6. Psycho IV: The Beginning Completely Ignores Psycho II And III
The late Anthony Perkins became iconic in the role of Norman Bates, the title character of Alfred Hitchcocks groundbreaking thriller. He returned to play Norman in Psycho II and III, where hes released from an asylum, driven crazy by unforgiving victims and starts killing his guests again. At the end of Psycho III hes taken away by the police, presumably to spend the rest of his life in a rubber room. So its a surprise to see him sane and married at the start of Psycho IV. The framing device has Norman calling into a radio show to talk about his relationship with his cruel mother, which is seen in flashback with another actor playing young Norman. The events of II and III, where Normans equally crazy aunt made him believe she was actually his mother are completely overlooked, as are Normans crimes. This is because the screenwriter of the original movie returned to write Part IV, and consciously chose to ignore them. This is a shame as both movies are actually pretty good (even if the crazy aunt subplot probably would have been needlessly distracting in the final movie).