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Psycho (1960) DVD ~ Anthony Perkins  (23)

Psycho (2 Disc Special Edition) [1960] DVD ~ Anthony Perkins  (11)  £4.98

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Amazon.co.uk Review
Numerous critics had already sharpened their knives even before Gus Van Sant's shot-for-shot colour "re-creation" of the 1960 black-and-white Hitchcock classic was released, chiding the Good Will Hunting director for defiling hallowed ground. But this intriguing cinematic curiosity is hardly as sacrilegious as critics would lead you to believe. If anything, Van Sant doesn't take enough liberties with his almost slavish devotion to the material, now updated with modern references. At times, you wish Van Sant would cut loose with a little spontaneity, a little energy, a little something. Unfortunately, when he does venture outside Hitchcock's parameters--with inserted shots of storm clouds during the murder sequences, for example--it's to little effect. Granted, he liberally splashes colour throughout the film (especially in the case of the infamous shower scene), and this is a great-looking movie, but in his obsession with adding a new physical dimension to the film, there's little insight into these characters that Hitchcock hadn't already provided. Vince Vaughn, a robotic and giggly Norman, doesn't crawl under your skin the way boy-next-door Anthony Perkins did, and Anne Heche is admirable if not very sympathetic in the Janet Leigh role. Van Sant does score a minor coup, though, in his casting of the supporting roles: Julianne Moore provides a welcome shot of energy as Heche's irritable and curious sister, William H. Macy is a perfect small-time detective, Viggo Mortensen is studly enough to make you understand why Heche would want to run away with him, and James LeGros walks away with his one brief scene as a used car salesman. Danny Elfman's gorgeous rerecording of Bernard Herrmann's score is a potent supporting character unto itself. Students and fans of the original film will get a kick out of the modern revisions, but don't expect anything of Hitchcockian calibre; watch it for the sum of its intriguing parts, but not the whole. --Mark Englehart, Amazon.com

Special Features
1.85 Wide Screen
DVD 9
German
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English\Dolby Digital Surround German
Dolby Digital 5.1
Dolby Digital Surround
Directors Commentary
Documentary
Screen Savers
Animation Menu
Production Notes
Filmographies
Theatrical Trailer
Czech\Danish\Dutch\English\Finnish\German\Hebrew\Hindi\Hungarian\Icelandic\Norwegian\Polish\Swedish


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12 Reviews 5 star:  (3) 4 star:  (2) 3 star:  (5) 2 star:  (1) 1 star:  (1)           Average Customer Review (12 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   5 of 5 people found the following review helpful: Not the Worst, but still not Great, 2 Dec 2003 By  Michael Crane - See all my reviews    Well, guess they wanted to do a remake of the brilliant classic, "Psycho." Does it work? Eh, not really. However, this is not the WORST remake I have seen. Watch the remake of "12 Angry Men," and you'll know what I mean. It could've been worse. Much worse. All I have to say is that Vince Vaughn did a very good job of trying to live up to Anthony Perkins' outstanding portrayal of Norman Bates. He is very creepy, and it shows that he did his best. Still, he is no Anthony Perkins. My question is simple: WHY?! Why did they have to do a remake. This movie was already perfect to begin with. And when you think about it, that's all this movie is. A remake. There is nothing new or different about it. Except for color, more blood and nudity, and different actors. That's all. Does Holywood really think that we hate old black and white movies? Hello! Just because it's black and white does not mean that we don't want to watch it. The original was already a true classic. Why mess with that? Still, I cannot give it too much of a low rating. Because, it's not the worst remake I have ever seen. I can also think of a million other movies that are more horrible than this. It's okay.....I guess. But, I still don't see the need to do a remake of a brilliant classic. See the original.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   4 of 4 people found the following review helpful: Oh Dear, 29 Jul 2000 By A Customer This review is from: Psycho [1999] (VHS Tape) A remake of Psycho was either gonna fall into one of two catergories: classic or absurd. Such an undertaking could not hope to be somewhere inbetween. It would either be remembered as a bad idea done well, or a bad idea done, er, bad. Well, I'm afraid if you've seen the original this is a very bad film. It's interesting to see another directors take on a classic film (and Van Sant IS a good director - check out Good Will Hunting), but the novelty ends there, and as you already know all the plot points anyway, there's nothing much left to titilate. Perhaps it's ironic. Psycho was one of the first slashers. The 70's saw exploitation classics like The Exorcist and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The 80's killed the genre stone dead with endless sequels of the Nightmare on Halloween the 13th breed. The 90's ressurected it with Scream, and now here we are again, back we started, only bored, tired, and needing something new.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   3 of 3 people found the following review helpful: A very difficult film to review, 18 Jun 2002 By  Katie_Kat (Belfast) - See all my reviews This review is from: Psycho [1999] (VHS Tape) Ok here's the thing. This version of Psycho was on tv the other night and since I had never given this version a chance I thought I'd give it a go. When it was finished I was left with the question, was it good or bad? I am usually very quick to judge when I watch movies but I couldn't give an opinion on this one. Hence the 3 stars I have given the film. Not fantastic but not terrible either. To try and make a decision on the film, I visited the website, which I thought would be down by now but found it and read the very large part on the site that dealt with the question, 'Why a remake of Psycho?'. I found it very interesting as it quoted director Gus Van Sant, actors Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche, and even Alfred Hitchcock's daughter who was the technical consultant on the movie. She praised it believing her father would be honoured that Psycho was being remade and would have loved the project. After reading it all, I took into account the words of Gus who said that the original couldn't possibly be made any better but the aim of this remake was a simple update. This time in colour, new actors and better visual effects. Also for modern day audiences who might never have seen the original to watch this modernised version, in the hope they would go back and watch the 1960's classic. Vince Vaughn is no way trying to portray Anthony Perkins as he made the character unique. Gus went on to say reading the book portrayed Norman Bates in a completely different way to how Anthony portrayed him. He wanted Vince and Anne to acknowledge the original characters but still have freedom to play the character in their own way to. This has made me appreciate the way Vince played Norman because before going to the website I, like many others, was trying to compare him to Anthony. So I leave you with this plea, see the film but visit the website as this hopefully will help you understand why such a classic was remade.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this) ›