PSYCHO 1998 COUCHTUNER MOVIE
PSYCHO 1998 COUCHTUNER 1080P

ItвЂ™s a frank conversation full of fun and humor and it not only made me appreciate the movie more, but even gave me more affection for it as well. She doesnвЂ™t badmouth the remake-even going so far as to say itвЂ™s the most fun she ever had on a movie-but she isnвЂ™t shy about calling out issues they might have had during production or post. Galluzzo is respectful towards the film while still being aware of its flaws and curious about the choices Van Sant made, while Huddleston is incredibly open about the entire experience. Even if itвЂ™s just as a curiosity, Scream FactoryвЂ™s new Blu-ray is worth owning for the new commentary by editor Amy Huddleston and вЂ™s Rob Galluzzo, writer and director of The Psycho Legacy, a documentary covering the series.

PSYCHO 1998 COUCHTUNER 1080P

The 1080p image is decent, appearing to come from an existing master thatвЂ™s bright and colorful but also appears to be quite noisy whether thatвЂ™s a function of the way the movie was shot or a transfer issue, IвЂ™m not entirely clear. Having previously brought all of the Psycho sequels to Blu-ray, Scream Factory now gives the remake an HD upgrade.

Now that enough time has passed, IвЂ™m hoping some viewers can see the movie less through the lens of вЂњthey shouldnвЂ™t haveвЂќ and be able to look at it as the odd cinematic experiment that it is. The ideas behind the movie may have been misguided, but the execution ranges from competent to skillful. ItвЂ™s very well made, because Van Sant is a good director copying a great director. Danny ElfmanвЂ™s sweetening of Bernard HerrmannвЂ™s legendary score packs a punch, and the movie is always interesting even as it falters. Some of the actorsвЂ™ interpretations of their respective characters offer enough difference to be compelling (yes, even Vaughn at times). The changes beg the question: if youвЂ™re going to do a shot-for-shot remake of Psycho, why not just do a shot-for-shot remake of Psycho?Д«ut, if we consider this remake of Psycho to be a kind of вЂњcover versionвЂќ of HitchcockвЂ™s original, there are things to like in it. Yes, Vaughn is miscast and, yes, some of the costuming and production design is garish and, yes, Van Sant makes the inexplicable decision to sometimes deviate from HitchcockвЂ™s template to cut away to stock footage of clouds or cows or to spell out any subtext and literally show Norman Bates masturbating to Marion in the shower, effectively undoing his very motivation for killing her. I know itвЂ™s probably blasphemous to say so, but I still find it pretty watchable. And thatвЂ™s how we got Psycho вЂ™98, a well-intentioned experiment that falls short because it more or less has to.Д«ut the movie isnвЂ™t all bad. The problem is that to successfully prove this theory, the resulting film almost has to be unsatisfying. This is, I suspect, a major reason why Van Sant wanted to conduct the filmmaking experiment in the first place. Changing just one element changes the entire alchemy of the thing, and the Psycho remake changes every single element by recasting, using a new director, shooting in color-you name it. Psycho 1998 isnвЂ™t Psycho 1960 for the simple reason that it canвЂ™t be Psycho 1960.

Why doesnвЂ™t it work?Д«ecause filmmaking is alchemy. TheyвЂ™re working with material proven to be great. Macy, a highlight as detective Arbogast, Julianne Moore as MarionвЂ™s sister Lila, and Viggo Mortensen as MarionвЂ™s lover Sam Loomis. Taking over for Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates is Vince Vaughn, an out-of-the-box choice and arguably the remakeвЂ™s biggest weakness Anne Heche steps into Janet LeighвЂ™s shoes as the doomed Marion Crane, whose overnight stay at the Bates Motel leads to the worst shower anyone has taken. Ever the outsider artist, Van Sant decided to cash in all of that goodwill by finally realizing a long-held desire to do a shot-for-shot remake of Psycho-which, truth be told, is maybe the only way to even try to remake Psycho, even if the finished film doesnвЂ™t quite work. That alone has to be worth something.Д¬oming off the enormous box office success and a bunch of Oscar nominations for Good Will Hunting, indie director Gus Van Sant suddenly found himself with a great deal of studio clout. Think of it as a $20 million experimental film now that is has been tried and failed, we know that the experiment doesnвЂ™t need repeating. It only serves to make the original movie that much better (as though such a thing was possible) by demonstrating all the things Hitchcock does so perfectly that the remake gets perfectly wrong. While IвЂ™m never going to consider it a вЂњgoodвЂќ movie, IвЂ™m strangely glad that director Gus Van SantвЂ™s shot-for-shot 1998 remake of Alfred HitchcockвЂ™s Psycho exists.

Psycho 1998 couchtuner