How many psycho films

It dresses itself up as a mystery, but it operates as a proto-slasher film, and still carries some incredible evocative imagery from simple shots like a raised knife.

The sequel was hardly a rushed cash grab and comes out two decades later, with a story that reflects that lapsed time. In that sense, Psycho II tells a more gripping, emotional mystery than its predecessor, and Perkins truly rises to the occasion. Psycho II is a sequel that gets unnecessarily dragged down, but it deserves a fresh look and an open mind.

Daniel Kurland is a freelance writer, comedian, and critic, who lives in the cultural mosaic that is Brooklyn, New York. The owls are not what they seem. By Daniel Kurland Published Feb 10, Share Share Tweet Email 0. Related Topics Horror psycho.

I cannot understand how anyone came up with this movie or how anyone signed off on it. How in the world does that happen?

I think all films should be judged on their own merits. I get what Van Sant was trying to do. He just struggled mightily with the execution. The remake has to serve a purpose. What that difference is can vary. The story can change, it can be told from a different perspective, the cinematic style in which the film is made can be different, and so forth. The options are pretty endless. For the most part Van Sant failed to do anything different. Instead he kind of had like a film student approach and treated this like an experiment.

He tried to capture every shot exactly and keep the story almost identical. He even used the same script for the most part. Sure, he made a few updates to account for the film being set in a modern time period but that was about it.

The one major change he made was Norman Bates masturbating while spying on Marion. What the hell is that?! What purpose does that serve? Look, I get it, Norman is a creep, but this move made him a creep. In re-watching this movie I did notice a few things I did like, mostly the performance from Vince Vaughn. I think he did a pretty admirable job for the most part.

He channeled Perkins pretty well, especially with his run. I think Vaughn nailed that. A small feat, maybe, but an important one. Norman Bates is a sort of weak, submissive character, at least at times. Not always of course, but at times. And during those times he lacks confidence. As a Phoenix native I find these old snapshots of the city to be interesting.

I think the Psycho remake is the perfect example of how hard it is to make a good movie. The film had a talented director and an incredibly talented case. They all had the best intentions and yet the end result was nothing short of a mess. It serves no purpose other than just to be something that is there.

The five Blu-rays look fantastic. The Bates Motel transfer looks a little rough. In total this is an 8-disc set and every disc is region free. So no matter where you are in the world you can enjoy this masterpiece of a set.

You get 5 Blu-rays, which as I mentioned above are all the movies minus Bates Motel. This really is a deep dive into all things Psycho. Every disc, aside from discs for Psycho IV and Bates Motel , include bonus features specific to the films on the disc they represent. There are commentaries, interviews, trailers, TV spots, behind the scenes images, storyboards and a whole lot more.

This truly is Psycho: The Complete Collection. Track it down and get yourself a copy today. You will not be disappointed. He once scored 26 goals in a game of FIFA. He also likes cats. In my defense, I thought it might be helpful, a kind of catharsis. Honestly, I have no idea how she puts up with me, but I am grateful for it every day.

I warned her that it has some pretty intense stuff in it, but if she would like to watch it with me, it might ultimately be a positive thing. Some background. A few years before we met, she found herself in a very bad situation and an abusive relationship, which she was able to escape with some help from a few close friends and a lot of innate bravery. I had read pieces and heard podcasts from women who had been in similar situations who found viewing Midsommar to be a freeing and empowering experience.

To my surprise, she made it through the whole movie. It is a danger zone. More than any other genre, horror is confrontational. More often than not, fantastical monsters, horror icons, and Scandinavian death cults are masks placed over the very real terrors felt by the filmmakers that create them and the audiences that consume them. From its earliest days, horror was seen as a tool for social and political reflection.

The Cabinet of Dr. Nosferatu reflects on the fears and aftermath of a plague that had ravaged Europe and the world just a few years before. Or consider the moral outrage ascribed to films like Peeping Tom , The Texas Chain Saw Massacre , and Friday the 13th , all films that are considered acceptable, perhaps even tame today.

Or to take a more extreme example, Ruggero Deodato, the director of Cannibal Holocaust , was brought up on murder charges because of the savage realism of his film. This is why it is important, nay—the duty of new filmmakers to continue to confront us and make us uncomfortable. Horror, by its very definition, is something uncomfortable, something disturbing, something transgressive. To be clear, I have nothing against comfort horror.

There is nothing wrong with returning time and again to the movies we love. There is power in facing and overcoming these fears and finding comfort in that. The solace found in the familiar is good for us, but it also ceases to hold the same kind of power when we are lulled rather than disturbed.

Horror is a call to examination and to action. Comfort rarely stirs us to either. Wes Craven was particularly articulate on these points. He believed that the first thing the audience should be afraid of is the filmmaker.

In other words, we should be uncertain of where they will take us and what dangers they will confront us with. It is a lesson he learned from Alfred Hitchcock in Psycho , who caught the audience off guard by killing off a star less than halfway through the film. Craven recognized the power that the genre had to tell stories in an entertaining way that could tap into the conscience for social change.

It has never bothered me that non-horror fans are critical of the genre. It is perfectly understandable to be repelled by violence and monsters. I find it funny when they are surprised by how well-adjusted, compassionate, and empathetic horror fans tend to be.

The value of horror is an age-old argument dating back to debates between Plato and Aristotle. Plato felt that the violence and horror on display in the amphitheaters of Athens were bad for society, while Aristotle argued for the value of catharsis. My concern now, however, is that all too often the Platonic argument is rising not only from outside the so-called horror community, but from within it. This is my main reason for writing this article.

In it, the Blind Man, the extreme villain from the first film, appeared to be presented as the hero of the sequel. The discourse was savage on both sides. It was instructive, however, in bringing to light an important question: is there a line to be crossed?

A huge objection to The Last House on the Left is a scene in which Krug and company are humanized as they stare at themselves in disgust, picking grass from their bloody hands after a particularly brutal and inhuman act. This is also the sequence that raises the film above others of its kind. When it comes to this tactic, it all depends on how the material is handled. Is it satire? Is it cultural examination?

Or is it merely exploitation? The audience will usually be able to tell the difference. It is also important to remember that just because a film or any artform depicts something does not mean it advocates it. Categories: '80s , '90s , Films , Horror.

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