“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” You could tag this famous phrase on just about everything to describe why you didn’t change a thing from the original concept. This couldn’t be more true than for the first entry in our list, Psycho.
SYNOPSIS: A Phoenix secretary steals a large sum of money from her employer’s client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother. Source: IMDb.com
DIRECTOR: Alfred Hitchcock vs. Gus Van Sant
The original movie was directed in 1960 by legendary director Alfred Hitchcock, famously recognized for his superb story-telling--as well as his rotund profile--particularly in the murder mystery genre. He built up quite a resume of well-known films under his direction by this time, but Psycho stands out as a breakthrough film by showing the mass audience a different kind of horror film. Moving away from movies featuring classic creatures like the Wolfman, Frankenstein, or Dracula, Hitchcock thought to make a film where the antagonist–in this case, Norman Bates–was more terrifyingly real and believable in a genre that could be easily labeled today as a psychological thriller.
Gus Van Sant directed the remake in 1998 but, while not new to the film industry, he didn’t quite have the reputation that Hitchcock had. A year prior to Psycho, though, Van Sant was nominated for an Oscar for Best Director for his film Good Will Hunting. He didn’t have anything new to bring to the table for the remake; he even went so far as to make the same cameo in his film that Hitchcock did for the original. Hitchcock makes a cameo in every movie he shoots. That was his thing. Van Sant didn’t need to copy even THAT for his version, did he?!
For Psycho, Hitchcock has the edge over Van Sant in the fact that Hitchcock was a pioneer in the way movies were made. For a film famous for its shower scene where the leading female character Marion Crane is murdered, Hitchcock had to work around the restraints of not showing the actress naked. Movies at the time didn’t have nudity at all. The way the scene was directed with a lot of jump cuts heightened the intensity without revealing too much. Van Sant didn’t have those restraints in 1998, but decided that a shot-for-shot remake was the way to go.
WINNER: Original, Hitchcock
SCREENPLAY: Joseph Stefano vs. Joseph Stefano
Because the 1998 film was a shot-for-shot remake, the screenplay was the same for both films. Adapted from the lackluster 1959 novel Psycho by Robert Bloch based on a real-life Wisconsin murder (you can read about the book here), Stefano altered a few of the details for the film, particularly the main character. In the book, Norman Bates is a middle-aged, fat alcoholic. Stefano, in a interview about the making of original film, stated that “he didn’t like [Bates] from the book because he was very unlikable.” In order for the movie audience to switch their empathy for Bates after he kills Marion Crane, Stefano made the character a slightly younger, thinner, neighborly type. He also wrote in for the character of Bates the fact that he eats Halloween candy throughout some big scenes.
In the same interview from above, Stefano explains that he got the job to write the movie for Hitchcock by centering the film not around Norman Bates–as the book had done–but to focus on the character of Marion Crane. Hitchcock was impressed by this notion as proof that Stefano had the writing chops to do it.
The screenplay was written for the era at the time. Because Van Sant wanted the same screenplay, not much was changed in the way of the script. The dialog between the characters just didn’t translate to the newer version, with phrases like “I do declare” and “It’s the only case of murder and suicide on Fairvale ledgers.” In 1998? Seriously? I guess the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” mentality meant not having an updated screenplay to match the sign of the times.
WINNER: Original, Joseph Stefano
CAST/ACTING: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles vs. Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, Julianne Moore
While the remake has bigger names than the original, with actors William H. Macy and Viggo Mortensen playing supporting roles, the acting wasn’t much better. Janet Leigh won an Oscar for Best Actress for her role as Marion Crane. Anne Heche, on the other hand, was nominated for a Razzie Award for her dull and lifeless interpretation of the same title character. If you don’t know what a Razzie Award is, it’s a spoof award given to the worst of the worst. A side note to add, the Psycho remake and Van Sant actually won a Razzie for Worst Remake and Worst Director respectively (Van Sant went from being nominated for the top award–an Oscar–for Best Director in 1997 to winning the worst award just a year later. It wasn’t all his fault though; he should have used his own original screenplay).
I’ll be honest. I’m biased against Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche. Vaughn is normally known for his odd-ball quirky and raunchy comedies and I don’t like him as an actor AT ALL. But I’ll give him his due diligence in respect that he went out of his usual typecast roles to play Norman Bates. He didn’t do terrible, but his laugh is distasteful. He even went as far as copying Perkins eating of the Halloween candy. He couldn’t find anything original for his portrayal of Bates?! As far as Anne Heche is concerned, I don’t think I’ve liked a single movie she’s ever starred in. And the chemistry between the two leading characters is nonexistent, something the original actors clearly had much more of.
Hey, at least in the remake you get to see the bassist from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Flea, in a very small role!
CAST WINNER: Remake; ACTING WINNER: Original
SCORE: Bernard Herrmann vs. Bernard Herrmann
Sigh. Really? You used the same music too?! It’s a good thing I decided to watch the original first because there is absolutely nothing to like about the remake. The whole time I was watching both movies though, I kept thinking the music sounded awfully familiar, like I had heard it before and NOT in a film. It wasn’t until halfway through the remake that I figured it out. Listen to the opening of Busta Rhymes “Gimme Some More.” Incredible similarity, right?!
WINNER: Both original and remake
Psycho (1960)
- Rotten Tomatoes: 96% or 9.2/10 average
- IMDb: 8.6/10 from 377,145 users
- Metacritic: none
- Rotten Tomatoes: 37% or 5.2/10 average
- IMDb: 4.6/10 from 36,472 users
- Metacritic: 47/100
Stick with the original film on this one. The movie is actually better in black-and-white anyway, making the nuances of each character and the movie as a whole much more enjoyable to watch. The remake has nothing new to bring to the table and the use of the same screenplay from 1960 is completely outdated and the character interaction stale.
You can also check out a short movie review for Psycho in the book 1001 Movies to See Before You Die by Steven Jay Schneider, 2011.
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