It's Halloween, and just for fun, I looked up the dictionary definition of "horror," and found this: "calculated to inspire feelings of dread."
Which pretty much sums up how I feel about modern horror movies.Having grown up on scares and shocks and sustained tension in pre-'70s fright flicks, I find the splatter and goo and gore of today's horror movies a poor substitute.
They tend to provoke a sense of nausea more than fear. And they all seem overly familiar:
"Urban Legends"? Think "Candyman."
"Bride of Chucky"? It's an arranged marriage.
"Disturbing Behavior"? Did somebody say "Stepford"?
"Apt Pupil"? Nazis in the suburbs. Isn't "The Boys from Brazil" on video?
And "dread" is exactly what I felt when I saw the early trailers for the upcoming remake of "Psycho" (which opens Dec. 4).
Who would have the nerve to remake Alfred Hitchcock's nightmare masterpiece?
Gus Van Sant, the director of "Good Will Hunting," "To Die For" . . . and the dreaded "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues." (Hey, Gus, you already made a horror movie!)
In early interviews, Van Sant said his film would be a "shot-for-shot" remake of Hitchcock's. (Even the music will be the same, a reworking of Bernard Herrmann's score by Danny Elfman.)
Suddenly, more "dread" surfaced.
A "shot-for-shot" remake? Why not just reissue Hitch's original, a la "Touch of Evil" or "Gone With the Wind"? I'd love to see it on the big screen again.
Those who know "Psycho" only for its shower scene are really missing something. Hitchcock set up the audience with certain expectations, then blew them away in a shocking manner.
True, the film contains two violent, bloody moments (though, by today's standards, they aren't all that bloody), but most of the film is a brilliant pastiche of setups and innuendo, leading us one way, then twisting us into an entirely unexpected direction.
And the biggest shock was killing off the star in the first half-hour.
Janet Leigh was a huge star in 1960 when she played Marion Crane in "Psycho." And if Van Sant expects to shock young people today in the same way, casting Anne Heche seems an odd choice. The role cries out for someone like Julia Roberts or Sandra Bullock or Cameron Diaz.
This is not to disparage Heche, who is a fine actress. But the shock comes from the audience relaxing in the knowledge that the film's star couldn't possibly be killed off so soon - and that a big star is likely to be the heroine of the piece.
Heche simply isn't a big enough star to pull that off.
More recently, producer Brian Grazer addressed rumors on the Internet that the new version is a "shot-for-shot" remake only up to the shower scene, after which Van Sant goes his own way. Entertainment Weekly reports that "the new version will feature a few new spins," including "an altered mother character (and) a grislier shower slaughter." And Grazer is quoted as saying, "There's stuff that changes, and it starts to become more significant around (the shower scene)."
A new, lengthier trailer is in theaters now, showing a number of scenes from the new "Psycho," albeit rapidly paced snippets. And most validate that it's a "shot-for-shot" remake.
With one exception. Norman looks through the motel office peephole into Marion's room, and we see Marion in bed with a man. If Marion's at the motel with a man, that is a big change.
On the other hand, maybe it's a tease. The shot could be from an earlier scene, when Marion is in a hotel with her boyfriend as the film opens.
Ehhh, who cares?
I'm not crazy about remakes and reworkings and rehashes anyway, and "Psycho" is pretty close to a perfect movie. It accomplishes everything it set out to do. And more.
And Hitchcock chose to make it black and white at a time when most movies were in color. It added to the spooky atmosphere.
Is making a new color, grislier version really a good idea?