a review of 惊魂记2

HOOPTOBER OCHO NIGHT EIGHT: I liked this one a lot more than I would have expected. Just to get it out of the way, it's definitely nowhere near as elegant as Hitchcock's original and often feels like an uneasy hybrid of the 1960 thriller and the newer teen slashers that this sequel was clearly intended to capitalize upon. Although I don't have anything against Richard Franklin's direction (and appreciate how cinematographer Dean Cundey discovers new angles for the familiar old house/motel sets), it still has sort of a '70s TV reunion-movie feel. I think ultimately what sold me on this was Anthony Perkins' performance as a genuinely befuddled yet still very dangerous-seeming version of Norman Bates. There's a lot that he has to play here that would feel like a total put-on in the hands of a lesser actor (oh hai Vince Vaughn) and he makes it seem organic -- even when we as modern-day viewers might not totally buy Bates being "cured" of his compulsions.