# Psycho (1998)

### reviewed by
Luke Buckmaster

    PSYCHO
    Cast: Vince Vaughn, Julianne Moore, Viggo Mortensen, William H. Macy,
    Anne Heche
    Director: Gun Van Sant
    Screenplay: Joseph Stefano based on the novel by Robert Bloch
    Running time: 108 minutes
    Australian theatrical release: January 21, 1999
    Reviewed by Luke Buckmaster

On the Buckmaster scale of 0 stars (bomb), to 5 stars (a masterpiece): 2 stars

Hiring Gus Vant Sant to direct a 90's version of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho makes just about as much sense as hiring Pauly Shore to play Norman Bates. Hitchock had more than thirty years of experience in the suspense/thriller genre before he tackled Psycho, and the result was the work of a true genius. Van Sant, on the other hand, has had about as third of that with mostly drama, and his result is something much less spectacular. No doubt David Fincher (Se7en, The Game) or Brian De Palma (Mission: Impossible, Snake Eyes) would probably have made a better film, but Hitcock's mesmerizing original is not the kind of experience that can be adequately duplicated. The reason, of course, is that it is no longer the 1960's!

Could you imagine what a scene by scene remake of The Wizard of Oz would be like? It wouldn't work, and it wouldn't work because the era in which it reflected has long surpassed. The 90's have been the domicile for some smart horror films (the Scream series, the Italian gem Dellamorte Dellamore, and a few more) and countless others drenched in sex appeal. Psycho is not sex-crazed nor is it incredibly smart; it is a dark and mysterious story with a clever twist at its climax. Therefore one might presume that Psycho in the 90's has a restricted audience, and some horror fans will no doubt have trouble accepting that there are no shots of Jennifer Lover Hewitt's breasts nor any fun self-satire. The film is old fashioned, and in the process of carefully re-creating it step by step, Van Sant seems to have forgotten to package Pyscho for a 90's audience, consequently missing the excitement and thrill of Hitchcock's 60's package.

The recent A Perfect Murder, a remake of Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder, was not a great film or even a good one - but it at least took advantage of a modern setting. Now that the thrill of Norman Bates' demented mind has gone, Pyscho in the 90's loses it intrigue. Van Sant hasn't remade it so much as he has copied it, and the only real reason why this film is not a total disaster is the charm and simplicity of the original, which often shines through.

Working girl Marion Crane (Anne Heche) is presented with $400,000 from her employee to deposit in a bank. Naturally, she decides to split town with the loot and start a new life. When night falls and rain floods the road ahead of her, Marion pulls off the highway and stops at the secluded Bates Motel. Norman Bates (Vince Vaughn) runs the Motel, and is immediately attracted to Marion, although his sick mother forbids any relationships. Marion unpacks and takes a shower, and some unlikely events unfold…

One interesting thing that I didn't notice with the original Psycho was how heavily the film relied on Bates to make an intriguing central character. It is then a big disappointment that Vince Vaughn is terribly miscast. Though he acts the part well, Vaughn is physically inappropriate for the role, always looking far too menacing. Instead of portraying a mentally unstable, seemingly harmless character that Anthony Perkins did so well in the original, Vaughn looks like a killer from the start.

Those who haven't seen the original should by all means have the opportunity to see Psycho on a big screen. A smarter choice would have been to clean up the original print and ship it into as many cinemas as possible. Grease did that in 1998, and it worked as a retrospective look at a classic movie. It makes no sense to keep a 60's product as the foundation for a 90's one, even if such a movie has survived as one of the greatest of its genre for almost forty years. Van Sant's Psycho manages to keep a reasonable level of suspense throughout, and as I mentioned before, the original screenplay has too much charm and simplicity not to let any leak through into its remake. But lets face it, a far superior version of Psycho has always been available in the 90's - located in the classics section of your local video store. If you haven't seen it, see it. It's also probably a good choice to avoid any future Van Sant remakes, who knows - Lawrence of Arabia might be next.

Review © copyright Luke Buckmaster

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