Psycho
Universal Pictures | Release Date: December 4, 1998 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
47
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
11
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
Norman Bates is alive and well, and just a tad kinkier than you remember him. Read full review
75
San Francisco ExaminerWalter Addiego
William H. Macy is fine as the detective Arbogast, wearing a hat he could have borrowed from Martin Balsam in the original role. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyStaff (Not credited)
The film is shot in color and includes an amped-up Danny Elfman version of Bernard Herrmann's haunting score. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverM. V. Moorhead
Funny and sort of creepy--a not bad little thriller with some peculiarly dated plot development. Read full review
70
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
It remains the most structurally elegant and sneakily playful of thrillers. At least some things never change. Read full review
70
SalonMary Elizabeth Williams
May not be anything new, but it's still just as shocking. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsDavid Kehr
Cold, dull, lifeless. [5 December 1998, p.3]
63
USA TodayMike Clark
Untantalizingly reverent remake. [7 December 1998, p.4D]
60
VarietyGodfrey Cheshire
A faithful-unto-slavish remake of the 1960 Hitchcock classic, pic contains nothing to outrage or offend partisans of the original, yet neither does it stand to add much to their appreciation. Read full review
60
The New YorkerKen Marks
If the original did not exist, would this picture be worth seeing? Read full review
50
Film ThreatRon Wells
The movie doesn't stink. The performances are good, potentially great, especially Vince Vaughn as Norman Bates. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
In the shock department, the ante has been upped, way up, and a mere kitchen knife through a shower curtain just doesn't cut it any more. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Van Sant's film feels as dated as Hitchcock's, and Hitchcock's has the better excuse. Read full review
50
Washington PostStephen Hunter
This Psycho seems a little nuts. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
As Norman Bates, Vince Vaughn makes us better appreciate how much Anthony Perkins brought to the original project. It's clear now that he owned the role and that he shares equally with Hitchcock the credit for making Psycho the memorable creep show it is -- and was. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
It's so slavishly similar to its predecessor - right down to the symbolic lettering on Marion's license plates - that there's little to spark fresh discussion except the acting. Read full review
40
EmpireJeff Dawson
The thrill of the original is seeing a black-and-white, one-foot-on-the-floor, no-sex-please Hays Code world suddenly explode into a slasher movie. Our loss of innocence has, simply, changed all the rules. Read full review
40
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Hitchcock's Psycho had a lot more than watchability going for it. Van Sant's film impresses only on the level of a cinematic parlor trick, and while that makes it an interesting curiosity, the world doesn't need it. Read full review
40
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
The response for anyone familiar with the original Psycho is likely to be restricted to a narrow range between briefly enjoyable déjà vu and mild disappointment. The movie lacks the chutzpah to even be a travesty. Read full review
38
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The movie is an invaluable experiment in the theory of cinema, because it demonstrates that a shot-by-shot remake is pointless; genius apparently resides between or beneath the shots, or in chemistry that cannot be timed or counted. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Redundant and unnecessary. Read full review
30
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Anne Heche is just another neo-noir minx on the make, while Vince Vaughn, grinning and leering as Norman Bates, sinks the movie. Read full review
0
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Van Sant's doomed and misguided experiment. Read full review
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