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19 years after the original shock of seeing one of the great Hitchcock classics massacred by one of the greatest living directors, I sat to watch it again. Surprise, surprise. Gus Van Sant's daring attempt could have been another masterpiece if the casting of Norman Bates, in particular, had been more visionary and less opportunistic. Imagine what a break for an actor to re-invent that iconic character. Imagine what Heath Ledger, Billy Crudup, Ryan Gosling or Guy Pearce could have done with it. I'm sure that if you had been riveted rather than embarrassed by that characterization, if Vince Vaughn was more of a serious actor who understood the responsibility of his endeavor Van Sant's Psycho would have been a triumph.

"Psycho" isn't the worst movie I've ever seen, but it . . . aw, it's terrible. An utterly soulless exercise in mimicry with an awful cast. what I really missed was Anthony Perkins; the guy had a clean- cut look that subverted his madness. But Vince Vaughn just screams serial killer. That's why none of this works. The stylistic choices are all ham-fisted, and there's no suspense because we're too busy comparing it to the original. And because it's "shot-for-shot", that's a hundred times worse than your average remake - most of which , by the way, usually bring something new to the table. Not here.

Avoid at all costs. This is not worth it.

2/10

One question, if I may . . . While we're on the subject of shot duplication, why the hell would you throw in an image of Heche hanging over the side of the tub? It deviates from the original, doesn't do your actress any favors (as Kevin Smith and Ralph Garman will certainly attest), and it's just asking for future Internet meme infamy.

This known shocker concerns about Marion Crane(Anna Heche in similar role Janet Leigh),she works at a Phoenix office when his employer(Chad Everett) trust her a money .Seeing the opportunity to take the cash and beginning a new life along with her fiancé(Viggo Mortensen in role of John Gavin).Larcenous Marion Crane leaves Phoenix(Arizona) and heads with her car toward California where lives her lover.Later,when is caught in a storm, leaves the highway and pull into to the Bates hotel.The motel with twelve rooms(and 12 showers) is managed by a strange and paranoid young(Vince Vaughn-Anthony Perkins)who seems to be controlled by his overbearing mummy , and ,she's living in a creaky old mansion nearly to hotel,then rare things start to happen.After a detective called Arbogast(William H. Macy with similar character at Martin Balsam), her sister(Julianna Moore-Vera Miles)along with Sam(Viggo Mortensen)are looking for to Marion, asking help to sheriff(Philip Baker Hall-John McIntire).

The story is a rip off from original classic picture,frame-for-frame, with a few news scenes though filmed in glimmer color and lensed beautifully by cameraman Christopher Doyle.Thus,it contains the same screenplay by Joseph Stefano and Robert Bloch infused with deliciously macabre wit,plenty of grisly murders,stabbing shots,horror,suspense and lots of blood.The highlights film are,of course,the famous murder of Marion Crane-Anne Heche completely copied scene-for-scene although with a few more nudism and the creepy final images where is turned out the killing conclusion.Again the suspenseful music score,adding impressive excitement,nowadays deemed a classic soundtrack by Bernard Hermann is arranged by Danny Elffman.The motion picture is regularly directed by Gus Van Sant(Drugstore cowboy,Elephant,among others),nowadays considered a cult-director.The original Hitchcock film is highly superior to this one and the numerous movies which tried duplicate it, like as : Psycho II(1983) by Richard Franklin,Psycho III(1986)by Anthony Perkins,and for cable TV :PsychoIV(1990)by Mick Garris

This is easily the worst remake in film history. I have never understood the idea of a remake at all. If a film, like Psycho, is so good to start with why on earth do you want to try and improve on it? If you insist on tampering with perfection, why then do you have to try to recreate it in it's whole? There is nothing original here. Gus Van Sant put nothing of himself into this film. They say imitation is the highest form of flattery, but this is ridiculous. There are a lot of sides to a character as complex as Norman Bates, and I suspect that Vaughn may have wanted to explore them. Instead Van Sant forced him into sticking to a cheap imitation of Anthony Perkins. Perkins turned in a performance that lead to one of the most memorable characters in film history and it would have been impossible for any actor, no matter how good to recreate that. The rest of the characters are stuck just as tight to similarly wooden imitations of the originals. It is almost painful to watch very talented actors (namely William H Macy) have that talent stifled. In the end, Gus Van Sant set out to pay homage to a great film. Instead he cheapened it, and created a movie that is not worthy of late night cable.

Film! What a mystery. Nobody can doubt that Gus Van Sant is a truly gifted filmmaker - I'm writing this after "Milk" - so how can it be that remaking a classic like "Psycho" shot by ,virtually, shot, Van Sant fails so miserably. Not an ounce of what made the original what it is, makes it to the remake. Every wrong choice found a home here. Anne Heche? Who thought of it? She is so bad with that unbearable little voice, one kind of wants her to die. Julianne Moore makes her Vera Miles part a butch, unattractive character. Viggo Mortensen, an actor I love, is kind of embarrassing as is William H Macy in the Martin Balsam part. The wardrobe is unforgivable and Chris Doyle, one of the best living cinematographers, creates a flat, painful, jarringly colorful frame but the worst of all is Vince Vaughn. Absolutely unforgivable. What a terrible, terrible performance. The exact opposite of Anthony Perkins where everything was intensely personal. Here it feels like a Saturday Night Live sketch, one of the less fortunate ones. I haven't been able to forgive Vince Vaughn. That silly, shallow giggle he gives to Norman Bates, will return to haunt him.