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The 'real killer' may not be the one? (Spoilers)

posted 12 years ago by donl1282
8 replies | jump to latest

I didn't mention Mrs. Spool in the title to avoid giving away spoilers to those who haven't seen this. Could there be a chance that Norman is actually the real killer rather than Mrs. Spools? Remember in Psycho III Statler the diner manager says Spool never missed a day of work and 2 of the killings happened during daytime(the boy and Lila Loomis) not to mention the phone calls. None of these could have happened if Spool was at work. Besides, why not Norman? He was doing all the killings in part 3 and at the beginning when he first got back home he already had a hallucination of his mother talking to him. Who's to say that Norman couldn't have killed anyone before Ms. Spool came to the house at the end? He was crazy enough then to kill her and talk in her voice the same day Lila was killed.

Some interesting thoughts: assume that Norman killed no one until the end, would the killings in Psycho 3 have happened if Mrs. Spool never went to Norman's house at the end? Then there would be no "Mother" sitting at the house in part 3. Would the people in part 3's timeline have been safe if Spool, Mary, and Lila never bothered Norman in this film?

[–] TonyCinemalover 12 years ago

It's plausible that Norman may have well murdered well before Spool's ending revelation;Psycho II is a brilliantly crafted "whodunit" that plays on our knowledge and expectations on the original Hitchcock film.I must admit when I originally viewed part II many years ago on the old MCA Video it took me another viewing or two to fully grasp the "real" killer slashing at the Bates Motel following Norman's arrival from the asylum.
One thing that rarely gets mention is how during the killings of the boy in the fruit cellar, Lila's death,and Toomey's is if pay close attention to the figure & hands holding the butcher knife it's clearly a mans.Lastly I believe the murders of Psycho III would have possibly taken place whether or not Norman killed Mrs. Spool due to the fact throughout the events of II he was shown gradually becoming more and more unstable;Spool's arrival at the house at the climax was the final push on Norman's tenuous grip on sanity.

[–] mikebmc 11 years ago

He was locked in the attic when them kids got killed.

[–] engle_james 11 years ago

Maybe she never missed a day of work when she was scheduled, but maybe she killed them on her day off from the diner :)

I like it that Norman was sane at the beginning of the movie and only went crazy as time went on (and Mary and Lila set him up). And as mikebmc already said, Norman was locked in the attic when the kid was killed.

[–] cjh8504 11 years ago

Agreed. Norman killed noone until Spool at the end. What a great scene.

RIP Jean Stapleton. Heaven just got a Dingbat.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (19664510) 11 years ago

Norman killed noone

Who's "noone?" I don't remember anyone in the film by that name.

Religion: because the ignorant need clubs, too.

[–] cjh8504 11 years ago

Har, har. That's no one.

RIP Jean Stapleton. Heaven just got a Dingbat.

[–] jarth-2 11 years ago

Har, har. That's no one.

No, *beep* No one is no one, not noone.

[–] kurt7825 9 years ago

best scene ever