]
Psycho III has been released four times onDVD. The initial release came in 1999 when Universal Studios leased the film out toGoodTimes Home Video.[16] The second release came in 2005 fromUniversal Studios itself.[17] The third release came in 2007 as part of a triple feature package withPsycho II andPsycho IV: The Beginning.[18]Shout Factory released a special edition on DVD andBlu-ray in September 2013.[19]
| Novels |
|
|---|---|
| Film |
|
| Television |
|
| Characters | |
| Music | |
| Miscellaneous |
|
