Psycho II

I feel divided even adding Psycho II to the Slackerwood event calendar, it's such a mediocre film. I remember seeing it on TV a few years after its 1983 release, hoping for something thrilling, and feeling terribly disillusioned. In fact, I think Psycho II is one of the movies that made me realize that most sequels are crap (Arthur 2 was another). Nevertheless, it is a Terror Tuesday selection, and to present an entirely different viewpoint on the film, here's Alamo programmer Zack Carlson:

"Hundreds of years ago, a fat person made a movie where a guy in a dress stabs a lady in the shower. Cinephiles in sweaters uniformly declared it The Best Horror Film of All Time. When this sequel surfaced, critics roundly dismissed it as an opportunistic swipe at the engorged slasher market...which may be true, but it's also a masterpiece.

"Anthony Perkins returns as Norman the one-man family circus, though the Bates Motel may have developed some murderous secrets of its own in his absence. Suddenly, Hollywood's favorite psychopath is thrust into the hero role, charged with uncovering the force behind the latest round of butcherings, and fighting to clear his good name before he's lynched by the locals. Unfortunately, he's not entirely sure he's innocent ('I don't kill people...anymore.') Though it's unlikely to appear on some boring white jerk's Top Ten list, PSYCHO II is an intelligent, perfectly paced and impossibly entertaining achievement, tipping its hat to the preceding classic and breaking new ground of its own. Believe it: that ol' shower scene's got nothing on this film's final minute-and-a-half."