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FILMTRACKS.COM
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of Psycho (Bernard Herrmann/Danny Elfman/Steve Bartek)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you seek the most authentic re-recording of Bernard
Herrmann's classic score available, one that best matches the tempos and
ambience of the original.
Avoid it... if you prefer embellishments in interpretation when hearing fresh performances of older works, including a substantial beefing up of the ensemble's force and the addition of reverb, neither of which exists here.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Psycho (1998): (Bernard Herrmann/Danny Elfman/Steve
Bartek) Few remakes have attempted to copy their inspiration as
completely as the 1998 Gus Van Sant version of Alfred Hitchcock's 1960
classic Psycho. Ironically, what few changes there are in both
the plot and the technical aspects of remake ruin any chances of success
for the copycat. It's odd to ponder a production meticulously planned
out of love for the original version and how it can, in the process of
trying way too hard to emulate that original, miserably fail. Van Sant
alters the plotline to account for different societal conditions and the
lack of censorship, most notably adding much more nudity and making the
masturbation scene almost comically explicit. In the technical realm,
the film is given a color landscape and a stereo soundscape, along with
slight alterations to focus and other photographic attributes that
sometimes diminish the imitation. Most devastating to Van Sant's
retelling of Psycho was the horrific assignment of nearly
everyone involved in the cast. There is nothing about Vince Vaughn's
performance that can even approach the nervous energy conveyed by
Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates. That lack of that intangible tension,
not only in the acting but in the entirety of the production, was the
most frequently cited failure by critics, most of whom disregarded Van
Sant's efforts as a misguided waste of time. Not surprisingly, one of
the areas that the director sought to recreate note for note was Bernard
Herrmann's skittish, uncomfortable score, best known for its shrieking
killing motif associated with Bates' mother. Conveniently, Van Sant
enjoyed a working collaboration with composer Danny Elfman at the time
(the composer earned his first Oscar nomination for Van Sant's Good
Will Hunting the previous year). Elfman had long been fascinated
with Herrmann's career and was therefore a good candidate to re-record
the score to match the slightly different synchronization points in the
remake. It wasn't the first time a classic Herrmann work had been
re-recorded for a 1990's film; the 1991 version of Cape Fear was
adapted by Elmer Bernstein far more liberally than Elfman's
"interpretation," however. In fact, "regurgitation" is a better work
than "interpretation" to describe Elfman's work for Psycho. So
loyal is Elfman (and cohort Steve Bartek) to Herrmann's original intent
that he succeeded better than anyone else at re-recording the work. Many
had done so before, including a notable performance conducted by Joel
McNeely, but none was as faithful to the tempo or ambience of the
original.
Anyone familiar with Herrmann's original mono recording (or the film itself) will know the score. In construct and style, it's the jumpy, more frantic sibling to Vertigo, utilizing a string ensemble in several, usually incongruous layers. The strikes of the violins for Bates' killing in the name of his mother, joined by the staggered, pronounced, and deep, descending chords that always follow, represent the psychotic villain. The Marion Crane character is actually the recipient of the score's two title identities, which Herrmann utilized brilliantly to help fool the audience into thinking that Janet Leigh would be the film's primary star throughout. The staccato rhythms that open the film and extend into "The Rainstorm" represent her flight with the embezzled money and her obvious anxiousness. On top of that motif is a swirling violin theme of slightly romantic harmony that likely accompanies her dreams of absconding with her lover and her newfound cash. These two adjoined themes nearly disappear in the second two-thirds of the film, naturally, only heard in faint fragments (such as "The Search") when Crane's fate is directly investigated. Outside of these ideas, Herrmann's score is substantially a collection of meandering, dissonant string phrases, sometimes accentuated by intense plucking or the thuds that assemble to form the latter half of the mother's theme. It's not the kind of score that many will find digestible on album, despite its obvious quality in context. It has neither the frightening bombast of the aforementioned Cape Fear or the romance of Vertigo, thus making it a work to appreciate more than enjoy. Elfman's re-recording, for most film score collectors, was simply another opportunity to acquire a decent interpretation of Herrmann's classic. With the original mono recording never pressed onto official CD (even more than ten years after this remake), fans have often relied upon various re-recordings (including those done by the composer himself) to satisfy themselves. Unfortunately, none of these have been truly satisfying. Either the tempo in these interpretations was consistently too slow or the sound quality too wet in its level of reverb. Elfman finally solved these two problems; this version is by far the best match to the original, albeit in stereo. The score-only album released for the remake only contained about half of the score, however, thankfully omitting the wretched electronica-based mutilation of Herrmann's theme that Van Sant decided, for some inexplicable reason, to use over the end credits. Still, despite being out of print, this product remains a very good alternative to the original recording for those seeking to admire Herrmann's classic. It almost excuses the existence of the remake as a whole. ****
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 31:22
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert is very badly designed, with overlapping text including the
following note by Danny Elfman:
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Psycho are Copyright © 1999, Virgin Records America and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 11/27/09 (and not updated significantly since). |
