Psycho Original and Remake

The original Psycho film (1960), and the remake (1998), have a considerable amount of similarities and differences. Also discussed will be the improvements and deficiencies between each film. Key factors like the plot, theme, and genre will also be addressed.

The 1960 original was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and was filmed in black and white, whereas the 1998 version was directed by Gus Van Sant. The remake was remade shot-by-shot, but with a different cast members. Norman Bates, which was the psychopath hotel owner, was played by Anthony Perkins. The most recent version of the film was played by Vince Vaughn.

One noticeable similarity in each film was the director in the 1998 film tried keeping everything as close to the original as possible when it came to the wardrobe. Driving scenes are pretty similar as well as Sant tried to use the moving road background. It spins a well-known tale of how the person living next door, in the next room, or down the road just might not be all they seem on the outside. Psycho first came into the world as a book in 1958. It would become Robert Bloch’s signature piece. It told the story of a young woman named Mary Crane who stole money from work and tried to marry the man of her dreams. It also told her death by a man named Norman Bates, quiet and shy hotel proprietor. The novel appealed to the public not only because of the suspense and horror of the story, but because the reader could easily identify with the characters. Mary-simply because everyone wants the American dream and will go to unreal lengths to achieve it at times. Norman-because everyone has had to live up to a parent’s expectations and fallen short at one time or another. In these characters, we find a sense of loneliness and desperation. Shortly after the release and immediate success of the novel, Psycho, the master of film horror decided to introduce the book to the big screen. Alfred Hitchcock made Psycho into an instant horror classic in 1960. With an adapted version of the novel, a screenplay by Joseph Stefano, some character’s names were changed and actors were hired, but the story remained the same. Almost forty years later, director Gus Van Sant brought the picture back to the screen. The big difference was that he added color and modernized the picture. Van Sant’s goal was to remain true to the original picture, but took advantage of what the 90’s culture had to offer. The base story of Psycho remains basically the same in the novel and film versions. A young woman disappears with money from her office to be used to create a better life for her boyfriend and herself. Along the way to meet her love, she stops at a roadside motel and meets the young owner Norman. After some deep conversation, she goes to her room and is murdered by Norman. It then becomes the quest of her younger sister to find her. Her sister, Lila, along with her boyfriend Sam, and an ill-fated private detective, they work to find the terrible secret of Norman Bates and the fate of Mary/Marion. The differences in the movies and the novel are subtle at times and at others, vast. Each director of the film chose to take different angles at some aspects of the story. Hitchcock was working within the confines of the late 50s and early 60s. One major change that was made in the movie was the physical appearance of the character, Norman. In the novel, Norman Bates is middle-aged man with a “plump face…rimless glasses…scalp beneath thinning sandy hair.” (Bloch 10.) In the first screen adaptation, Norman became somewhat attractive. He looked like the boy next door. Anthony Perkins played the part that just by looking at Norman you felt sympathetic for him. He looked like a normal trustworthy person (Hitchcock, 1960.) Hitchcock was also creating a movie in a time where explicit sexuality and nudity were taboo. The now famous shower scene, where Marion is murdered, took seven days and over 700 camera