This movie is just a shot-for-shot replica of the first half of the 1960
classic. The one of the addition to the first half of the classic is the masturbation by
Bates during the peephole scene. It was not in the classic but was included
here, making this replica more of a drag, there are other differences.
One thing that slightly works is the cleaner cinematography, which give the
plot a new life, but that is the only thing that worked for this movie I am afraid
when you compare it to the original.
There is nothing to commend in this movie as it was just the same as the
first. The director and the screenplay writer need to be wiped for just wasting
film. The acting did not add anything for me, I felt Vince Vaughn went too hard
on the psycho act.
The famous shower scene, which was terrifying and groundbreaking in the
original, feels flat here. It looks more like a staged re-enactment than a
moment of real shock or fear.
The plot is the same as the original, a secretary (Anne Heche) steals
$400,000 from her boss (in the original it was 40,000). While making her escape
she lodges in a motel where she meets Norman Bates (Vince Vaughn). As she
spends the night at the Bates Motel, we slowly see Norman’s strange behaviour
change from polite to unsettling. Then the next day, she is murdered, and just
like the original.
What hurts the most is that while the original felt unsettling and
tense, this version feels like it had a list of things it wanted to include,
and the director was just checking it off as the movie progressed.
After her disappearance, the movie shifts to the investigation led by
her sister Lila (Julianne Moore) and her boyfriend Sam (Viggo Mortensen). Now,
the problem with these two was their chemistry, there seems to be none between
them, and although I have to say both did a decent acting job for this movie,
they felt underused, as the script does them no favours.
Then there was William H. Macy, who plays the private investigator who investigates
the missing money and pieces together the clues, he too gave a solid performance
but is let down by the lifeless tone of the movie.
The final twist reveal of Bates’ “mother” did not have the same chilling
impact as the Hitchcock’s original.
I do not recommend this movie at all, it was a complete waste of time.
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