The Psycho Legacy (2010/Shout! Factory DVD Set)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Documentary: C+
Alfred
Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) remains
one of the most important, imitated and influential films ever made, even to
this day. We covered it when Universal
reissued several Hitchcock classics on DVD at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7745/Rear+Window/Vertigo/Psycho+%E2%8
With the
Blu-ray on the way, Shout! Factory is issuing a new documentary DVD set called The Psycho Legacy. While you could do an extended min-series on
the first film, this program offers much less because it decides to include the
three very belated, unnecessary sequels star Anthony Perkins did when the 1980s
slice-and-dice craze kicked in. Mildly
amusing and highly unnecessary, this becomes boring as soon as they move onto Psycho II. Needless to say the lame Gus Van Sant remake
(built on the fraud that it was a shot by shot remake when it was not) and the
less-talked-about Bud Cort film Bates
Motel, this is for fans of the sequels with only so much to offer fans of
the original.
But the
coverage of the first film makes this worth a look, leaving the rest a desert
of a curio and I was not too impressed.
If anything, the sequels have aged very badly and are a joke at
best. I like Perkins and some of the
actors they hired for the sequels, but that makes no difference when their
talents were being underutilized.
The anamorphically
enhanced 1.78 X 1 image varies throughout with more analog NTSC video footage
than expected, while the film clips look dated. While the Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
has more than its share of mono and older interviews have location audio
dropouts. Extras include A Tour Of The
Bates Motel, Extended & Deleted Scenes not in the final documentary, Psycho
Reunion Panel, A Visit With Psycho Memorabilia Collector Guy Thorpe, Psycho On
The Web, Hyaena Gallery serial killer art and a panel discussion piece with
Perkins.
- Nicholas Sheffo
