Case in point: following the box office and critical failure of 1986’s Anthony
Perkins-directed Psycho III (widely regarded by even the most forgiving fans as the worst entry in the series), Universal staunchly refused to put Perkins in charge of the next installment, opting instead for the then-considerably lesser-known Mick Garris for 1990’s TV movie Psycho IV: The Beginning. Despite an impressive array of experience wearing multiple hats in many areas of both feature film and TV production, Garris had practically no track record at the time as a feature di- rector. His record-breaking success with the miniseries Stephen King’s The Stand was still several years away, and much more time would pass before he could claim credit for creating and producing the Masters of Horror series. Hence, the director/star relationship had rather lukewarm beginnings at best. “Well, let’s just say Tony was ‘challenging,’” Garris allows diplomatically. “You
know, this is a guy who’d been directed by Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, William Wyler and John Huston among other notables, so he wasn’t eager to just coast along with the new kid.” Luckily, Garris had a couple of Hollywood heavyweights in his corner: John
Landis and Steven Spielberg, both of whom he had worked for previously in var- ious capacities. “We had a long ‘getting to know you’ lunch, where John Landis, our mu-
tual friend, played host,” he recalls. “It was really nice and very convivial, but it was clear that I’d be tested during the process. I’m sure he had doubts about working with a director who had only done one feature before. And that was Critters 2 – probably not the most auspicious of debuts.” Shot on the then-brand-new Universal lot in Orlando, Florida and com-
prised largely of flashbacks with Henry Thomas (E.T., and long-time Garris regular) as a teenage Norman and Olivia Hussey (Romeo and Juliet, Black Christmas) as his deranged mother, Psycho IV’s wraparound story has pres- ent-day Norman calling a radio talk show (initially identifying himself as “Ed,” a nod to Psycho’s roots in the real-life case of Ed Gein) to discuss his homicidal history. But as his reminiscences become more vivid and intense, Norman lets his true identity slip and also reveals that he’s about to commit another murder; the show’s host and production staff become desperate to keep him on the line, as the one crucial detail he refuses to divulge is his whereabouts.
EING TAGGED TO HELM A SEQUEL IN A WELL-ESTABLISHED HORROR FILM FRANCHISE TYPICALLY PRESENTS A GREAT CAREER OPPORTUNITY FOR ANY NEOPHYTE DIRECTOR OR SCREENWRITER. BUT WHEN THE STAR OF THE SHOW IS LESS THAN COOPERATIVE – PRIMARILY BECAUSE HE WAS DENIED THE OPPORTUNITY TO DIRECT THE FILM HIMSELF – THINGS CAN GET A BIT THORNY. Luckily for Garris, he had a few more aces up his sleeve: a good supporting
cast including C.C.H. Pounder as the chain-smoking radio host, with Landis and Garris’ wife Cynthia as the call-in show’s crew, a script by original Psycho screen- writer Joseph Stefano (which Garris claims to have altered only slightly) and music by Graeme Revell’s (The Craft, Sin City) revived cues from Bernard Her- rmann’s original score. Still, sailing could have been smoother. “There were definitely times on the
set that weren’t a lot of fun,” Garris admits. “Though I liked [Perkins] and learned a lot from him, he would test me often to make sure that I was shooting some- thing a certain way for a reason, not just because it was a cool shot. It was all about character and tension. He would get caught up on certain words, then talk around them forever. But he didn’t resist direction or anything. And as compli- cated as he was to work with, he could not have been more effusive about the final film when we screened it for him, appropriately enough, at the Alfred Hitch- cock Theater at Universal. I’m really, really glad I did it. He was the first real movie star I’d ever worked with, and it was a fantastic education in many ways.”
Family Ties: Norman (Perkins) pays a visit to Mother and (above) Perkins, Henry Thomas as young Norman and Olivia Hussey as Norma Bates.
Photos by Julie Fletcher. Provided by Jason Allentoff of
thepsychomovies.com
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