Psycho

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

Norman Bates is alive and well, and just a tad kinkier than you remember him.

San Francisco Examiner Walter Addiego

William H. Macy is fine as the detective Arbogast, wearing a hat he could have borrowed from Martin Balsam in the original role.

Entertainment Weekly Ty Burr

The film is shot in color and includes an amped-up Danny Elfman version of Bernard Herrmann's haunting score.

Dallas Observer M. V. Moorhead

Funny and sort of creepy--a not bad little thriller with some peculiarly dated plot development.

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

It remains the most structurally elegant and sneakily playful of thrillers. At least some things never change.

Salon.com Mary Elizabeth Williams

May not be anything new, but it's still just as shocking.

New York Daily News David Kehr

Cold, dull, lifeless. [5 December 1998, p.3]

USA Today Mike Clark

Untantalizingly reverent remake. [7 December 1998, p.4D]

Variety Godfrey Cheshire

A faithful-unto-slavish remake of the 1960 Hitchcock classic, pic contains nothing to outrage or offend partisans of the original, yet neither does it stand to add much to their appreciation.

The New Yorker Ken Marks

If the original did not exist, would this picture be worth seeing?

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

This Psycho seems a little nuts.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

As Norman Bates, Vince Vaughn makes us better appreciate how much Anthony Perkins brought to the original project. It's clear now that he owned the role and that he shares equally with Hitchcock the credit for making Psycho the memorable creep show it is -- and was.

Film Threat Ron Wells

The movie doesn't stink. The performances are good, potentially great, especially Vince Vaughn as Norman Bates.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

In the shock department, the ante has been upped, way up, and a mere kitchen knife through a shower curtain just doesn't cut it any more.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Van Sant's film feels as dated as Hitchcock's, and Hitchcock's has the better excuse.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

It's so slavishly similar to its predecessor - right down to the symbolic lettering on Marion's license plates - that there's little to spark fresh discussion except the acting.

Empire Jeff Dawson

The thrill of the original is seeing a black-and-white, one-foot-on-the-floor, no-sex-please Hays Code world suddenly explode into a slasher movie. Our loss of innocence has, simply, changed all the rules.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

The response for anyone familiar with the original Psycho is likely to be restricted to a narrow range between briefly enjoyable déjà vu and mild disappointment. The movie lacks the chutzpah to even be a travesty.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Hitchcock's Psycho had a lot more than watchability going for it. Van Sant's film impresses only on the level of a cinematic parlor trick, and while that makes it an interesting curiosity, the world doesn't need it.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie is an invaluable experiment in the theory of cinema, because it demonstrates that a shot-by-shot remake is pointless; genius apparently resides between or beneath the shots, or in chemistry that cannot be timed or counted.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Redundant and unnecessary.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Anne Heche is just another neo-noir minx on the make, while Vince Vaughn, grinning and leering as Norman Bates, sinks the movie.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Van Sant's doomed and misguided experiment.