Psycho II (Franklin, 1983): BFI Southbank, NFT1, 6.10pm
This screening will be introduced by actor Reece Shearsmith.
Chicago Reader review:
Everyone involved seems somewhat confused over what a sequel to
Hitchcock’s masterpiece could possibly be; if ever a film definitively
ended, it was Psycho. Director Richard Franklin (Road Games) and writer Tom Holland (Class of ’84)
find a tentative solution in taking Hitchcock’s psychiatric metaphors
literally: for much of its length, the film is a surprisingly serious
plea for the rights of the mentally ill and the legitimacy of the
insanity defense. When the need to make a commercial shocker finally
asserts itself, the film shifts gears with unseemly, damaging haste.
Though far from a worthy successor to the original (but why make
impossible demands?) the film clearly could have been much worse;
there’s even some inadvertent artistic interest in the Proustian
conjunction of the original actors (Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles), who
have aged, and the meticulously re-created sets, which have not.
Dave Kehr
Here (and above) is the trailer.
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