Comments on: Psycho II

By: Ray Crowe

Ray Crowe — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 00:04:57 +0000

Considering this sequel was mainly an attempt by Universal to cash in on the slasher craze of the early ’80s, it’s pretty amazing. Stylishly photographed, both well-acted and plotted and with several good jolts and gore scenes, what more could you want from a 1980s R-rated sequel to Hitchcock’s essential slasher precursor Psycho?

By: odo19

odo19 — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 07:57:32 +0000

Yikes. So I guess I’m all alone in thinking this was a piece of shit?? Maybe because I watched it right after watching the first one for the first time in years?? I thought the kills were waaaaaay to over the top, I thought the twists were absurd, and I even thought Perkins was pretty shitty as well. He’s an actor I usually love but I didn’t think there was a note in this he didn’t overplay. Sorry guys.

By: CJ Holden

CJ Holden — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 12:17:58 +0000

Just watched it and HOLY SHIT, IT WAS FUCKING AWESOME!!!!! Seriously, I’m still shaking from its awesomeness. The only thing that I didn’t like was the knife-through-mouth kill, but only because it felt too much like something out of a “normal” 80’s slasher. A cool scene, but a little bit out of place IMO.
And the Jerry Goldsmith score is fucking great! One of the most nerve-wracking use of synthesizers, that is not associated with John Carpenter.

By: Mr. Majestyk

Mr. Majestyk — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 12:37:39 +0000

Mr. S – That is a great idea, but I don’t know if it’s sustainable with the 28 Days Later style of non-zombies. Don’t they all die of starvation in a few weeks? If it’s going to be done, I’d rather see George do Future of the Dead and just put an end to all this nonsense once and for all (until it gets remade in 2027, of course).

By: Gwai Lo

Gwai Lo — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:16:57 +0000

Just watched LINK based on the suggestions in this thread and it was pretty good. I mean you have to respect a movie with Terence Stamp as an ape wrangling anthropologist. I’d like to see it play in an Thin Line Between Man and Ape Marathon with QUEST FOR FIRE, KOKO: A TALKING GORILLA, ALTERED STATES, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY and PLANET OF THE APES. I didn’t like the score though. Too whimsical and circusy, and overbearing in all the wrong places.

By: Mr. Subtlety

Mr. Subtlety — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:00:58 +0000

You know what might be kinda cool though is something like 28 years later. To my knowledge, there is no zombie apacalypse film which lets us see world that has been zombie’d that long. I don’t think even LAND OF THE DEAD is supposed to have been that long, and that’s the only one I can think of that comes close. Could be kind of interesting to see what a world more or less rebuilt around a zombie (ok, non-zombie) menace would look like. A perfectly workable metaphor, and possibly an interesting sci-fi concept, for someone who wanted to do it right.

By: Mr. Majestyk

Mr. Majestyk — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:24:12 +0000

I actually liked 28 Weeks Later better than 28 Days Later, mostly, but that might be because the last act of Days is such a fuckero. If they combined the beginning of Days with the end of Weeks (and somehow found room for the very first scene of Weeks) then you would have the final word in British non-zombie invasions. They wouldn’t have to make 28 Fortnights Later at all.

By: Mr. Subtlety

Mr. Subtlety — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:17:07 +0000

Mr M -All is forgiven because you went for the Intacto / impacto bit.

If you like Spanish thrillers, I think it might be worth revisting down the line, because IMHO it is filled with clever bits and a great, unique central conceit. But maybe you can wait and let Fresnadillo make a few more films and then decide if you’re into his work or not. I thought INTACTO was a stronger film than 28 WEEKS LATER, but that one probably had its share of greatnesss too, so I think he’s working up towards either a true classic or a heartbreaking failure which will tell us where his career is going.

By: Mr. Majestyk

Mr. Majestyk — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:39:27 +0000

I guess maybe it’s my fault because I don’t remember any of the things you’re talking about. I remember the bag-over-the-head scene and then a bunch of gloomy people sitting around in windowless rooms. I tend to like Spanish thrillers (You ever see one called The Uninvited Guest about this guy who thinks there’s a prowler in his house but then he breaks into someone else’s house for some reason and…well, it’s complicated) but Intacto really just had no impacto on me at all. Bad timing, maybe.

By: Mr. Subtlety

Mr. Subtlety — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:17:59 +0000

Mr M- sorry for the delay– the things I like about INTACTO are mostly involving the detail that went into making the concept work and makes sense, and the way the world of the game is so well fleshed-out. Sounds like you’re with me there. But I also thought scenes like the one in the woods are incredibly tense, well-directed execution of a unique concept. I also love the weird, green-lit scene with the bug (wtf?! Anther great, tense application of a concept I’d never seen before) and everything with Von Sydow, who really puts a great sense of the weight of his lot in life into it.

Which brings us to the film’s philosophical undercurrents. If the luckiest man in the world can be so dismal, then what does luck mean, exactly? Sure, it’s lucky to survive a concentration camp, but isn’t it luckier to not go to one to begin with? And if you know you’re luckier than everyone else, don’t you bear some responsibility for their failure too? The movie doesn’t directly talk about these things, but its there in the subext, which is one of the reasons it so dillegently chronicles the pain of the losers as well as the malaise of the winners. The movie has a very muted, quiet way about it, but its kind of a common look and feel for Spanish movies like this, so I was kind of expecting it and it didn’t diminish the energy to me (that’s the major complaint I hear about it, other than the leads aren’t especially memorable, which is true. They do OK but at the end you remember scenes more than the people).

Sorry it didn’t do it for ya, but you gotta admit that guy Fresnadillo’s got some chops on him. I think he’ll win you over yet.