So much average

Sick Product of a Sick System

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The 1960 'Psycho' is one of Alfred Hitchcock's greatest films and while it is high up in my list of "scariest films of all time" it doesn't stop it from being a personal favourite. Mainly for the cinematography, Hitchcock's direction, the music score and Anthony Perkins.Before seeing either of the sequels, there was the feeling of "what was the point? The 1960 film was perfect as it was and didn't need a sequel let alone three as well as a television film and a remake". Actually found myself very pleasantly surprised by 'Psycho II', and despite reviews being very, very mixed (leaning towards the negative) 'Psycho III' was also better than anticipated. 'Psycho: The Beginning' both intrigued me and filled me with dread, after giving it a chance with an open mind and no prejudice my thoughts were that it's not bad and better than was anticipated but it could have been much better.It's certainly nowhere near as bad or as pointless as the 1998 remake (few films are), at least it was actually interesting to see Norman's childhood and some development for his mother. It just could have been executed better. It has moments of slickness, a haunting score and there are some good performances.Can't say anything bad about Anthony Perkins, other than that he's underused. Other than that he is both creepy and sympathetic which shows that thirty years on he still had it. Olivia Hussey is marvellously chilling, and then there's an entertaining CCH Pounder and a touching Henry Thomas. One actually feels sorry for Norman here.However, the rest of the acting is really not that great or notable. The only other standout in a bad way is the embarrassingly bad John Landis. That 'Psycho IV: The Beginning' was made for TV mostly does show, especially in the disjointed editing and drab production design.Dialogue was not a strong suit in the previous two sequels, but it is especially laughable here and reeks to high heaven of badly gone off cheese. The story picks up a little bit in the final third, but the over-reliance on flashbacks drags things down and the present day elements confuse the story and sees some glaring gaffes in continuity. Furthermore the scares are too few and when there are any they are pretty tame and lack suspense, while the chemistry between Norman and his mother is so overboard on the overt creepiness and sleaze that it feels uncomfortably gratuitous. Mick Garris's directing lacks the eerie style and nail-biting suspense and instead feels pedestrian.Finally the ending, some may like the feeling of closure, it didn't feel that way to me however and tonally it was too tacked on and tonally jarring and implausible.Overall, has some mild intrigue but some good things are not quite enough to save a disappointing effort. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Radio host Fran Ambrose (CCH Pounder) does a show about men who kill their mothers. Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) calls in as Ed from a seemingly suburban kitchen. His psychiatrist Dr. Richmond is a guest on the show. He recalls various stories from his past. As a young man, Norman (Henry Thomas) kills a girl obeying the delusional voice of his mother. He describes his life with his mother Norma (Olivia Hussey).There are some inconsistencies with the earlier sequels. It's nice to have Perkins back but he is mostly talking on the phone until the last part. Henry Thomas does a nice younger Norman in the flashbacks. The individual vignettes aren't that memorable and neither are the victims. This TV sequel tries to be Hitchcockian. It's better than feared but still not that compelling.

I must say, a tormented mind is a terrible thing. For a fourth outing, you could of well expected this one to suck. It doesn't. This is a prequel, where we find out how Norman Bates's hell started. Of course, starring Henry Thomas as a young Norman Bates, wasn't the best of choices, as he really doesn't come off as a psycho. Leave that to the late great Anthony Perkins. Again, after 3, after another indeterminate stint in jail, etc, he's back out in society, and back in that big house at the fore of the infamous Bates motel. His wife, a nurse he must of met at the nuthouse, is expecting, so Norman's thinking what if another Norman pops out. He calls in a radio station, where a woman host (CCH Pounder-Sliver) is talking to a veteran psychiatrist about Matricide- murdering your mother. The guests before were a killer and the victim's father, who supports the killer, as his daughter was, which he referred to as a "World class bitch" which I've met a few of them in my time. On this unreality note, it doesn't despoil this solid drama at all. Norman is venting his killer impulses, threatening to kill again, where we go back and forth to Norman's childhood, (one young girl-a hottie with big, you know who has the hots for him, making the drive to this killer hotel). This is a sexy little chunk of the film, where wee see our young Norman is a bit of hit with the ladies, one much older, telling him during a pash, "You have a tongue like an elephant's memory" before becoming another of the deceased. I had never heard that intriguing term before. Young Norman was physically and mentally abused by his mother, sometimes, performing some degrading tasks and requests, like you hear with the childhood of these real life serial killers. Olivia Hussey is excellent, as the unstable and cruel mother. She has her moments which are scary, as in her change of moods. Things worsen, with the arrival of Mummy's new lover, who teaches young Norman to fight, but he wants no part of it. The flashback use of time is great here, as we really get to see what Norman's unstable environment was like. The movie becomes serious when the host shrink, outs two and two together figuring out the identity of the nutty and distressed caller. Anthony Perkins has still got it, where he never lost it as Norman Bates, and as the film nears the end it becomes a race against time. This fourth outing I think will surprise you. You don't expect it to be this good. It's quite a tense one and the back and forth flow is even Steven. It works, thanks to Hussy chiefly, where really it's not Perkins's movie, as he's not seen that much, only really when holding the line, engaging in his phone conversation, in between his cooking, using that big bad knife of course. The only downfall is the insufficient performance of Thomas, who like I said, really doesn't come off, that psycho, if only for a couple of moments, he'll have the hairs on your wrist standing up.

Psycho IV is the perfect finale to the film series. We are able to get the entire back-story on Norman Bates. For the first three movies, insight was given (revealed) about Norman but the insight given still left the viewers with more questions about him. "What was up with Norman's mother?" "Who was Norman's mother?" "What was Norman's mother really like?" "What was it that drove Norman so crazy, so psycho?" - all these questions that fans have wondered will be finally answered in the fourth film: Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990).For those that have never seen one of the psycho films, you should watch them in order to build suspense towards the fourth movie "Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990)".The rating on this movie is entirely to low and has unfair bad criticism in my opinion. It's a good finale.9/10