| R E M A K E ! (Gus Van Sant, 1998) |
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| Being a die-hard fan of Hitch and the Psycho films, personally I don't think this should have been made - in the sense of the old maxim, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? To be brief, listed below are my thoughts on the film... Good bits (not many..) 1. First of all - nice motel, Norman. Kinda old-skool retro stylee, if that's what the producers were trying to achieve. Note they also messed with the house, changing it from it's Victorian Gothic style glory to something that belonged on a plantation and subsequently out of sync with the film's atmosphere of the past looming ominously over the present. 2. At the end when we see Norman incarcerated, one can just make out the original ST of norman's mother spliced in with the new dialogue. Adds a nice touch, methinks. 3. The remake uses bits from the original script, to include dialogue that wasn't originally used, eg. "the only playground that beats las vegas!" (Cassidy) and Norman's remark to Marion, "you have something that most girls don't have...there's not a name for it, but it's something that puts a person at ease", which nicely makes sure the audience are totally unprepared for whats to come... These bits are just plain dodgy... 1. Vince Vaughn's shirts. i mean, whats going on?? If one compares him with California Chalie's shirts, maybe they're in competition? I could probably go with the idea that, together with the jacket they somehow represent his repressed personality, but still... tres bizarre choice of fashion there, Norman. 2. In the original, Norman stumbles over the word "falsity". In the remake he has no problem with this, yet he still has trouble with the word "invalid" - yes, the idea of his mother being alive is being challenged, but its not that difficult to deal with, is it? Oh, i guess so... 3. While he's spying on marion, Vince Vaughn thought it would be clever to have Norman....well, you know... which is just gross. At least Anthony Perkins could come up with something clean like chewing sweets! However, i suppose it does add a kind of modern intensity to the scene, something which even Hitchcock couldn't have shown on screen during the 1960's. 4. This is not so much an issue, but outside the office Hitch can be seen talking to director Gus Van Sant. This is what I imagine him to be saying to Van Sant - "how dare you mess up my movies!!" 5. Norman's mother is not the monster she is in the original; she sounds too...chipy, confident and not the clinging, demanding battleax he has to contend with in the original. 6. When norman shouts at his mother ("shut up! shut up! shut uuuup!") is a little too indicative of his madness - although when compared to the original, Perkins' feeble outcry can seem too terse. 7. The images spliced in with the now famous shower sequences - eh? The storm during the shower scene is understandable, but the cow and the blindfolded woman? huh? 8. The guy who plays the highway patrolman tried too hard to be like Mort Mills, i almost thought it WAS the same guy, just in colour!! 9. The soundtrack isn't forceful enough (or is it just the sound on my DVD?) 10. The twangy end theme - lame and boring, kinda like Eric Serra at the end of Goldeneye.. Yes the scenery maybe pictureque, but the audience's last image of the film should be Vince's evil grin and the car being dragged from the swamp and NOT anything else! |
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| Cast Vince Vaughn - Norman Bates Anne Heche - Marion Crane Viggo Mortensen - Sam Loomis Julianne Moore - Lila Crane Rita Wilson - Caroline Phillip Baker Hall - Al Chambers James LeGros - California Charlie James Remar - Patrolman William H Macy - Arbogast Rance Howard - Mr Lowery Chad Everett - Cassidy Robert Forster - Dr Simon |
| Oh no, Hollywood made a ... |
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| "We are not amused..." |
| OK there, I've stood on my soapbox and had my rant. The issue of Hollywood remaking perceived "classics" remaints contentious to this day, and films that have been remade can be seen as either a blessing or a curse in the eyes of critics and audiences alike. In some cases, films that were seen as succesful or popular when they were first released may indeed benefit from a modern updating, whilst in others, a remake is something the Hollywood execs could do without. In the case of Psycho, whilst it may have seemed interesting and challenging to update what's seen as the "mother" of all horror films, the producers and directors perhaps made a few bad choices in their attempt to "reconceptualise" a film that, in its day, broke cinematic boundaries, created new genres and produced innovative film-making techniques. |