Bates Motel

This used to play every Fourth of July on t.v... EVERY Fourth of July! NBC's tagline: This 4th of July...Make it a scream! ( or something like that )

Saw this when it was first produced for NBC back in 1987. After a few reruns on that network it was picked up by Lifetime Cable and is now in Encore Mystery Channel's listings. NOWHERE near a classic but passable "stalker" fare if you have really, really low expectations for homogenized tele-terror.

Ironically, when I went to see Scream 3, I couldn't help but think about The Bates Motel ( And it's been years since I've seen this film! ). The similarities are shocking: Big, creepy manse as catalyst in final third of both films, extended chase scenes on staircases, Mrs. Bates' fright mask of skull and black mack ( nearly a decade before the first Scream ) and the eventual unmasking of the "killer" in both films.

It's probably crazy but I couldn't shake the comparisons. Strange. Also, though the movie was lensed way before Psycho IV: The Beginning, storywise, it easily could've been a fourth sequel.

Tame terror, with bizarre casting, but odd enough to give it a look

There was an interesting idea in this non-conventional sequel to the popular Psycho movie series by connecting ghost stories to Norman's family members and victims, but using the motel as a setting to a Twilight Zone/Fantasy Island series was so out of left field that it just couldn't have worked for more than less a season. Bud Cort plays a guy who Norman had alledgedly befriended in the sanitarium. After his death, he inherits the hotel and the property, but the ghost of old Mother Bates won't sit still for the mockery. Lori Petty, still a relative unknown, plays his pretty female friend, and unforgettable Moses Gunn becomes his benefactor in this alternate reality to the movie series. The movie bogs down on the suicidal guest sub-plot, an idea later used in the third movie installment, but it should have stuck to the ghost stories than to try and create a series.

As other reviewers have mentioned: This made for TV film is a pilot for a TV series that never materialized nor is this film in any way a part of the "Psycho" franchise. This has become a stand alone "fanboy" type of film - so I've heard.

I DO NOT recommend this film to fans of the "Psycho" film series nor would I recommend this film to fans of comedy films. Watch this film ONLY out of curiosity and do not expect anything near the "Psycho" film series because this is far, far away from them. There are only very loose connections to the "Psycho" franchise.

Several things wrong with this film: It's not funny (I only got a couple of laughs out of it in the beginning), irritating characters, and the story does not make any since at all - the whole "1950s" thing with the ghost saving the woman's life should have been left out of this film - would have been much better with out it.

I got this film via Amazon in the "4-Movie Midnight Marathon Pack: Psychos" - a worthwhile collection even though I am not fond of "Bates Motel"... it's still worth having in a Psycho collection for the sheer novelty of it.

3/10

I don't know what a lot of these posters are bitchin' about. What the H E double hockey sticks did they expect from a pilot for a TV series? Did they really to see Norman Bates on social security still running around in drag knocking off people in the shower or something of the like? Wouldn't that get boring after an episode or two? With that being said, I thought the creative way they blended the Bates story with some new mystery and a ghost story set a pretty good stage for some decent TV. Guess it was all that closed mindedness and lack of vision from the pubic that stopped that from happening. It's bad too, we could have had another 80s cult show.

As someone who really loves his horror films but will delve into other genres this film is something I went into watching with an open heart. The name never said Psycho to me or anything to do with the actual Psycho franchise but then again it doesn't need to be a part of the franchise because it's got a completely new story of its own. Let's move onto the cast, the cast is a bit of a weird line up but then again I think that's what made me continue watching it and yes it's actually got a story to it and tries to take helm from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho franchise. I know I'm not really reviewing this movie and explaining much about it and that's because I don't really know what to say, what I will say is…. If you can grab a copy of this very rare film just watch it for the way it plays out, you may just enjoy, I know I did, maybe you'll book a night at the Bates Hotel just like myself.