Psycho (1998) on DVD

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Dom Robinson reviews

Psycho (1998)Check in. Relax. Take a shower.
Distributed by

Columbia TriStar

    Cover

  • Cat.no: UDR 90016
  • Cert: 15
  • Running time: 100 minutes
  • Year: 1998
  • Pressing: 1999
  • Region(s): 2, PAL
  • Chapters: 18 plus extras
  • Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround
  • Languages: English, German
  • Subtitles: 10 languages available
  • Widescreen: 1.85:1
  • 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
  • Macrovision: Yes
  • Disc Format: DVD 9
  • Price: £19.99
  • Extras : Scene index, Theatrical trailer, Biographies, Filmographies, Production Notes, Booklet,Director’s Commentary, “Psycho Path” documentary, Screen Savers

    Director:

      Gus Van Sant

    (Drugstore Cowboy, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Good Will Hunting, My Own Private Idaho, To Die For)

Producer:

    Brian Grazer and Gus Van Sant

Screenplay:

    Joseph Stefano

Music:

    Bernard Herrmann

Cast:

    Norman Bates: Vince Vaughn (Clay Pigeons, A Cool Dry Place, For The Boys, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Swingers)
    Lila Crane: Julianne Moore (Assassins, The Big Lebowski, Body of Evidence, Lost World: Jurassic Park, The Myth of Fingerprints, Nine Months, Safe, Short Cuts, Vanya on 42nd Street)
    Sam Loomis: Viggo Mortensen (Albino Alligator, American Yakuza, Boiling Point, Carlito’s Way, Crimson Tide, Daylight, G.I. Jane, The Indian Runner, The Passion of Darkly Noon, A Perfect Murder, The Prophecy, The Reflecting Skin,Ruby Cairo, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3, Witness, The Young Americans, Young Guns II)
    Marion Crane: Anne Heche (Adventures of Huck Finn, Donnie Brasco, Force Majeure, I Know What You Did Last Summer, I’ll Do Anything, The Juror, Milk Money, A Simple Twist of Fate, Six Days Seven Nights,Walking and Talking, Volcano, Wag The Dog)
    Milton Arbogast: William H. Macy (Air Force One, A Civil Action, The Client, Fargo, Murder in the First, Wag The Dog)

Psychois Gus Van Sant‘s almost-shot-for-shot remake of the 1960 Hitchcock originalstarring Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh, this time clocking in at four minutesshorter.

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 herstation while having an affair with Sam Loomis (Viggo Mortensen). The subtle differencesstart 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 themind as she’s tailed by the police – but not for the reason she’s thinking. After changingher 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 thehotel manager Norman Bates (Vince Vaughn), but after taking a shower, she certainly won’tbe getting a full night’s sleep.

Next to the motel is Norman’s house, occupied by himself and his mother, an extraordinarycreature of whom we never get to see properly and are told is quite ill, but she certainlymanages to holler loud enough as to be heard at great distances. When Marion is no longeraround, many people come calling including her sister Lila (Julianne Moore), privateinvestigator 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 firstmajor 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 ofjust watching silently, he now masturbates off-camera. As for the moment everyonewants to know about – the shower scene is slightly more violent. An effect usedto make the frames of the film “stutter” as Marion struggles, adds to the impactand she seems to get knifed more often. When she finally keels over, there’s more nudity thanbefore and we almost get to see all of what her girlfriend, Ellen Degeneres, sees on a regularoccasion. Similarly, there’s more blood – as Heche falls down in the shower, there’s actuallyblood 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, thisone is in colour. The original was in mono sound, this one in Dolby Digital 5.1. Finally, thefilm is dedicated in memory of Alfred Hitchcock. At the end of the film, there’sa cameo from Robert Forster (Jackie Brown, The Black Hole) as theman who explains Norman’s state of mind.

The film is a reunion of sorts for a few of the principal cast members. Vince Vaughn workedwith Julianne Moore on The Lost World: Jurassic Park, but she also worked beforehandwith William H. Macy and Philip Baker Hall (Sheriff Chambers) inBoogie Nights.Similarly, Macy also worked with Anne Heche in the political satire,Wag The Dog.

movie pic

# 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 thanthe black-and-white original and they look great, but there’s a slight level of grain foundwithin most of the film which can be distracting at times. The film is presented in itsoriginal widescreen ratio of 1.85:1 and the print is anamorphically-enhanced for 16:9widescreen televisions which provides 33% higher resolution and the average bitrate is a verygood 8.5Mb/s, rarely fluctuating much, apart from early on in the film when it drops as lowas 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 wereonce made in mono being translated into surround, giving more emphasis on voiceovers, such asthose while Marion is driving, the crack of thunder as it pours down and the weird goings-onin Norman’s head in his final scene. Bernard Herrmann‘s score has been used again, butthis time adapted by Danny Elfman.

movie pic

It’s behind you…

Extras : Chapters and Trailer :There are 18 chapters covering the 100 minutes of the film, which is eight less than theUK 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 withsurround 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 forVince Vaughn, Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, Viggo Mortensen, Anne Heche anddirector Gus Van Sant. Other extras:

    “Psycho Path”: a 29-minute documentary about the making of the film with commentsand chat from cast and all the crew members – how they made their parts their own and howthey silenced the critics who thought it should never have been remade.
    Audio commentary track: Director Gus Van Sant chats with Vince Vaughn. Anne Hechechips in way too often, making her sound like rather an airhead. At the startthey go on about how the new colourful opening credits may look blue, but ifthey 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 inthe 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 clickablefrom a DVD-ROM player.

Menu :The menu on this DVD is one of the best I’ve seen. Animated and scored, it starts with amenacing shot of Vince Vaughn and continues with Anne Heche dying in the shower with bloodpouring down the plug hole. Selecting one of the options takes it to another menu which isalmost 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 menuappears.

movie pic

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 Vaughnjust behaves as if he’s performing for a Saturday Night Live sketch, without any truefeeling given to the part at all. The other actors play out their parts to a satisfactoryconclusion, 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 todie and even if you haven’t seen the film before playing this DVD, you’ll know something’sup as the animated menus tell all! That said, if I’d seen the remake before the original, Imay 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 ofwhich had the same story and I preferred Scorsese’s Cape Fear to the original. In bothcases, I saw the remake before the original.

Overall, both DVDs have been released in the same month, so if you prefer one of them, thenthere’s no reason to pass up on your chosen version. The UK DVD of this remake also comescomplete with all the extras from the American release, so you’re not missing out there.

A review of the original can be foundhere.

FILM : *PICTURE QUALITY: ****SOUND QUALITY: ****EXTRAS: ****——————————-OVERALL: ***

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1999.

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