20 Great Horror Roles Ruined By Terrible Acting

Gus Van Sant's infamous shot-for-shot remake of Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock's seminal masterpiece, commits many crimes against the original. Both a carbon copy and a desecration, it strips the original story of its suspense and atmosphere, while it also features many terrible performances that ruin the original characters. The biggest crime of all? What it did to Norman Bates. 

Norman is one of the greatest horror movie characters ever. Both tragic and terrifying, he was played to perfection by Anthony Perkins in the original. Filling these shoes was always going to be a huge challenge, and who did they cast in the remake? Well, they cast none other than... Vince Vaughn. What idiot thought this was a good idea?

In Vaughn's hands, gone are Norman's vulnerability, nuance, and quiet menace. While Perkins' Norman was likable at first and invited viewers' sympathy, Vaughn's Norman immediately comes off as a sleazeball, and he's got so little charisma that it's impossible to feel anything other than boredom whenever he's around. Later scenes where he tries to be menacing fall completely flat, and finally, when he shows up dressed as 'Mother' at the end, it's unintentionally hilarious. 

Everything about this was completely wrong, and this should be remembered as one of the worst casting choices in horror movie history. Throughout his inconsistent career, Vaughn has never - either before or since this movie - shown that he had anything even approaching the dramatic range to attack the part of Norman Bates.