The episode of Revisited covering Psycho (1998) was Written, Edited, and Narrated by Kier Gomes, Produced by Tyler Nichols and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

In the early 1960s, movies like Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho were considered to be groundbreaking and controversial works of art that were not for the easily spooked. Stories like that, which tackle deep psychological struggles, paranoia, voyeurism, and even murder- were far from the horror genre’s mainstay creature features that were capturing audiences at the time. The movie was based on Robert Bloch’s 1959 novel which was published just in time for Hitchcock to purchase every copy in the United States right off the shelves of book stores in order to preserve the shock value of the story’s iconic twist ending. With Psycho, the gilded status “Classic” is certainly well-earned and maybe even a slight understatement. The movie flawlessly captures the individual feelings that would come with such an intense situation and by the time the final twist is revealed, you’re fully bought in to the dark-but-incredibly entertaining climax. Now, why am I telling you this? Well, because despite the incredible execution and near-perfect performances of everyone involved in the making of Psycho– someone, somewhere, thought it would be a good idea to create an almost shot-for-shot remake of the classic 1960 title, and bring it into the modern era, while simultaneously remaining detrimentally faithful to the original film- which was not meant for the modern era. Ugh… It’s a lot to explain so… Get ready for a rant.

So, where do I begin? I… Don’t like this movie.

Psycho (watch it HERE) is the 1998 remake of Hitchcock’s classic Psychological Horror Thriller that stars Vince Vaughn as Norman Bates- A lonely owner of a rundown roadside motel where the occasional guest will check in- but no one checks out. When Marion Crane, the initial protagonist- steals nearly half of a million dollars from her boss, she hits the road to avoid the heat. When Marion stops for the night at Bates Motel, she’ll be quickly dispatched as the cops, a clever private detective, and her family join the search for her. Along the way, Norman must keep the feds from finding out his deadly secret.

The film was directed by none other than academy award nominated filmmaker Gus Van Sant. The thing that initially confuses me about this movie is why does it exist? Now, I’m not the kind of person who is closed-minded to remakes, in fact some remakes are perfectly acceptable to me. But USUALLY, if you’re going to reimagine an existing film, it would make sense to make certain artistic choices that add your own sauce to the mix. With this movie, it goes out of its way to let you know that it is set in modern day, but none of the elements from the 1960 movie were changed to reinforce this idea. This matters because part of the charm of the original film is the old 1960’s dialogue and classic cinematic presentation of the era. This movie made a few very small and unimpressive editing choices but it otherwise kept the 1960’s feel, but with a polished 1990’s look and it just makes the movie feel like instead of being set in a believable world, it’s a surreal blend of two contrasting time periods that feels more like a tangent universe.

Now, I’m not saying that this movie would be any better if it ignored the original film- but part of what annoys me so much is that this movie clearly had potential to be something kind of good. The cast was fully loaded with talent with Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, Viggo Mortenson and Anne Heche. Almost all of whom were tapped into their characters pretty well- but…

It’s a common complaint that Vince Vaugh was miscast as Norman Bates in this film, and I have to admit- I agree with that whole heartedly. Here’s the problem- Vince Vaughn is a very good actor. He is fully capable of playing a violent, disturbed force of pure evil. See movies like Clay Pigeons, Domestic Disturbance, or even his comedic but still imposing performance in Freaky for example. So, the issue isn’t that Vaughn couldn’t do the character on paper- The issue is that Vince Vaughn lacks the subtlety that Anthony Perkins gave as the character. Norman is meant to be a shy, non-descript, completely non-threatening man. He’s supposed to look like a nearly middle-aged little boy because that’s the core of the character. Where Perkins was soft, quiet, and reserved, Vaughn was just too big of a presence on screen. He demanded your attention which in turn demands your suspicion- and with that, the twist doesn’t hit the same way in the end. Sure, Vaughn plays the character properly when Norman begins to become more unhinged- and he’s definitely scary with his height and build being so dominating- but that’s not the character’s “thing” is it? Is it Vince?

Also- here’s something that I don’t hear enough people saying. Simply- The movie does do some things well- but even the moments that work for me aren’t new or any better than the original film. Let’s say I’m in a mood for something dark and twisted with a perfect score, great writing, and genuinely masterful production value- TECHNICALLY, this movie checks those boxes- but there is nothing that this version does with the material that wasn’t done better the first time. Part of the epic fucking tragedy that is this movie is that it’s not bad because it’s bad- It’s bad because it’s not as good as the original- and honestly, that makes it even worse for me.

Here’s what you all need to know about why this movie pisses me off so much. Remember the iconic Janet Leigh shower kill in Psycho? Remember the first time you saw it? Or better yet, do you remember the second time you saw it after knowing the movie’s twist? It was good. It was edited well, it was as tasteful as it could be for such a gruesome scene, and most importantly- it was shocking. Call me crazy, but the shock of this scene must’ve been the big allure when it came out in the 60s. There was nothing like that being put on screen and delivered to the mainstream in that way. It was taboo, yet pushed the envelope in the direction of today’s more hyper-violent fare. So, the impact when it was done the first time was much larger because it was fresh. But then, to recreate the scene almost shot for shot nearly 40 years later, when audiences were more desensitized to this kind of content- it just played as cheesy.

Also, I really hate this but one of the few changes made to this movie are these random images that flash in and out of the frame during the kills. I think it’s supposed to represent Norman’s illness and his lack of clarity during his crimes, but it just looks so damn silly. The edgy abstract thing may work for Donnie Darko, but this is not that kind of story and it cheapens what was already a risky scene to recreate. It just should’ve been updated to be more shocking for the new era, and since it wasn’t. I uh… Well, I hate it.

And that same point also applies to the absolutely disgusting scene of Norman spying on Marion in her hotel moments before the kill. In the original movie, it’s still clear that Norman is running this little voyeuristic jerkoff booth in his office- and it’s still stomach-wrenching to imagine what he’s doing- but this movie makes you listen to Vince Vaughn’s heavy breathing and the smacking sounds of his private time for the whole thing until he’s… done. It’s still very similar to the original, but the added sound design and movements really make me want to vomit.

Now, I’ve been pretty hard on this movie so far but there are like a handful of things that worked for me- I liked this camera movement in the opening scene, I liked the interaction between Vince Vaughn and William H. Macy, and I liked the look of the shot of Macy falling down the stairs because I think it perfectly captures WHY THE FUCK THIS MOVIE SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN SHOT-FOR-SHOT! If you couldn’t tell, I’m being sarcastic- The shot is so stupid.

Now, if you aren’t familiar with the twist of this movie- there’s actually two. There’s a scene where Marion’s sister is out looking for her and she goes to the police. Now, the whole movie we’ve been hearing Norman talk to his mother, and we’ve seen her shadow in the window, but it’s here where we find out that Norman’s mother has been dead for years. The fake out is that the movie makes us think that Norman’s mother is actually alive and he’s hiding her in his house to protect her. That fadeout makes the impending reveal much more heightened when we learn that Norman has stuffed his mother’s corpse and has a dual personality with half of him being Norman, and half of him being his own mother. In the original film, it’s quite a twist and it makes you feel that empty pit in your stomach as the title of the movie suddenly makes perfect sense. But, once again, this movie failed to deliver on the subtle elements that season the audience so that we’re good and ready to be surprised by the end. So instead, when the reveal happens, it just feels… empty. Like, anyone would’ve suspected this version of Norman to be a fucking weirdo. It’s not that shocking.

At the end of the day, I really just have one question. WHY? Why did they make this movie? Why did they want Vince Vaughn for this role? Why was it set in ‘98 but with the faithful continuity of 1960? WHY DID GUS VAN SANT WANT IT TO BE THIS WAY? I really don’t know. I love Psycho, I even love the sequels that followed the original movie. I find Norman Bates to be a villain that gets forgotten about in the slew of iconic killers that the genre has seen over the years- but that’s why we love him. He blends in. He’s just another face in the crowd. He’s someone that could get close to you without setting off your suspicion. This movie didn’t do justice to that, which in turn, failed in everything it was trying to do.

3/10, this movie is worse than you remember.

What did you think of 1998’s Psycho remake? Do you think we’re being too harsh on the movie or do you also want to forget you ever saw it? Comment your opinions down below.

Two previous episodes of Revisited can be seen below. To see more of our shows, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals channel – and subscribe while you’re at it!