Quartile rating: 5.5/10 · 1 rating
When Maureen Coyle, a suicidal nun who resembles Norman's former victim, Marion Crane, arrives at the motel, all bets are off and "Mother" is less than happy.
Psycho III is a competent but largely by-the-numbers slasher sequel that recycles familiar Bates Motel iconography without adding much depth. The plot—built around a Marion Crane lookalike nun—has interesting thematic potential (guilt, salvation, damnation) that it squanders in favor of routine kill sequences. Anthony Perkins directs with some genuine stylistic flair, particularly in the moody lighting and a few inventive set pieces that show he understood the material viscerally. Perkins himself remains committed and compelling in the lead, elevating material that doesn't fully deserve him. The ending resolves predictably without the original's psychological punch. As a sequel it offers little that distinguishes it from countless other late-slasher-era entries.