Psycho (1998)

Directed by

Gus Van Sant

Genre

horror film, slasher film, mystery film, thriller film, LGBTQ-related film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 39m

Rated

R

Rating

5.1 of 10 from 1,057 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

An embezzler on the run checks into a roadside motel run by a shy young man. Strange events unfold as she discovers there is more to the motel and its owner than meets the eye.

tenseeeriedeliberateclinicalunsettlingcoldcalculatedsurreal

What happens

Psycho is a 1998 American horror film co-produced and directed by Gus Van Sant, and starring Vince Vaughn, Julianne Moore, Viggo Mortensen, William H. Macy, and Anne Heche. It is a modern remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film of the same name, in which Marion Crane, an embezzler, arrives at an old motel run by a mysterious man named Norman Bates; both films are adapted from Robert Bloch's 1959 novel. Though filmed in color and set in 1998, the film is closer to a shot-for-shot retelling than most remakes, often copying Hitchcock's camera movements and editing, including the original script by Joseph Stefano (and uncredited writer Alma Reville) mostly being carried over. Bernard Herrmann's musical score is reused as well, though with a new arrangement by Danny Elfman and Steve Bartek, recorded in stereo. Some changes are introduced to account for advances in technology since the original film and to make the content more explicit. The film's murder sequences are also intercut with surreal images. Van Sant later stated that the film was an experiment to demonstrate that "You can't copy a film... you can appropriate, but it's not going to be the same thing". Released by Universal Pictures on December 4, 1998, Psycho received polarizing reviews from critics, as well as being panned by audiences, who criticized the similarities to the original film. The film won the Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Remake and Worst Director, and was nominated for Worst Actress (Heche) at the 19th Golden Raspberry Awards, but conversely earned two Saturn Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress (Heche) and Best Writing (Stefano) at the 25th Saturn Awards. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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