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You've met Norman... now meet mother.

In this 1990 made-for-cable prequel (hosted by Janet Leigh for it's Showtime premiere) four years have passed since Psycho III, and Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) has been granted parole. From the home he shares with his wife Connie (Donna Mitchell) who is a nurse from the institution, he phones in to a radio show that's featuring a program about matricide. Norman feels his sanity is slipping again; his wife is pregnant and he fears bringing forth "another monster." Gaining the compassion of deejay Fran Ambrose (C.C.H. Pounder) and the animosity of the psychiatrist (Warren Frost) who analyzed him at the conclusion of the first film and who happens to be in the studio, Norman recalls his childhood and teenage years, and the events that lead to the murder of his mother and her smarmy lover Chet (Thomas Schuster). Olivia Hussey plays his mother Norma, who definitely sets a crazy precedent for her son to follow. Henry Thomas plays young Norman and does well, with all the appropriate twitches. The film does have some inconsistencies with the other films which die-hard fans should notice. Some of the flashbacks we see are very well done, other scenes are unintentionally laughable.

The original music score is used and the screenplay was penned by Joseph Stefano, who wrote the 1960 original. This was the first movie shot on the newly completed Universal Studios in Florida; the Bates Motel and Psycho House sets on the studio lot were the first structures to be built on the property. The motel was torn down in 1998 and the house was torn down in 1999. The original premise was to have Norman and a girl escape the institution and return to the house and the motel, where it is now a tourist attraction/theme park. The murders are recreated here, and Norman was to step in for his stand-in, with predictable results. A lot of "Psycho" fans seem to be divided on this last installment, but I think there's definitely enough going here to recommend it. Due to the box office failure of Psycho III, Universal refused to allow Anthony Perkins to direct the film, and refused to release the film theatrically in the United States. Several different endings were shot to keep the ending secret.

Psycho IV: The Beginning was released on DVD as part of a triple feature package with Psycho II and Psycho III on August 14, 2007 by Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

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