Shocktober 2023, Week 2

8. Psycho (1960)

Hitchcock's influential classic is still impactful all these years later. Anthony Perkins's subtle, unnerving portrayal of Norman Bates is bolstered by solid performances from the veteran supporting cast and by Bernard Herman's iconic, unsettling score. Hitchcock draws from his nearly 40 years of directing experience to craft a film that plays with many conventions that he himself had helped to establish. The film's final, exposition-filled scene is its only sore spot, largely because the director had done such an expert job subtlely communicating the character's motives to the audience throughout the film that it feels unnecessary. Though the film has admittedly had a negative impact on the wider culture, helping to create an unhealthy obsession with serial killers, for the discerning viewer it contains some powerful commentary on the dangers of indulging in one's fantasies, a lesson many today would be wise to heed.

8.6/10 

9. Psycho II (1983)

A completely unnecessary sequel, the second film in the series serves mostly the unenviable task of making Norman Bates a viable antagonist for a slasher movie series. The results are about as lazy and contrived as you might expect, although Perkin's tries his best in a thankless role. Dean Cundey's talent is wasted on the rather flat made-for-TV looking visuals. Jerry Goldsmith's score is good, but fails to capture Bernard Hermann's dissonant, minimalistic work for the original. 

5.8/10

10. Psycho III (1986)

Having gotten the tiresome retconning out of the way, the producers were now free to make the third entry into a full-on slasher film. The result is a less dull but considerably more sadistic film than Psycho II. The visuals are a good deal trippier this time around and Bruce Surtees' talents are much better utilized here then were Cundey's. A young Carter Burwell contributes a unique, disturbing score, utilizing a unusual blend of electronic music and choir. Perkin's feels more at home here as well. It's too bad such talents weren't utilized on a more worthy effort... 

5.6/10

11. Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990)

Shockingly, Psycho IV manages to pull off a rare feat: it's a slasher sequel that not only doesn't suck but also adds something to the original film and manages to bring the series to a satisfying conclusion. What's even more surprising is that this conclusion is actually cathartic and hopeful without becoming maudlin. It also, for the most part, avoids exploitive material. Cinematically, it's not a patch on the original but, unlike it immediate predecessors, I'm not sorry I watched it. 

Score: 7.8/10

12. Friday the 13th (1981)

As the 13th of October this year just so happened to occur on a Friday, we could not help but revisit this campy classic. Its perhaps surprising, given the number of sequels, spin-offs and imitators it has spawned, that the original Friday the 13th is a rather unremarkable film. Not only is the script laughable and the acting amateurish (no surprise there for anyone familiar with slashers), but the camerawork and editing are rather pedestrian, especially when to compared with the first film of the other famous slasher series, Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street. The film's saving grace (if you can call it that) is the twist at the end with Jason's mom. It also has a certain cheesy, low-budget charm that makes up, in part, for the erratic pacing and sloppy filmmaking, and Tom Savini's make-up work is justly well remembered. 

6.2/10

13. Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Silence of the Lambs is one of those horror movies for people who don't like horror movies. It's often labelled as a "psychological thriller" which is true but though the horrors might be more "real" (for a faithless infidel) then other horror films but it is horror nonetheless. It has also somewhat politically incorrect given the way it portrays certain kinds of deviant behavior. Like Psycho, the film exploits our modern fascination with serial killers in a way I'm not completely comfortable with, yet it does this so effectively and features so much talent both behind and in front of the camera, that it is hard to complain. 

8.8/10

14. Jacob's Ladder (1990)

Jacob's Ladder is a unique horror film to be sure. It's also a bit of a mixed bag. While its exploration of death contains some genuine insights it also, sadly, lapses into universalist territory. The director Adrian Lyne maintains a surreal atmosphere throughout the film, as Jacob (Tim Robbins) drifts from one reality to another; and there is a lot of genuinely disturbing imagery. On the other hand, the film is sometimes lacking in subtlety, the psychology of the protagonist and the meaning of his journey becoming rather unmistakably clear by the end of the picture, leaving little room for mystery or ambiguity.  

8/10