Psycho II Review

Psycho II is a 1983 American slasher film directed by Richard Franklin, written by Tom Holland, and starring Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, Robert Loggia, and Meg Tilly. It is the first sequel to Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho and the second film in the Psycho franchise. Set 22 years after the first film, it follows Norman Bates after he is released from the mental institution and returns to the house and Bates Motel to continue a normal life. However, his troubled past continues to haunt him as someone begins to murder the people around him. The film is unrelated to the 1982 novel Psycho II by Robert Bloch, which he wrote as a sequel to his original 1959 novel Psycho.

In preparing the film, Universal hired Holland to write an entirely different screenplay, while Australian director Franklin, a one-time student of Hitchcock, was hired to direct. The film marked Franklins' American feature film debut.

Psycho II was released on June 3, 1983, and grossed $34.7 million at the box office on a budget of $5 million. It received mixed-to-positive reviews from film critics. The film was followed by Psycho III (1986).