10 Times Your Favourite Directors Totally Let You Down

6. Psycho - Gus Van Sant

Universal PicturesUniversal PicturesGus Van Sant is certainly one of Hollywood's most experimental filmmakers, so his work tends to divide audiences on a frequent basis. Still, whatever you think of his movies, there's no denying his place as one of cinema's most interesting and critically-acclaimed directors. There's also no denying the fact that his decision to make Psycho was something akin to a travesty - even if it was done as a full-blown experiment, as Van Sant has continually insisted. Starring Vince Vaughn and Julianne Moore, this shot for shot remake is downright awful. Why, then? How did it go so wrong? Well, essentially, in Van Sant's decision to literally remake Alfred Hitchcock's seminal movie in a shot-for-shot fashion, he comprised his integrity as a filmmaker. It doesn't matter that Van Sant's intention was to explore whether or not reproducing a famous and popular film in its exact quantities would result in the same levels of adoration - the fact that he touched a classic of this kind was not only a let down for his fans, but a let down for the cinematic community in general. The truly appropriate word, really, is "sacrilege."
Contributor

Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.