Gus Van Sant's decision to remake Psycho was met with mixed responses. Some thought that it was a bad idea remaking on of Hitchcock's finest films while other's thought that a remake would be just the thing to rebreath life into the old film. However, in remaking the film, several of the concepts that made the original film so unique and startling were lost. The original film was filmed in black and white and that gave the film quite a different impact compared to the newer colored version.
The same can be said of the music. Now I am a fan of Danny Elfman's music. If anyone was to adapt the original score for the remake, I can't think of anyone more suited for the task than Danny Elfman. The score is much shorter than the 1997 Varese Sarabande release that was conducted by Joel McNeely, and it contains about half as many tracks. How well is the score adapted compared with the original? Well, Elfman comes pretty close, however, Joel McNeely's orchestrations were closer to the original. Elfman's take on the score is very well done indeed but it isn't quite the same as the original.
Some of the beats on some of the tracks are held longer or are ended in slightly different ways. In some cases, McNeely's version ended the Prelude music with a string pluck whereas in this case the pluck is either not there or changed to a longer note on the strings. A piece that is unique to this release is Intro/Logos which is an eerie and low played quick rendition of the Prelude. All in all, this is a good effort by Elfman in adapting the score of a composer who he calls his idol. In terms of the amount of music, the 1997 version delivered more bang for the buck but this version probably contains the longer passages of the film as opposed to the shorter tracks on the 1997 release. Still, I think the 1997 version is a bit better. You be the judge.
Total time: 31:35
1: Intro/Logos (0:43)
2: Prelude (1:55)
3: The City (1:35)
4: Marion and Sam (1:21)
5: Temptation (1:50)
6: The Rainstorm (2:55)
7: The Peephole (3:08)
8: The Murder (1:08)
9: The Clean Up (1:41)
10: The Car (0:37)
11: The Swamp (1:44)
12: The Curtain (1:04)
13: The Search (0:32)
14: The Stairs (2:17)
15: The Knife (0:25)
16: The 1st Floor (1:56)
17: The Search B (1:32)
18: The Hill (0:52)
19: The Bedroom (1:07)
20: The Cellar Pt. 1 (1:10)
21: The Discovery (0:40)
22: The Finale (1:23)