MovieChat Forums > Psycho II (1983) Discussion > So why did Norman kill Mrs. Spool?

So why did Norman kill Mrs. Spool?


He was the victim all along, fearful of reverting back to his old way, yet in the end he seemingly out of nowhere decides to kill Spool. Why?

reply

I just watched the film for the first time. It had SUCH promise for the first third; then it went downhill. I wondered the same thing you ask, because it seemed to undo the entire script. Shame that producers don't pay more attention to, like, the screenplays they finance. Meg Tilly was really good in her role, and so was Tony Perkins.

reply

Cuz she was a vagina eating dumb ass bitch who deserved 2 die. If I was Norman I would've took her head n dipped it n HOT 🔥BOILING WATER💧4 5 minutes then I would beat her 👊💥with the shovel n the head 10 TIMES!!!!! Until she's Unreconizable or until I'm satisfied or my hands ✋🖐👋 get cramps. N I would pour gasoline on her n set her on fire 🔥!!!!!! N find a new place 2 live cuz the house blew up with her inside BURNING!!!!!

reply

Alrighty then.

reply

There's an interview with the writer on Rob Ager's YouTube channel.

He was gonna kill her with tea, as you saw Norman start to do, but wanted a "bigger bang ending that would keep the audience talking as they left the theater."

https://youtu.be/Q_l7z_zJ3PU

Now me talking: He needed a twist of some kind, and a death at the end. He'd already killed off Lila, so I believe the Spool character was invented out of whole cloth to provide a death and to get Norman onto a "really crazy" track for the next film.

To me, it was contrived, makes no sense, had no foreshadowing and, along with this movie, was amateurishly written and produced (for cable, BTW). Meg Tilly's acting was ruined by the poor looping, the soundtrack by Goldsmith, usually a master, sounded hollow and quickly written and produced (four violins some percussion a cheap synth and lots of reverb.... screams "TV movie" to me.

I was most disappointed.

reply

Norman talks about how the memories of his mother, bar one happy one, had been stripped away in the institution. This was the key to his sanity and it was reinforced with the sight of his mother's buried corpse.

He had nothing to frame his fantasy with until Miss Spool told him he had a real mother. The stress of the whole episode with Mary and Lila, including the death of his shrink, pushed Norman to want to fuel the fantasy of a living dead mother again.

If it hadn't been for Miss Spool killing Toomey and that boy, Norman and Mary might have been happy. So once again Norman's love life is undermined by his mother.

I personally think it's a good twist and complements the movie that come before it, which is kind of nutty all round.

reply

No one really knows, including the writers of this movie so I'm calling out a plot hole here

reply