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Psycho
MCA/Universal Pictures
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for violence and sexuality/nudity
Starring
Vince Vaughn,
Anne Heche,
Julianne Moore,
Viggo Mortensen,
William H. Macy,
Robert Forster,
Philip Baker Hall,
and
Anne Haney
Intrigued by the notion of taking an intact, undeniable classic and seeing what would happen if it were made again - with a nearly identical shooting script - but with contemporary filmmaking techniques, Gus Van Sant recreates the motion picture Psycho. (Universal Studios)
| GENRE(S): |
Horror
|
Suspense/Thriller
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Joseph Stefano
Robert Bloch (novel)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Gus Van Sant
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: September 2, 2003
Video: August 28, 2001
Theatrical: December 4, 1998
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
105 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
75
San Francisco Chronicle
Edward Guthmann
Norman Bates is alive and well, and just a tad kinkier than you remember him.
75
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.
75
Entertainment Weekly
Ty Burr
The film is shot in color and includes an amped-up Danny Elfman version of Bernard Herrmann's haunting score.
70
Dallas Observer
M. V. Moorhead
Funny and sort of creepy--a not bad little thriller with some peculiarly dated plot development.
70
The New York Times
Elvis Mitchell
It remains the most structurally elegant and sneakily playful of thrillers. At least some things never change.
70
Salon.com
Mary Elizabeth Williams
May not be anything new, but it's still just as shocking.
63
New York Daily News
David Kehr
Cold, dull, lifeless. [5 December 1998, p.3]
63
USA Today
Mike Clark
Untantalizingly reverent remake. [7 December 1998, p.4D]
60
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.
60
The New Yorker
Ken Marks
If the original did not exist, would this picture be worth seeing?
50
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
This Psycho seems a little nuts.
50
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.
50
Film Threat
Ron Wells
The movie doesn't stink. The performances are good, potentially great, especially Vince Vaughn as Norman Bates.
50
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.
50
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Van Sant's film feels as dated as Hitchcock's, and Hitchcock's has the better excuse.
50
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.
40
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.
40
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.
40
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.
38
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.
38
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
Redundant and unnecessary.
30
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.
0
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Van Sant's doomed and misguided experiment.
 The average user rating for this movie is 7.4 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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