It’s an undisputed fact that Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is one of the greatest horror films ever made, and one of the most significant pieces of cinema full stop. Sixty-five years since its controversial release, it continues to enthral audiences and inspire storytellers. Psycho is a lean, mean, and stylistically stunning piece of cinematic trickery. Audiences never saw its twists and turns coming, and in Anthony Perkins’ Norman Bates, they had a new standard for big-screen evil.
But when you’ve made a bona fide masterpiece, Hollywood will want you to make it happen again. Not even Hitchcock’s masterpiece was immune to this: there are three Psycho sequels, which the majority of fans may not even be aware of. None came close to recapturing the magic of Psycho, but they all offer intriguing glimpses into a cultural shift that sought to bring new shades to a notorious bad guy.
