The Monkey Director Once Played a Horror Movie Legend

With last year’s Longlegs, director Osgood Perkins has become one of the most prolific figures in modern horror. For nearly two decades, Perkins carved out a living as a character actor in an eclectic array of movies ranging from Not Another Teen Movie, Legally Blonde, and Secretary. Starting with mid-2010s horror fare like I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House and The Blackcoat’s Daughter, though, Perkins has found his real calling as a creator of chilling horror films. That calling will soon include the highly-anticipated Stephen King adaptation The Monkey.

When one takes a deep dive into the career of Osgood Perkins, though, one can see horror cinema was always in this man’s blood. After all, his very first acting credit saw Perkins inhabiting one of the most famous horror movie villains of all-time. Before he was even ten years old, Osgood Perkins portrayed none other than a Young Norman Bates in a Psycho sequel.

Where Did Osgood Perkins Portray Young Norman Bates?

Given that Psycho is one of the most beloved movies in history, the kind of motion picture revered as more than just a horror cinema treat, it can be easy to forget this feature experienced a deluge of sequels. Like Saw or Friday the 13th, though, Psycho experienced a trio of sequels, all of which saw Anthony Perkins (father to Osgood Perkins) reprising his role as Norman Bates. While the likes of Paranormal Activity and Saw got sequels out within a year of the first film’s success, it took 23 years for Psycho II to materialize.

In that 23-year-long hiatus, Perkins started a family that included Osgood Perkins, born in 1974. By the time cameras started rolling on Psycho II, Osgood Perkins was just the right age to briefly portray a young version of his father’s iconic horror cinema character in some Psycho II flashback sequences. In an instant, the young Perkins was cemented into a legacy of frightening filmmaking that his father had a tremendous presence in thanks to his unforgettable Psycho performance.

Having father and son share the same role cemented how committed Anthony Perkins was to the character of Norman Bates. By the time Psycho III rolled around in 1986, the elder Perkins was even stepping behind the camera to direct the exploits of Norman Bates. Anthony Perkins even followed Norman Bates to the small screen, where he reprised the role for the final time in the 1990 TV movie Psycho IV: The Beginning. With Anthony Perkins clearly so dedicated to his most famous character, it’s no wonder his son briefly got involved in the part, especially since Psycho II happened at the only point in history when Osgood Perkins was young enough to play Young Norman Bates.

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How Norman Bates Looms Over Osgood Perkins’ Career

This Psycho II acting role also began Osgood Perkins’ fleeting acting career, though it would be another ten years until he scored another movie role in 1993’s Six Degrees of Separation. A little over 30 years after appearing in Psycho II, Osgood Perkins would finally explore the territory of horror cinema his father knew so well with his directorial debut The Blackcoat’s Daughter. In contrast to the Psycho sequels, though, which were major studio releases, Perkins’ directorial efforts have been indie efforts with avant-garde flourishes.

Rather than just mimicking the kind of horror cinema his father was known for, Osgood Perkins has carved out his own unique bleak niche in horror cinema. In the original Psycho, there was a chance of Norman Bates being apprehended. In something like Longlegs, though, evil endures even after wicked figures leave this mortal plain. Terror is relentless and lurks around every corner. Comparing something like Gretel & Hansel to Psycho II shows just how far Osgood Perkins has come as a horror artist!

Even if Psycho II is leagues removed from the kind of horror storytelling Osgood Perkins is known for now, his initial performance as Young Norman Bates is still deeply important in the man’s career. After all, it’s a turn that further intertwined him with his father’s tremendous artistic legacy and first mixed Osgood Perkins with the horror genre. Modern titles like The Monkey can be fully traced back to that one time Osgood Perkins first dipped his toes into the horror cinema waters by inhabiting one of its greatest and most unnerving icons.

Psycho II is now available to rent or purchase from digital retailers, The Monkey hits theaters on February 21st.

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