UNLOCK THE TERROR. UNLOCK THE FEAR. AND ENTER INTO THE ALL NEW NIGHTMARE OF PSYCHO III.

A nun (Diana Scarwid) leaves her convent in despair and ends up at Bates Motel where the owner (Anthony Perkins) is still under the spell of his “mother”.

Perkins’s directing debut is not without interesting ideas, but basically comes across as the chapter that unimaginatively took this series into the genre of standard 1980s slasher thrillers. No surprises, no tension.

Jeff Fahey’s character is superfluous and Perkins delivers a performance that is inferior to his previous efforts as Bates.

1986-U.S. 96 min. Color. Directed by Anthony Perkins. Cast: Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates), Diana Scarwid (Maureen Coyle), Jeff Fahey (Duane Duke), Roberta Maxwell, Hugh Gillin, Lee Garlington. 

Trivia: Perkins reportedly wanted to shoot the movie in black-and-white, but the studio refused. Followed by a TV movie, Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990).