PopHorror Let's Get Scared
How many excellent films have been cast out as garbage simply because they’re remakes? How many remakes are excellently crafted stand-alone films that would shatter box office records if their predecessors never existed? This is a consideration I want you to make as we take another look at Gus Van Sant’s Psycho (1998), 25 years later. Warning: There will be spoilers!
It’s a fair assessment to say that the 1998 adaptation of Robert Bloch’s 1959 novel, Psycho, is not as good as the book or the 1960 adaptation that came before, despite being made from the exact same screenplay. Lightning never strikes twice in the same place. When it was announced that director Gus Van Sant (My Own Private Idaho, 1991) would be remaking Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 classic with a star-studded cast, anticipation was high, and inevitably – so were expectations.
Vince Vaughn (Freaky, 2020) is Norman Bates, an awkward motel manager living under the puritan rule of his overbearing mother, Norma Bates. The late Anne Heche (My Friend Dahmer, 2017) is Marion Crane, a woman in love who has stolen $400,000 from a client at the real estate firm where she works. She stops at the Bates Motel, once on a main highway, but now off the beaten path and just as secluded as she needs to get a good night’s rest (and a shower) before she continues on the run.
Unfortunately for her, Norman has a secret that he’s not going to be able to keep for much longer.
After a sandwich and some awkward conversation with Norman in the office of the Bates Motel, Marion retreats to her room where she continues to consider the consequences of her actions. She feels terrible about what she has done and will likely stop running and return what remains of the $400,000 after she purchased a new car in a panic.
Nothing would calm her and help her think more clearly than a shower. She undresses and prepares for the night. She has no idea that Norman has been watching her through a hole in the wall, pleasuring himself at the sight of her.
Well, what’s the harm in a little voyeurism? He replaces the picture frame that covers the peephole and returns to the house behind the hotel to answer his mother who doesn’t like Marion one bit.
And now we have the scene that lives on in infamy: the beautiful woman stabbed to death in the shower. The high-pitched, screeching soundtrack sets our nerves on edge as she reaches for the shower curtain in a failed attempt to get out of the bathtub. The sharp contrast of the blood, spattered and draining in the garish white shower. The figure with long hair holding the knife there and gone in an instant.
And Marion’s lifeless eye faded to from the shower drain as her lifeblood drained with the water from the shower. Images none would soon forget, especially if they hadn’t ever seen anything like it before. This was true for audiences in 1960. So why couldn’t it be true for audiences in 1998? Did the filmmakers make a mistake when they decided to recreate Hitchcock’s classic line-for-line, shot-for-shot? It’s all subjective.
From the iconic shower scene, Norman has gotten himself into a pickle which leads to his unraveling and the revelation of the true nature of his relationship with his mother.
I can agree that it does this film no favors to be shot in an old-fashioned manner. The kills, especially, come off corny. Furthermore, the aesthetic of the film can’t seem to decide if it is taking place in the 60s or the 90s, which lends to the feeling that it is trying to recreate something it shouldn’t. But overall, there are great performances of a terrifying tale for every generation.
Look at it this way: If Psycho (1998) had been adapted from the novel without the presence of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), it would have undoubtedly been received in a much more positive light. Bias is a heavy thing. As much as I understand our love for the groundbreaking original films we know and love so well, I fear we do sometimes miss out on some very well-crafted re-imaginings when we refuse to let go of our beloved originals.
Open your mind, and give Psycho (1998) another watch. You may just see something you missed before.
