New-time thief on the run, Marion Crane, flees her hometown
of Phoenix and heads to LA. But when she strays from the main highway, she gets
caught in a terrible storm and is forced to stop at a quiet and neglected
off-road motel owned by Normal Bates. After checking in, Marion then jumps into
the shower only to come to a grizzly end at the hands of Norman’s jealous
“mother” who lives in the house behind the motel. The disappearance of Marion
then prompts a private investigation conducted by her lover, sister, and a
private detective; but the answer is going to be more than they bargained for.
In a way, it’s sort of blasphemous to remake a real original and iconic classic
like Psycho, but when I saw that this
had Vince Vaughn starring as Norman Bates; well, having a real soft spot for
Vince, I simply had to see how he’d
do in the role. To be brutally honest, this movie is exactly the same as the
original… it’s just in colour with a different cast.
New-time thief on the run,
Marion Crane, flees her hometown of Phoenix and heads to LA. But when she
strays from the main highway, she gets caught in a terrible storm and is forced
to stop at a quiet and neglected off-road motel owned by Normal Bates. After
checking in, Marion then jumps into the shower only to come to a grizzly end at
the hands of Norman’s jealous “mother” who lives in the house behind the motel.
The disappearance of Marion then prompts a private investigation conducted by
her lover, sister, and a private detective; but the answer is going to be more than
they bargained for.
In the end, I’m a bit meh and so-so about this movie. I can
see the appeal and the want to make a revamped version of a classic, there are
some classics that are made to be revamped, but I think Psycho just isn’t one of them. Remaking this movie was a bit of a
losing battle because if they had changed a whole heap of things and made it
more appealing to a modern audience, they would have been murdering a classic.
Mercifully, Gus Van Sant did not go down this road, but chose to fail by going
down the other path and not changing anything at all. Not only is the story the
exact same, but the script, the music, even the opening credits! The only
changes, as far as I could make out, were a spider crawling over the corpse in
the cellar, and Norman having a wank as he watches Marion through the peephole.
It’s not bad, to be fair, but because it’s so close to the original, it lost
that element of shock and terror appeal. I do have to say though, that the
skeletal effect at the end was a nice touch; sinister and spooky and I rather
liked that.
Vince Vaughn as Norman did well, although it did seem that he was
just a carbon copy of Anthony Perkins, but with more repetitions of the word
“blood”. He was good for the role though. He did well.
I have to also say too
that I think the original is the better because it was just so good and
sinister in black and white. Although colour is a nice touch and its vibrancy
has the capability to shock and awe, the classic black and white just made it
all seem a little scarier. That’s just a slice of my own personal philosophy.
Starring Julianne More, Viggo Mortensen, Robert Forster, Anne Heche, and
William H. Macy, Psycho was a fine
remake, but a remake of an iconic classic thriller that really should have been
left alone. Filled with suspense, big names, murder, blood, and psychosis, it
was all right.
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