The idea of remaking Psycho<\/em> was always sacrilegious. The idea of redoing one of the greatest horror films of all-time raised many eyebrows in the mid-\u201990s when the project was announced, but at least Van Sant\u2019s involvement suggested something fresh and modern. Instead, Van Sant ran in the opposite direction, choosing a remake in the most faithful sense of the term. Infamously, his Psycho<\/em> is almost shot-for-shot identical to the Alfred Hitchcock original, albeit with some curious twists now and then. Critics lambasted the film as needless and insulting, but within Van Sant\u2019s madness lay a fascinating method.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Van Sant\u2019s Psycho<\/em> is not identical to Hitchcock\u2019s. It\u2019s in color, for one, but even its replication of iconic shots are tinged with an impish edge that changes the tone and intent. The opening, for instance, where the camera zooms in on the hotel where Marion Crane (Anne Heche) and Sam (Viggo Mortensen) have their lovers\u2019 liaison, is technically the same shot. But Van Sant adds screams of anger and orgasm emanating from the rooms next door, making the subtext of their seedy tryst into text. Marion is also a cheekier creation, less cowed by lust and desperation than Janet Leigh\u2019s version. It\u2019s more fun to be sorta extramarital in the \u201890s than the \u201860s, after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Making the sinister undertones of the \u201960s original, which was still shocking in its time, into the obvious in the \u201890s one was criticized by many as a false move on Van Sant\u2019s part. Wasn\u2019t the subtlety part of the point? Sure, but what Van Sant offers is the flipside of Hitchcock\u2019s narrative. How does Marion act if she\u2019s less bound by societal constraints but still stubborn and misguided? What kind of guy is Sam if he asks his girlfriend to behave like a mistress in the era of casual hookups? And what of Norman Bates, the mama\u2019s boy isolated by mental illness and misogyny, who becomes the knife-wielding maniac in a dress? How does a gay director grapple with all that history?<\/p>\n\n\n Vince Vaughn\u2019s Norman Bates is no innocent who reveals his sinister side when it\u2019s too late for Marion to leave. He\u2019s an awkward creep from the beginning, which many critics thought was too on the nose (ditto the choice to have Norman audibly masturbating as he peeps at Marion through the hole in the wall). But it\u2019s just another example, like Heche and Julianne Moore (who plays Marion\u2019s sister like a furious lesbian with a chip on her shoulder and a Walkman addiction) of the cast choosing to reinterpret the material. The same script can offer radically different results in different hands, which is the entire ethos of this Psycho<\/em> remake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a remake with the excesses of the \u201890s on full display. There\u2019s more blood in the famous shower scene. Sex is not kept to the margins but shoved in the viewers\u2019 faces. Every character is steeped in sleaze. Also added by Van Sant to the murder sequences were surreal images that play like mini BDSM art films. Are these subliminal messages, or what the victims see before they die? Perhaps it\u2019s another way that Van Sant can demonstrate how his remake is less about a redo than a remix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the context of current-day Hollywood, where legacy sequels and live-action remakes of animated classics are practically mandated to be as faithful to the source material as possible, the Psycho<\/em> remake doesn\u2019t feel all that unusual. Yet it remains radical in intent because it\u2019s chock full of twists and quirks that differentiate it from Hitchcock\u2019s original and offer a new perspective. Compare that to the latest Disney remake, where the copy-pasting is so lifeless\u2014but the redundancy is the entire point for brand extension purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You could argue that Van Sant\u2019s Psycho<\/em> works best as an art installation or film school experiment, but there\u2019s still much to appreciate independent of its status as a cinematic curiosity. Artistically, it\u2019s an oddity, but from a business perspective, it might be genius. There\u2019s a reason nobody dares to remake other Alfred Hitchcock movies now, and it\u2019s Gus Van Sant we should thank for it. Surely, that\u2019s reason enough to celebrate his Psycho<\/em>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gus Van Sant’s “Psycho” is streaming on the Criterion Channel<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/psycho2-1024x576.jpg\")
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