Psycho (1998)

Synopsis

Title: Psycho (1998)

Genre: Horror

Rating: R (Violence, sexuality/nudity)

Running Time: 105 Minutes

Director: Gus Van Sant

Starring: Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, Julianne Moore, Viggo Mortensen, William Macy, Robert Forester

Plot: A woman steals $400,000 and drives off with the money. She runs into an old motel off the main highway and meets Norman Bates. Norman runs the motel and has some obvious quirks about him. The woman would soon wish that she never made a stop at that motel.

My Take

This movie clearly lacked originality. In fact, it was pretty much a direct imitation of the original psycho. What was the purpose? The only difference was that this version was in color and there were different actors. The original Psycho was classic and I guess Gus Van Sant didn’t want to mess with ‘greatness’. The movie doesn’t worry about keeping realistic because the original didn’t worry about keeping scenes realistic. I did notice an obvious editing mistake: The house is on the right of the motel but one of the shots had it on the right.

What About Vince?

I thought Vince did an exceptional job as Norman Bates. He may have played the psycho role just a little early when he was in the long dinner scene with Anne Heche, who it should be noted also did brilliant in my opinon. Although I think he gave too much of his character away too early, I think that is a directorial mistake as opposed to Vince’s mistake. I guess he could argue the point, but ultimately that is probably up to the director. I thought Vince truly shined in this movie. One of his best performances for sure.

Should You Watch???

Watch if you haven’t seen the original, but if you’ve seen the original you’ve already seen this movie. There is nothing new here. Psycho is a movie classic and the updated version is not much worse than the original. I actually really enjoyed it if I’m going to be quite honest. It’s been a while since I saw the original and I thought that while it’s not the most realistic or horrifying movie, it is a classic. While imitation is not original, it doesn’t hurt or diminish the original. If anything, it is a huge complement that they kept everything the same. I would watch this movie again because I really enjoy horror films and Psycho is a classic in my eyes even if it isn’t the best movie.

Popcorn Rating

Kettle Corn