For those who haven't seen the original and are too lazy to click on that review,
Marion Crane (played by celebrated Hollywood lesbian Anne Heche) gets ideas above her
station while having an affair with Sam Loomis (Viggo Mortensen). The subtle differences
start early: While at work in an estate agents office, she steals $400,000 (not $40,000)
from a client that she had told them was going to be deposited in the bank. Panic grips the
mind as she's tailed by the police - but not for the reason she's thinking. After changing
her car to avoid capture, this time paying an extra $4,000 instead of the $700 in the original,
she checks into Bates Motel where she gets a room for the night and a chat beforehand with the
hotel manager Norman Bates (Vince Vaughn), but after taking a shower, she certainly won't
be getting a full night's sleep.
Next to the motel is Norman's house, occupied by himself and his mother, an extraordinary
creature of whom we never get to see properly and are told is quite ill, but she certainly
manages to holler loud enough as to be heard at great distances. When Marion is no longer
around, many people come calling including her sister Lila (Julianne Moore), private
investigator Milton Arbogast (William H. Macy) and Sheriff Chambers (Philip Baker Hall).
Of the differences between this and the original film, some subtle and some less so, the first
major change is the aforementioned 900% increase in the total money stolen ($400,000 instead of
$40,000). Later on, as Norman is watching Marion undress in her room, instead of
just watching silently, he now masturbates off-camera. As for the moment everyone
wants to know about - the shower scene is slightly more violent. An effect used
to make the frames of the film "stutter" as Marion struggles, adds to the impact
and she seems to get knifed more often. When she finally keels over, there's more nudity than
before and we almost get to see all of what her girlfriend, Ellen Degeneres, sees on a regular
occasion. Similarly, there's more blood - as Heche falls down in the shower, there's actually
blood coming out of her back behind her this time round.
Of course, other major changes are that whereas the first film was shot in black and white, this
one is in colour. The original was in mono sound, this one in Dolby Digital 5.1. Finally, the
film is dedicated in memory of Alfred Hitchcock. At the end of the film, there's
a cameo from Robert Forster (Jackie Brown, The Black Hole) as the
man who explains Norman's state of mind.
The film is a reunion of sorts for a few of the principal cast members. Vince Vaughn worked
with Julianne Moore on The Lost World: Jurassic Park, but she also worked beforehand
with William H. Macy and Philip Baker Hall (Sheriff Chambers) in
Boogie Nights.
Similarly, Macy also worked with Anne Heche in the political satire,
Wag The Dog.
# Come on over to my place,
Hey you, we're having a party... #
As it states in the "Psycho Path" documentary, stark colours are used - clearly many more than
the black-and-white original and they look great, but there's a slight level of grain found
within most of the film which can be distracting at times. The film is presented in its
original widescreen ratio of 1.85:1 and the print is anamorphically-enhanced for 16:9
widescreen televisions which provides 33% higher resolution and the average bitrate is a very
good 8.5Mb/s, rarely fluctuating much, apart from early on in the film when it drops as low
as 1Mb/s, but then the opening credits don't need that much bitrate.
The sound comes across very well in Dolby Digital 5.1 as you'd imagine, with sounds that were
once made in mono being translated into surround, giving more emphasis on voiceovers, such as
those while Marion is driving, the crack of thunder as it pours down and the weird goings-on
in Norman's head in his final scene. Bernard Herrmann's score has been used again, but
this time adapted by Danny Elfman.
It's behind you...
Extras :
Chapters and Trailer :
There are 18 chapters covering the 100 minutes of the film, which is eight less than the
UK release of the original version, so you can't do a chapter stop-to-chapter stop comparison.
The original theatrical trailer is included.
Languages and Subtitles :
Dolby Digital 5.1 adorns the English soundtrack, but the Germans have to put up with
surround sound only. Subtitles are available in ten languages: English, Dutch, German, Danish,
Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Hebrew, Polish and Czech.
Filmographies, Biographies and Production Notes:
Extensive biographies with accompanying filmographies are available for
Vince Vaughn, Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, Viggo Mortensen, Anne Heche and
director Gus Van Sant.
Other extras:
"Psycho Path": a 29-minute documentary about the making of the film with comments
and chat from cast and all the crew members - how they made their parts their own and how
they silenced the critics who thought it should never have been remade.
Audio commentary track: Director Gus Van Sant chats with Vince Vaughn. Anne Heche
chips in way too often, making her sound like rather an airhead. At the start
they go on about how the new colourful opening credits may look blue, but if
they do then they're meant to be green, because green signifies evil. However,
there's no doubt about it - they ARE green! Didn't anyone get an education in
the basic primary colours ?
Screen Savers: Got a PC? Got a DVD-ROM player? Try out these Psycho screen savers.
Web links: The address of the Universal Studios Website, plus links clickable
from a DVD-ROM player.
Menu :
The menu on this DVD is one of the best I've seen. Animated and scored, it starts with a
menacing shot of Vince Vaughn and continues with Anne Heche dying in the shower with blood
pouring down the plug hole. Selecting one of the options takes it to another menu which is
almost equally-impressive, but the 'slash' of the menu is very well done.
On playing the disc you see the Universal logo and a copyright message before the main menu
appears.
Even when threatened with death, Arbogast still found time
to wow the crowd with an Al Jolson tribute. Mammy !
All eyes will be on the principal leads here. Heche is fine as Marion Crane, but Vaughn
just behaves as if he's performing for a Saturday Night Live sketch, without any true
feeling given to the part at all. The other actors play out their parts to a satisfactory
conclusion, but the whole project smacks of one word - Why?
It's easy to criticise, but after seeing the original film first, the remake is a non-entity.
It lacks any form of suspense, especially in the shower scene since we know she's going to
die and even if you haven't seen the film before playing this DVD, you'll know something's
up as the animated menus tell all! That said, if I'd seen the remake before the original, I
may be championing Van Sant's version over Hitchcock's. After all, I preferred Compulsion,
starring Bradford Dillman and Dean Stockwell, to Hitchcock's Rope, both of
which had the same story and I preferred Scorsese's Cape Fear to the original. In both
cases, I saw the remake before the original.
Overall, both DVDs have been released in the same month, so if you prefer one of them, then
there's no reason to pass up on your chosen version. The UK DVD of this remake also comes
complete with all the extras from the American release, so you're not missing out there.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
