I'm absolutely certain that Hitchcock didn't use a muff shot of Janet
Leigh slumped over the side of the bath. So much for the shot-by-shot
remake. What was the magic ingredient of the scariest film ever?
Originality - for which Van Sant substitutes a bizarre sort of
curiosity, appropriate enough for a film about voyeurism. Sadly, the
premise is more interesting than the result. Vince Vaughn is more
convincing as Mrs. Bates than Norman, but the film is no longer about
scaring people, it's about dissecting the mechanisms of fear.
Provoking, but more sociology than cinema.
