Psycho (1998) - Revisit

I was looking over at a DVD shelf and had forgotten I had the Psycho Universal remake in my media library. So I thought I'd give it a go.

What I like: Julianne Moore doesn't like how handsy Viggo sometimes get, grabs her Walkman, struts her stuff, isn't about to wait on finding her sister, and is straight to the point on everything. Viggo has a breezy Country Boy charm about him, with a certain comfortable presence in the film. The art deco architecture and bright, eye-popping colors really just jump off the screen. Forster did this right after "Jackie Brown" and he lays out Norman's psychosis and explains Mother like quite a believable, personable psychiatrist. I liked the Bates Motel sign. There is this feeling Gus Van Sant really wanted to emphasize the 60s in full bore color. So I did dig that. And Remar's police officer is FANTASTIC...I imagine Van Sant saw him in costume and was very pleased. I thought the idea to close the credits at the crime scene with the minimalist and unnerving score as the car was pulled from the swamp while police and photographers are working was a nice departure from the original.

Now, the inserts are unnecessary to me. In fact, they really were jarring and odd instead of adding to the power of the murders. I liked actually seeing the red blood when Heche is attacked and the cuts on her bad are also a nice touch I appreciated. The birds when Mother is discovered was just not for me; and I felt the way Norman moves in the wig with the knife was flat. Yeah, in fact, that whole scene just didn't click with me. The shower scene wasn't too bad: I thought the brief highlight of the eyes was unsettling, though.

So I don't consider this a complete waste. Watching it this afternoon, I realized I was just all about Moore. But I like a woman who is just not taking any shit and is forward thinking. But this Lila isn't destined to marry Sam Loomis...no sir. I think she is only around him because she needs to find her sister.

Oh, and William H Macy is awesome. I love this actor. There is a difference between Macy and Balsam (and I LOVE Balsam, so I wasn't a fan that was going to be easy to please) that I appreciated. Macy has that face and voice of someone that wouldn't seem to worry you, but he's clearly a PI who will get to the truth. I like that Macy's size and stature aren't menacing but there is that sense that he's a dog after a missing bone, using niceties and pleasant demeanor in order to provoke information bluster might not . I just loved watching him opposite Moore and Viggo...I was trying to imagine these three in a great movie together. I guess we have to take what we can get.

But I can remember in 1998 (I was 21 when it was released) how this film, just the idea of making it, really set the ire of a lot of people. At the time, I just brushed it off. But I think it is often forgotten how much fucking great talent was on the rise in the late 90s. Van Sant had a lot of them in this film. While I just don't buy Vaughn as Norman -- and the masturbation actually showed up in caps on screen while you hear him flap -- he was among a whole crop of talent ready to explode in Hollywood. Heche got a ton of flak for her Marion, but no one was going to replace Janet Leigh. That was just not going to happen. And comparisons are unavoidable. She's pretty and I like personally her hair cut...she really likes her green; they really wardrobe her to emit the greens and oranges.

Look, I worship at the altar of the 1960 film and hold it as sacred but I'm not so extreme that I turn into some sort of raving lunatic who would go on some unhinged rant about remakes and such. I'm perfectly okay with how much Hollywood produces off the legacy of Psycho. Because I have this film in my collection and can always just retreat back to it to remind myself how marvelous it is. 2.5/5