Going Psycho for Psycho II!

I am a person that is always an advocate for the book over the movie.  I am an avid reader, so this is something that almost always happens; this, however, is not the case with Psycho II.  I have already written an article on the Psycho book, and it turns out that there are three books in the series and four movies that have been made in total.  I am also the person that reads the book and then has to go see the movie, so the whole Psycho series was no exception.  With all of this being said, I have to say that Psycho II the movie was a lot better than the book.  In order to fully understand this, I have to provide some back story.  Without giving too much away, Psycho II the book is about a production being made on the Norman Bates story (not to get confused with the Psycho movie).  Apparently, Warner Brothers did not like how the author of Psycho II portrayed Hollywood, so they went in a completely different direction for the movie, and I am so glad they did.  I figured that for this article, I would give my opinions on why in this case the movie is better than the book.

1.  The book felt too forced.  This is a tough one to explain.  The first Psycho book was absolutely brilliant in its writing; it was fresh and new, almost like a Stephen King novel, but not written exactly like him.  Psycho II, however, felt too forced in a way.  The writing was nothing like that of the first novel.  In fact, it almost read like Red Dragon, which is the first in the Hannibal Lecter series, and while these both fall under the same genre, they shouldn’t be written the same because the characters are too different from each other.  They are both serial killers in their own rights, but they have different reasons and motivations for why they kill. 

2.  The movie was brilliantly written.  Psycho II was an amazing movie!  I can’t really say a lot about it because this is literally a movie that just by saying one thing it could ruin the whole movie!  I will say that there are many twists and turns in the movie that just seem to fit Norman Bates’ story better than that in Psycho II the book.  The story just seemed to flow better in the movie instead of the book.  Of course, if I’m honest with myself, I have a major crush on Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates), so of course he helps the side of the movie just a tiny bit!    

I hope that this article has fully inspired you to give the Psycho series a try!  The movies are absolutely brilliant, and the books are very well written.  If you have read any of the books or seen any of the movies, please let me know as I would love to hear your thoughts on them!  Thanks as always for reading!