10 Ridiculously Long Periods Between Horror Movie Character Appearances

It's truly fascinating than it took more than 20 years for a sequel to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho to be produced - perhaps tellingly, Psycho II was released in 1983, just three years after the director's death, with two additional sequels following by the end of the decade.

Psycho is fondly remembered for many things, including Anthony Perkins' exceptional performance as Bates Motel owner Norman Bates, who of course turns out to be the movie's killer.

It's easy to appreciate Psycho as a one-and-done kind of movie, especially given the lack of sequels in Hitchcock's filmography, though Psycho II came about after the original novel's author Robert Bloch released a sequel novel in 1982.

Universal hated the Psycho II book and so decided to venture in a different direction, hiring legendary horror filmmaker Tom Holland - the other Tom Holland - to pen the script, while Hitchcock's own student Richard Franklin was hired to direct.

Most importantly, the film brought back Anthony Perkins to play Norman Bates some 23 years later, the film taking place 22 years after Psycho as Norman is released from a mental institution and returns to the Bates Motel.

As a cherry on top, Vera Miles also reprises her role of Lila Crane (now Lila Loomis).

Psycho II of course wasn't nearly as well-received as the original, but remains a worthwhile curio for fans, in large part thanks to Perkins' nuanced performance.

In fact, he continued to be the favoured mainstay during the two similarly divisive sequels that followed before the actor's death in 1992.