Psycho is an American horror media franchise consisting of six films loosely based on the Psycho novels by Robert Bloch: Psycho, Psycho II, Psycho III, Bates Motel, Psycho IV: The Beginning, the 1998 remake of the original film, and additional merchandise spanning various media. The first film, Psycho, was directed by filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. Subsequently, another film related to the series was made: an Alfred Hitchcock biopic, and two new novels, by Takekuni Kitayama and Chet Williamson, were released. Also, an independent documentary film called The Psycho Legacy was released on October 19, 2010, mostly focusing on Psycho II, Psycho III and Psycho IV: The Beginning, while covering the impact and legacy of the original film.
The franchise focuses on Norman Bates, a deeply disturbed individual who operates the Bates Motel. He is mentally unstable due to his domineering relationship with his mother, which results in him having a psychotic twisted split personality, and, as a result, he occasionally kills people.
A five-season television series, Bates Motel, aired on A&E between 2013 and 2017. In a modern-day setting, it is a re-imagining of the Norman and Norma Bates characters, and their unusual relationship. It stars Freddie Highmore as a teenaged Norman and Vera Farmiga as his mother Norma.
Novels Psycho (1959)
In 1959, the novel Psycho was published. It was marketed as being loosely based on the Wisconsin serial killer and cannibal Ed Gein, after author Robert Bloch, who lived 40 miles away from Gein's farmhouse, learned of the killings shortly before finishing the novel, having independently liked the idea of somebody being able to kill people in a small community and get away with it for years without being caught. Bloch was further surprised years later when news of Gein's living in isolation with a religiously fanatical mother came to his attention, in "how closely the imaginary character I'd created resembled the real Ed Gein both in overt act and apparent motivation". The character of Norman Bates was different in the novel from in the film version. In the novel, Bates is overweight, in his early 40s and drinks heavily. When Joseph Stefano adapted the novel into the screenplay, he made the character of Norman young, attractive and vulnerable.
Psycho II (1982)
In 1982, Bloch wrote a sequel novel called Psycho II which satirized the slasher genre and mocked the production of the 1983 film version, which was created independently and without Bloch's input. In the novel, Norman Bates escapes the mental institution and goes to Hollywood to stop the production of a film based on his life. Criticisms of the novel stated that Bloch's writing was immature, incoherent and unsuitable for adaptation into a motion picture.
Psycho House (1990)
In 1990, due to the pressure from his publishing company, Bloch wrote a third novel called Psycho House, but according to horror writer David J. Schow, when writing it Bloch originally called it Psycho 13. In the novel, set ten years after Norman Bates' death, the Bates mansion and motel are both bought as tourist attractions, before a series of mysterious murders begin to take place.
Psycho: Sanitarium (2016) A fourth installment, titled Robert Bloch's Psycho: Sanitarium and written by Chet Williamson, was released in 2016. The book is set between the events of the original novel and Psycho II, recounting the events which took place in a state hospital for the criminally insane where Bates is a patient.
Films Film U.S. release date Director(s) Screenwriter(s) Producer(s) Psycho Alfred Hitchcock Joseph Stefano Alfred Hitchcock Psycho II Richard Franklin Tom Holland Hilton A. Green &Bernard Schwartz Psycho III Anthony Perkins Charles Edward Pogue Hilton A. Green Bates Motel Richard Rothstein George Linder,Ken Topolsky &Henry Kline Psycho IV: The Beginning Mick Garris Joseph Stefano George Zaloom &Les Mayfield Psycho Gus Van Sant Gus Van Sant &Brian Grazer
Psycho (1960)
In need of money to get her boyfriend, Sam Loomis, out of debt (John Gavin), Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) steals $40,000 (approximately $441,601 in 2026 dollars) from her employer and flees Phoenix, Arizona by car. While en route to Sam's California home, she parks along the road to sleep. A highway patrol officer awakens her and, suspicious of her agitation, follows her. When she trades her car for another at a dealership, he notes the new vehicle's details. Marion returns to the road but, rather than drive in a heavy storm, decides to spend the night at the Bates Motel. The proprietor, Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), tells Marion he rarely has customers because of the motel's disconnection from a new Interstate and mentions he lives with his mother in the house overlooking the motel. He invites Marion to supper. She overhears Norman arguing with his mother about letting Marion in the house, and during the meal, she angers him by suggesting he institutionalize his mother. He admits he would like this, but does not want to abandon her.
Marion resolves to return to Phoenix to return the money. After calculating how she can repay the money she has spent, Marion dumps her notes down the toilet and begins to shower. An anonymous female figure enters the bathroom and stabs her to death. Finding the corpse, Norman is horrified. He places Marion's body, wrapped in the shower curtain, and all her possessions - including the money - in the trunk of her car and sinks it in a nearby swamp.
Shortly afterward, Sam is contacted by both Marion's sister Lila Crane (Vera Miles) and private detective Milton Arbogast (Martin Balsam), who has been hired by Marion's employer to recover the money. Arbogast traces Marion to the motel and questions Norman, who unconvincingly lies that Marion stayed for one night and left the following morning. He refuses to let Arbogast talk to his mother, claiming she is ill. Arbogast calls Lila to update her and tells her he will call again after he questions Norman's mother.
Arbogast enters Norman's house and at the top of the stairs is attacked by a figure who slashes his face with a knife, pushes him down the stairs, then stabs him to death. When Arbogast does not call Lila, she and Sam contact the local police. Deputy Sheriff Al Chambers (John McIntire) is perplexed to learn Arbogast saw a woman in a window since Norman's mother died ten years ago. Norman confronts his mother and urges her to hide in the cellar. She rejects the idea and orders him out of her room, but against her will, Norman carries her to the cellar.
Posing as a married couple, Sam and Lila check into the motel and search Marion's room, where they find a scrap of paper in the toilet with "$40,000" written on it. While Sam distracts Norman, Lila sneaks into the house. Sam suggests to Norman that he killed Marion for the money so he could buy a new hotel. Realizing Lila is not around, Norman knocks Sam unconscious and rushes to the house. Lila sees him and hides in the cellar where she discovers the semi-preserved and mummified body of Norman's mother. Wearing his mother's clothes and a wig and carrying a knife, Norman enters and tries to attack Lila, but she is rescued by Sam.
After Norman's arrest, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Richmond (Simon Oakland) tells Sam and Lila that Norman's dead mother is living in Norman's psyche as an alternate personality. After the death of Norman's father, the pair lived as if they were the only people in the world. When his mother found a lover, Norman went mad with jealousy and murdered them both. Consumed with guilt, Norman "erased the crime" by bringing his mother back to life in his mind. He stole her corpse and preserved the body. When he was "Mother", he acted, talked, and dressed as she would. The psychiatrist concludes that the "Mother" personality now has complete control of Norman's mind.
In the final scene, Norman sits in a cell, thinking in "Mother's" voice. In a voiceover, "Mother" explains that she plans to prove that she is incapable of violence by refusing to swat a fly that has landed on her hand. The final shot shows Marion's car being recovered from the swamp.
Psycho II (1983)
Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) is released from a mental institution after 22 years. Lila Crane (Vera Miles), the sister of Bates' victim Marion Crane and widow of the now-deceased Sam Loomis, vehemently protests with a petition that she has been circulating with signatures of 743 people, including the relatives of the six people Norman killed prior to his incarceration, but her plea is dismissed. Norman is taken to his old home, the Bates Motel, with the house behind it on the hill, by Dr. Bill Raymond (Robert Loggia), who assures him everything will be fine. He is introduced to the motel's new manager, Warren Toomey (Dennis Franz). The following day, Norman reports to a pre-arranged job at a nearby diner, run by a kindly old lady named Emma Spool (Claudia Bryar). One of his co-workers there is Mary Samuels (Meg Tilly), a young waitress. Mary claims she has been thrown out of her boyfriend's place and needs a place to stay. Norman offers to let her stay at the motel, then extends the offer to his home when he discovers that Toomey has turned his beloved establishment into a sleazy adult motel.
Norman's adjustment back into society appears to be going along well until "Mother" begins to make her presence known. Norman gets mysterious notes from "Mother" at the house and diner. Phone calls come from someone claiming to be Norman's mother. Toomey picks a fight at the diner after Norman fires him. Later, a figure in a black dress stabs Toomey to death with a kitchen knife as he is packing to leave the motel. Norman begins to doubt his sanity when he begins hearing voices in the house. He enters his mother's bedroom to find it looks exactly as it did 22 years ago. A sound lures him to the attic, where he is locked in. Believing the house to be abandoned, a teenage couple sneaks in through the cellar window. They notice a female figure pacing in the next room. As they try to climb out, the boy is stabbed to death. The girl escapes and alerts the police. Mary eventually finds Norman in the attic. Sheriff Hunt (Hugh Gillin) questions them about the boy's murder. He finds the cellar neat and orderly. Norman is about to admit that something suspicious is going on, but Mary claims that she has cleaned up the basement herself. After the sheriff leaves, Norman asks Mary why she lied. She explains that she had to save him from being arrested. Norman collapses into the chair with his head in his hands and moans, "It's starting again!"
Mary is startled later when she discovers someone looking at her through a peephole in the bathroom wall. She calls out to Norman, who is downstairs and out of reach. The two are horrified to find a bloody cloth that has been stuffed down the toilet. Norman appears confused and believes he may have committed another murder. Mary goes down to check the motel. In the parlor she is surprised by Lila, who reveals herself to be Mary's mother. She has been calling Norman claiming to be his mother, even going so far as to dress up as her and allowing him to see her in the window. Mary has been helping her. She was responsible for restoring Mother's room at the house and locking Norman in the attic. All of this was an attempt to drive Norman insane again and have him recommitted.