Trolling #9: Gus Van Sant’s Psycho RULES!

When it came out in 1998, Gus Van Sant’s shot-for-shot remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s exemplary and seminal 1960 proto-slasher Psycho was hailed by critics as a bold cinematic experiment gone terribly awry. The mere idea behind remaking such a well-known film as Psycho has been held by critics and most filmgoers as misguided at best, and a cinematic crime at worst. Even the positive reviews of 1998’s Psycho were merely warm on the notion, likening it to a spirited Broadway revival rather than a successful and scary film in itself.

Well, here at CraveOnline‘s Trolling, we take what most critics and audience members have long since agreed upon, and deliberately throw it out the window. Here, we take the contrary opinion. If it’s universally loved, we’ll tell you why we hate it. If it’s universally hated, we’ll tell you why it was great. This is done partly as an intellectual exercise, but largely it’s done just to piss you off. As such, let us make the following declarative statement: Van Sant’s Psycho RULES. In many ways, it improved upon the original classic, and made for a chilling night at the movies. Here are some reasons for that:

WARNING: If you don’t know the twists and surprises in Psycho, don’t read this article. I don’t want to be the one who spoils them for you.  

Some may see the remake of Psycho as nothing more than a film student tinkering with a movie, wasting millions of dollars in the process, and I openly admit that the remake is not as subtle as the original. But academically, a film like this was going to be made sooner or later. Some young Turk was going to remake a well-know classic shot-by-shot. It was an experiment that needed to happen. I’m glad we had someone daring enough to do it, and I think the result is most certainly worth study.

Until next week, let the hate mail flow.  


Witney Seibold is a featured contributor on the CraveOnline Film Channel, co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. You can read his weekly articles Trolling, Free Film School and The Series Project, and follow him on “Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind. 

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