Psycho III

Universal Pictures | Release Date: July 2, 1986

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

58	METASCORE Mixed or average reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

Roger Ebert

The movie was directed by Perkins, in his filmmaking debut. I was surprised by what a good job he does. Any movie named Psycho III is going to be compared to the Hitchcock original, but Perkins isn't an imitator. He has his own agenda. Read full review

TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)

Adding to the excitement of Psycho III is Perkins' willingness to take chances with his style and material. Read full review

Paul Attanasio

A playful, artfully made horror movie that shows there's life in Norman Bates yet, and death, too. [04 July 1986, p.C1]

Lee Siegel

If you have a twisted sense of humor and like cheap thrills, you'll probably love Psycho III. [14 Aug 1986]

Jay Scott

Psycho III, directed by Perkins himself, is years behind the Hitchcock original in quality, it's light years ahead of Psycho II. [27 June 1986, p.D1]

Vincent Canby

Unlike most sequels, which seem to get bigger, fancier and emptier the further removed they are from their source material, Psycho III has a lean, serviceable, stripped-down quality to it. Read full review

Orlando Aloma

Psycho III is still a comedie macabre -- as was Hitchcock's -- but Perkins doesn't follow the Psycho path. Where the master trod subtly, the disciple relies on emphasis. [03 July 1986, p.D11]

Staff (Not Credited)

It's not unenjoyable, but it isn't half the pastiche that Psycho II was. Read full review

Dave Kehr

Perkins tries to imitate Hitchcock's visual style, but most of the film is made without concern for style of any kind, unless it's the bludgeoning nonstyle of Friday the 13th. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

A few amusing little notions are streched to the point of diminishing returns in Psycho III. Read full review

Michael Wilmington

Psycho III--better in most respects than II--lets you down with the same swampy thud at the end. It's not a catastrophe. It has some good writing, and some better-than-good acting (Perkins, Diana Scarwid, Jeff Fahey), directing (Perkins again) and camera work (Bruce Surtees). But it fails any sequel's acid test: It feeds off the original without deepening it. Read full review

Rita Kempley

There are entertaining touches in this blackly comic grotesquerie, but it is no more frightening than a teenage slasher movie. Perkins, in his first stab at directing, never gives us time to anticipate. At best, he parodies the classic, but without restraint. [04 July 1986, p.N29]

Sid Smith

The real trouble with Psycho III is that it's one sequel too many. Norman and his Gothic manse have already been drained of creative resources. [03 July 1986, p.A]