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Movies / On DVD / Psycho
Psycho

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Psycho (1998)

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Reviews Counted:69

Fresh:23

Rotten:46

Average Rating:5/10

Consensus: Van Sant's pointless remake neither improves or illuminates Hitchcock's original.

Runtime: 2 hrs

Genre: Horror/Suspense

Synopsis: A remake of director Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 thriller about a young woman, who, while on the run after stealing $40,000 from her boss, is brutally murdered in the shower of a motel she is staying... A remake of director Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 thriller about a young woman, who, while on the run after stealing $40,000 from her boss, is brutally murdered in the shower of a motel she is staying in one night. As police investigate her disappearance, we learn more about the motel's psychotic owner, Norman Bates. Director Gus Van Zant's film is a shot-for-shot remake of the original. [More]

Starring: Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, William H. Macy, Julianne Moore

Starring: Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, William H. Macy, Julianne Moore, Viggo Mortensen, Chad Everett, Philip Baker Hall, Anne Haney, Rance Howard, James LeGros, Robert Forster

Director: Gus Van Sant

Director: Gus Van Sant
Story: Robert Bloch
Producer: Brian Grazer
Composer: Bernard Herrmann

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Psycho

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Hitchcock probably wouldn't tell this story if he was making films today, and he certainly wouldn't tell it this way, with internal 'voices', back projection, minimal nudity and violence.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/09/06
Derek Adams
Derek Adams
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

With the vibrant colour photography, we find ourselves getting caught up in the style, and so instead of atmosphere being added, all that happens is attention being detracted. Perhaps they should have recreated the period of the original film.

Full Review Source: UK Critic | comment Comment
01/01/00
Ian Waldron-Mantgani
Ian Waldron-Mantgani
UK Critic

Already my mother and I mourn the day when some AVID editor will dare to digitally tweak Vertigo, spinning it into a virtual romantic comedy starring computer-directed replicas of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

Full Review Source: City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul | comment Comment
08/21/09
Rob Nelson
Rob Nelson
City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul

Contains nothing to outrage or offend partisans of the original, yet neither does it stand to add much to their appreciation.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
03/26/09
Godfrey Cheshire
Godfrey Cheshire
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

...the Hitchcock film relied for its effects on originality and creativity. Van Sant's remake substitutes rote repetition and cliches that have long since lost their value.

Full Review Source: ESplatter | comment Comment
09/16/08
Steve Biodrowski
Steve Biodrowski
ESplatter

Psycho doesn't do much for Van Sant, and he doesn't do much for Psycho.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
09/22/07
Rob Gonsalves
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com

Vaughn's Norman Bates is much inferior because he lacks the natural neurosis of Anthony Perkins.

comment Comment
08/13/07
Chuck O'Leary
Chuck O'Leary
FulvueDrive-in.com

Deserves closer consideration than it received.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
05/26/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

The movie doesn't stink. The performances are good, potentially great, especially Vince Vaughn as Norman Bates, but he owns a scene just for doing that psychotic giggle of his.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Ron Wells
Ron Wells
Film Threat

A lot of people may not get the point of recreating a work such as Psycho. I didn't get it, until I saw the film.

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
04/09/05
Robin Clifford
Robin Clifford
Reeling Reviews

Personally, I found the remake weaker than the original (which was only vaguely interesting anyway; then again, it's pretty much the same movie).

Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | comment Comment
04/02/05
Garth Franklin
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons

To my absolute astonishment, I enjoyed the remake more than the original.

Full Review Source: Film Blather | comment 1 Comment
01/09/04
Eugene Novikov
Eugene Novikov
Film Blather

franky it sucks

Full Review Source: sbs.is | comment Comment
01/07/04
Stefan Birgir Stefansson
Stefan Birgir Stefansson
sbs.is

Gus Vant Sant has remade Alfred Hitchcock's classic slasher film with so much reverence and so little originality that it is not clear what the point is.

Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment Comment
05/20/03
Leonard Schwarz
Leonard Schwarz
Palo Alto Weekly

It's surprising to note that this film, mostly well-acted, is somewhat lacking on the technical side, which is what Hollywood usually does best these days.

Full Review Source: Film Quips Online | comment Comment
02/08/03
John R. McEwen
John R. McEwen
Film Quips Online

A Psycho that functions perfectly on its own terms while polishing this jewel of a thriller into its own bright new gleam.

Full Review Source: Nick's Flick Picks | comment Comment
01/10/03
Nick Davis
Nick Davis
Nick's Flick Picks

Predictably, it's (almost) the exact same film, but I wouldn't say that it's a pointless enterprise.

Full Review Source: Montreal Film Journal | comment Comment
09/10/02
Kevin N. Laforest
Kevin N. Laforest
Montreal Film Journal

No review available.

comment Comment
07/12/02
Globe and Mail

It's not so much that this movie didn't need to be made. The real tragedy is that a group of enormously talented people wasted several months of their lives when together they could have done something fresh and exciting and original.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
06/05/02
Mike Kerrigan
Mike Kerrigan
Boxoffice Magazine

Gus Van Sant assumiu um trabalho ingrato: quando as cenas funcionam, em seu filme, a responsabilidade é de Hitchcock. Quando falham, a culpa é sua.

Full Review Source: Cinema em Cena | comment Comment
05/31/02
Pablo Villaca
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena
 
 
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