Review of Bates Motel (1987) by Alex R — 12 Nov 2012

What were they thinking? Bates Motel is a bizarro little TV movie that was meant to be a pilot for a TV series that never came to be, thankfully. Based on Psycho, this film tells the story of a guy who is released from an insane asylum after being cured.

While in the asylum, he befriends Norman Bates, and Norman leaves him the house and motel in his will. The rest of the film is a convulted mess with terrible acting, questionable plot and never once has a firm foothold in any sort of tone.

It also totally ignores the continuity of the film series, which the producer of the show tried to defend but failed miserably. It was just a bad idea that made it too far and wasn't stopped anywhere in the pre-production process.

It's difficult to track down nowadays as it's only officially available overseas, but it's out of print and also unreleased here in the US, and for good reason. You can find it fairly easily if you know where to look, but be warned: this is not a Psycho sequel, and what is there is just awful.

It tries to be like the horror other anythology series of the day were (Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street), but it fails in nearly every possible aspect. Skippable.