Bates Motel

I was a fan of Tony Perkins and the original "Psycho". And I loved Bud Cort from the time I saw him in "Harold & Maude" on. What I came away thinking about when I saw "Bates Motel" though was, boy would this have made a great series. Also, who is Lori Petty? This was really one of her very first jobs. I followed her to the "Booker" TV series and I've been a fan ever since. Who would've thought that a Tennessee-born Pentecostal preacher's daughter would go on to be "Tank Girl"? I will always love this goofy little TV movie for keeping the But Cort flame alive and introducing me to Lori Petty. A note of trivia: Kurt Paul, who played Norman in this movie went on to stunt double for Tony Perkins in the big screen "Psycho" sequels and to guest star as the serial killer being interviewed by CCH Pounder in the "Psycho IV" cable movie.

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.

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.

I saw this just once on TV years ago. I wish I could find it somewhere on DVD, even if it didn't have extras, just so I could see it again. I can't even find it on tape to transfer to DVD on a borrowed machine.

I liked that it tied up the end of the story of Norman Bates, who died and left it in his will to fellow inmate Alex in the asylum. Would be very nice to have this to add to the entire Psycho movie collection I have.

The performances of the actors was good, especially Bud Cort and Moses Gunn. The hotel itself was recreated beautifully for this, complete with cobwebs, rundown, house, and all sorts of damage you'd expect for an abandoned building that hasn't been occupied in years. You just have to suspend the knowledge that the original house was burned down at the end of the fourth Psycho movie (they never did explain why the house was still standing in this one--did they put the fire out?).

Many years before the more recent 'Bates Motel' TV series, this television movie was made to cash in on the "Psycho" brand name and try to kick start a series. It's the kind of sequel that both ignores previous entries and fudges with the original mythology a bit. Bud Cort stars as Alex West, who'd been incarcerated at the same mental asylum as Norman. When Norman dies, he leaves the infamous motel & house to Alex. Alex, despite having been in this institution for most of his life, vows to make a go of things, helped by people like Henry Watson (Moses Gunn) and a tough talking young woman named Willie (Lori Petty). While the motel is given a flamboyant makeover, strange & supernatural occurrences take place.

For a while, this is a fairly appealing story (concocted by director / executive producer Richard Rothstein), anchored by Corts' engaging performance, although it wouldn't be for "Psycho" and Hitchcock purists. It threatens to derail upon Petty's introduction into the picture, although after a while it's clear what her purpose is, and the character becomes more tolerable. The part where it REALLY begins to derail is in the final third, where Rothstein and company waste time with a subplot about a depressed "older" woman named Barbara Peters (Kerrie Keane) and her interactions with various youngsters, including one played by a young Jason Bateman. It truly goes to pieces with the hysterical, 'Scooby Doo' type ending. (Followed by Cort breaking the fourth wall just before the end credits roll.)

When you see the makeover that the Bates Motel gets, you'll likely cringe, and realize that progress (a big theme of this tale) isn't always a good thing.

The acting is sincere enough to keep the thing watchable, along with solid performances by such familiar faces as Gunn, Gregg Henry, Robert Picardo, and Lee de Broux. Kurt Paul, who plays Norman here, was a stuntman on the second and third "Psycho" features.

Certainly worth a look for curiosity's sake, but it in no way compares to other entries in this series.

Five out of 10.