Bates Motel

By 1987, new life was breathed into the Psycho movie franchise following the success of the two sequels. Simultaneously, syndicated horror anthology TV shows were all the rage (Tales from the Dark Side, Twilight Zone, Friday the 13th, etc.), so some addleminded TV executive got the bright idea to turn Psycho into a weekly TV series! Star Anthony Perkins wanted nothing to do with the project (according to Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, Perkins "boycotted" the production). So writer/director Richard Rothstein (The Hitchhiker, Invitation to Hell, Universal Soldier) was forced to improvise and create the role of new proprietor Alex West for Bud Cort (Harold and Maude).

Viewers did, however, get a brief glimpse of Norman Bates, only instead of Anthony Perkins the role went Kurt Paul, who holds the distinction of being the only actor involved with all of the Psycho sequels (he was Perkins' stand-in/stunt double for the first two sequels and he played fellow matricidal maniac Raymond Linette in Psycho IV: The Beginning). This opening prologue with Bates is set shortly after the end of the original Psycho, thus entirely negating the two previous sequels. As one might expect from that glimpse, the movie's ambitious but it's certainly no Alfred Hitchcock production...

So here's the plot: After the murders in the first film, Norman was locked away in the funny farm where he befriended a prepubescent kid named Alex. Eventually Norman died and bequeathed The Bates Motel to Alex. Alex's doctor (Robert Picardo) discharges the now 30-something man-child, so he moves into the Bates house and gets a bank loan to cover the expenses to re-open the motel. Soon after moving into his new digs, Alex stumbles upon loudmouthed squatter Willie (Lori Petti, Tank Girl), who ultimately winds up becoming his new business partner. However, the grand re-opening of the Bates is not without obstacles, including mysteriously appearing (and vanishing) corpses and a ghostly woman in black who seems to be watching over the proceedings.

Once the motel is finally up and operating, the story veers away from Alex and Willie for a while, as we're introduced to Barbara (Kerrie Keane), the motel's first visitor. Her suicide attempt is interrupted by teenager Sally (Khrystyne Haje, Head of the Class), who invites Barbara to a party (in the the ballroom in the new wing of the motel!?) where she's introduced to potential love interest Tony (Jason Bateman). But unsurprisingly, things aren't quite what they seem with Sally and Tony in this bizarre Fantasy Island-ish story detour...

Debuting on July 5, 1987 (and rerunning on July 4, 1988), the pilot film was a ratings flop, so a series never materialized. Most everyone is quick to dismiss the film as rubbish, and its flagrant disregard for detail and continuity (as well as the ludicrous Scooby-Doo ending) frequently angers fans of the other Psycho sequels. Still, it's fun for fans of Cort and Petty, and is interesting to see Jason Bateman in a very uncharacteristic role. If one can say nothing else nice about the film, at least composer J. Peter Robinson (The Wraith, The Gate, Wes Craven's New Nightmare, Charmed) composed a great score that I'd love to have on CD. But since there's not even a DVD...

Here in the USA the film never get a home video release (though there does appear to be a NTSC tape that was released in Canada). Sci-Fi was airing reruns a few years back but they shaved a little bit off of the running time to jam in extra commercials. The movie was entirely omitted from the documentary "The Psycho Legacy," and currently there appear to be no plans to release it on DVD... but it does show up on television from time-to-time and there are copies circulating in fandom.