WENTY-THREE YEARS AFTER HITCHCOCK CHANGED THE COURSE OF HORROR HISTORY WITH PSYCHO, UNIVERSAL PICTURES LET LOOSE A LOW-BUDGET FOLLOW-UP THAT REMAINS ONE OF THE GREATEST HORROR SEQUELS EVER PRODUCED. BUT FOR THEN UP-AND-COMING SCREENWRITER TOM HOLLAND, IT WAS BOTH A DREAM PROJECT AND A DAUNTING PROSPECT. “It was a huge, huge challenge,” confesses Holland, who would go on to helm
such horror hits as Fright Night (1985) and Child’s Play (1988). “I thought Psycho was maybe the greatest horror film I ever saw. Going in, it was impossible because you knew you were going to get savaged by the critics.” It was Holland’s suspense-filled scripts for ’80s minor cult classics The Beast
Within and Class of 1984 that caught the eye of Psycho II’s director, the late Aus- tralian filmmaker Richard Franklin (Patrick, Road Games). And while the sequel was originally intended as a “cheap as chips” cable movie, Franklin and Holland set their sights on something considerably more ambitious. But first they had to overcome one major obstacle: Anthony Perkins and his reluctance to reprise Nor- man Bates. Presumably, Perkins was not a fan of Robert Bloch’s sequel to the original novel of Psycho. “The book as a stand-alone book was just fine, but as something you’d wanna
make into a movie? No way,” admits Holland. “[Norman] doesn’t make an ap- pearance until the last third and there was no way you were gonna get Tony Perkins back unless he was the centre of the movie.” So, charged with the task of devising a part capable of
seducing the coy Perkins, Holland went to work on a clever, twist-laden tale that revolved around an endearing portrait of Norman Bates. “What I had done very deliberately was write a part
that was sympathetic for Norman and Tony couldn’t resist it,” explains Holland, “because he’s playing the hero! After [Universal] put it out to the news media, there was a worldwide re- action that Tony was going to reprise Norman and at that point, we split from being a little cable movie into probably the least expensive film that Universal has done since the modern era.” Picking up 22 years after the original, Psy-
cho II finds a supposedly “cured” Norman Bates released from a mental hospital, much to the chagrin of one Lila Loomis (Vera Miles reprising her role from the original), the surviving sister of Norman’s infamous shower victim Marion Crane (Janet Leigh). Norman returns to the Bates Motel and the all-too-familiar house on the hill to begin life anew as a short order cook at a local diner. He soon takes a shine to his young co-worker, the troubled Mary, played by 22-year-old Meg Tilly (Agnes of God). But little does Norman know that Mary is actually Loomis’ daughter and part of a conspiracy designed to plunge him back into irretrievable madness. Meanwhile, it seems Mother’s up to her old tricks again and she proceeds to pick off the supporting cast with a battery of brutal but inspired kills. Thanks to Holland’s red herring-riddled script, Franklin’s taut, stylish direction,
Jerry Goldsmith’s spellbinding score, a great cast and a virtuoso performance from Perkins, Psycho II was an instant hit with filmgoers when it was released in the summer of ’83. “It was a tsunami,” explains Holland. “And the film just seems to grow in critical
estimation. It’s a great story. It’s beautifully directed. It’s got wonderful actors. There’s not a bad performance in it – except maybe me as the cop! [Laughs].” He adds, “I wanna give a special nod to Richard
Franklin. Richard was a Hitchcock film scholar. It really is his movie because he did it with as much love and respect for Hitchcock as you could possibly imagine. Richard wanted to echo not only Psycho but also a lot of Hitchcock’s style, so that movie is really a very carefully planned homage to Hitchcock. Richard and I went through all of Hitchcock’s films including the silents and we specifi- cally looked at visual set pieces where the action moves forward without dialogue. He was conscious all the time of pre- serving the Hitchcock legacy.”
Law And Disorder: Screenwriter Tom Holland (right) plays Deputy Norris opposite Anthony Perkins.
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