Alternate titles : None.

Tagline : "You've met Norman. Now meet Mother."

Psycho 4 : The BeginningSomewhat different from the previous sequels, being more of a psychological thriller, as opposed to a normal horror pic. This time, the story starts with a radio chat show, where the topic the evening's discussion is about people who murder their mothers, and guess who rings up to tell them about his story?

Yes it's good old Norman (Anthony Perkins once more). Apparently cured for good this time, he has been released back into society and married a nurse who works at the asylum that he used to reside in. But as the story unfolds, it turns out that despite his return to sanity, he is plotting one last murder. Not for his mother, but for himself. Just as it was the first time.

The Radio host, Fran (CCH Pouder), tries to keep him talking as they attempt to track down his location so they can alert the authorities, and so Norman begins to tell us about the first 3 murders he committed and about how he was driven to kill his own mother.

Told in a series of flashbacks, with Henry Thomas playing the young Norman, and Olivia Hussey playing the role of his mother. We get to see that despite Norman's previous claims of her being kind and gentle, she was actually abusive, violent and sporting a very mean streak.

Of course, all of this is superfluous to the secondary plot which is why Norman says he has to kill again, and wether or not the Radio host can either find out where he's calling from, or at least try and talk him out of it.

Originally made for the US TV networks, and released direct-to-video everywhere else. It's not quite as good as the other films, but I would still recommend it to you, as it's still a pretty good movie, which fans of the other Psycho films should enjoy.

Overall Marks : 5/10.

Terrifying Trivia

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Cast & Crew

Buy Online

 

Buy the UK DVD Box Set (4 films) [Amazon UK]

 

Buy the US BD  [Amazon US]

Buy the US DVD Box Set (3 films) [Amazon US]

 

Notes on affiliate sites.