In a Nutshell. Mini reviews of movies old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. And often no sleep.

Sunday 20 October 2013

PSYCHO IV: THE BEGINNING [1990]

The idea of Mick Garris directing the fourth & final instalment in the Psycho series as a made-for-TV film sounds like it has disaster written all over it.
...and it pretty much is.
It might not be as bad as the third film but only because it takes a different approach to the series by flashbacking to Norman Bates as a little boy and his relationship with his batshit crazy mother.  The writing and directing are over-the-top in a pulp comic book sort of way that drains the film of any sort of tension whatsoever.  However Henry Thomas & Olivia Hussey as young Norman and Norma Bates are actually quite good with what little they had to work with.

1½ boy's best friends out of 5

2 comments:

Dr Faustus said...

You got a bad dose of the Garris.

cuckoo said...

Garris loves it when we wipe our Nuts on his work.