User Reviews

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.

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.

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 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.

Bates Motel isn't great, but it's not terrible. It takes place in the Psycho universe but it's not cannon with the then-ongoing Psycho franchise with Anthony Perkins.

In this story, we meet a troubled young man who befriends an imprisoned Norman Bates. Then, when Bates dies and wills the Bates Motel to his friend (named Alex), he befriends a young employee of a fast-food chain (working the mascot duty), and together they renovate and reopen the Bates Motel, as per Norman's wishes in transferring property ownership.

TV movies are notoriously bad, and this one is definitely up there; however, it's not without its decent moments. Alex is a pretty likeable character, and his thoughts and feelings are easy to sympathize with. The acting is a little weak in places, but it's actually better than one might expect from a TV movie. Originally intended to be the pilot for a series set in the Psycho universe, I'm glad it never got off the ground; it sticks out like an eyesore as the outlier in the Psycho franchise, and I don't think I ever would've wanted to watch a TV show built off this "movie."

At the end of the day, Psycho just isn't the same without Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates.

Opening scene, a black-and-white sunrise over the Bates Motel, is a good, atmospheric touch, until we realise the footage was lifted from Psycho II, getting things off to a cheap, tacky start.

Some good set designs are about all this turkey has going for it, as Bates' former asylum roommate is willed the Bates Motel, by the now deceased (in this film, anyway) Norman Bates. What could possibly go wrong with an ex-mental patient returning to the scene of a very violent crime? And I'm sorry to keep repeating myself and bringing this up, however, the Bates Motel should have been demolished decades earlier, not only because of the murders which occurred there, but also because the highway built in the 1950s (mentioned by Norman Bates in the original Psycho) routed traffic away from that road.

Wide eyed, boyish looking Bud Cort is awful, and the screen writing in this Psycho meets wannabe Twilight Zone was as bland as could be. I don't have a problem with there being no murder, and no act of on- screen violence committed, what I do have a problem with was the inept screen writing, killing off Bates for the sake of a proposed weekly television series, and for what? So we can watch Cort's character mundanely and uneventfully running to motel? Or watch as he slowly goes mad, and is driven to kill, in extremely predictable fashion?

This was a film I actually didn't know existed, much like the Psycho series for some time. It actually wasn't until pretty recently when I realized that there was this TV movie spinoff from the original one that was released in between Psycho III and Psycho IV: The Beginning. This does ignore all of those movies, much like we see with Halloween from 2019 or The Texas Chain Saw Massacre series. The synopsis is a mentally disturbed man, who roomed with the late Norman Bates (Kurt Paul) at the state lunatic asylum, inherits the legendary Bates Motel after his death and tries to fix it up to make it a respectable business again.

We pick up right near the end of the original Psycho. Norman has been convicted of the crimes he committed and we get a bit of back-story through a news reporter. Norman is under the care of Dr. Goodman (Robert Picardo). We get to see a young boy who is also at this hospital and they think it is a good idea to pair Alex with Norman to help them both with their therapy. This works well as Alex West grows up to be played by Bud Cort. Norman dies and we're at the will reading.

There's a few items given out, but the major thing is that Alex inherits the Bates Motel. Dr. Goodman thinks it would be good for him to finally the leave the hospital and then use what he has inherited to better his life. Alex needs some convincing and then goes to Los Angeles where he catches a bus to Fairville. No one seems to know where the Bates Motel is until Alex meets Henry Watson (Moses Gunn). It turns out he was a former employee there and takes Alex to the house. It is slated to be torn down and there's a fence around it. Despite the warnings, Alex stays the night in cabin one and prepares to go to the bank the following day.

It is there he meets Tom Fuller (Gregg Henry). He's intrigued to see that Alex does indeed own the property and thinks that Alex is going to tear it down to rebuild on it. He's shocked to find out that Alex wants a small loan to fix it up. He's willing to listen to the plan before approving the loan.

When Alex returns home, he finds someone else in his house. He is spooked at first, but it turns out to be Willie (Lori Petty). She's been squatting in the main house and she tries to smooth talking him into letting her help him, but he insists he has to do it alone. She leaves the house that night. She hasn't gone far though when she comes to his help when Alex is being swindled by an architect.

The two of them enlist the aid of Henry and weird things start happening. They find the body of Norma on the property. At the funeral, Alex thinks he sees a woman in black. There's also a scene where he thinks he sees her in the window at the main house and other spooky things. There's also another subplot later as they open the motel back up.

This is where I want to leave my recap as I don't really like to bash movies, but this is a mess. I find it interesting that they decided to just do a spin-off randomly and not trying to have this fall in line with recognizing some of the others. This came from Universal Television, so it falls into their properties. Personally I found it odd.

With that out of the way, I found the set-up to be fine. We have a mentally disturbed boy that grew up with Norman. I don't recall that we really ever figured out what was wrong with him and why he's been there pretty much his whole life. I'm thinking his parents died and he was disturbed by it, but I could be wrong as well. I like that his character is out of place, so he surrounds himself with a street-wise girl in Willie and Henry who is rough, but kind. Since this movie is part comedy, they try to incorporate little jokes and they fell flat for me.

This movie also tries to shift this into being a possible supernatural and it ends up playing like a Scooby-Doo story. On top of that, at the end of my recap I reference to another subplot. Barbara Peters (Kerrie Keane) is the first person to check into the motel when it opens and we see that she has a sad plan she's going to put into motion. A bunch of teens show up and check in. One of them is Sally (Khrystyne Haje). She comes into Barbara's room. There's a bit of confusion to see that Sally is in the wrong room, but she takes the time to invite Barbara to their party. This subplot makes more sense where if this movie would have worked, it was going to be a series where strange things happen here. Being in this movie, it is out of place and I have no idea why it is here. It has a good message still.

Now if you couldn't tell, this movie wasn't very good. I will admit that I was pretty bored too. There was a good set up, but then it really just meanders and I didn't know where it was going. It lacked building toward anything in my opinion and the disjointed story is what resulted. I originally was asking if they were going to be the Norma ghost story to a close and that felt not only rushed, but tacked on to me. It really was lacking direction.

That will take me to the acting, which wasn't great either. I did think that Cort was fine as this socially awkward character. I don't recognize him, but I wouldn't be shocked if this wasn't too much of a stretch for him. He really seems like he is the character he is portraying in real life. Petty I thought was fine as this side character. We don't really need her, but she brought life to the film. Gunn is another weird character. We get this odd scene where it looks like they want to tear down his house and he is in a standoff. Alex just walks in and they let him go when Henry agrees to leave. I don't get it. Henry comes off well as the banker here. He just plays a snake well as I've seen him play similar roles. Haje was quite attractive, as was Keane. I thought those two as well as Picardo and an odd cameo by Jason Bateman rounded this out. The acting isn't horrible, but it's just not great.

The last thing to cover here would be the effects. We really don't get a lot to be honest. One thing that works in the favor of this movie is they shoot a lot of things from distance. I think that really can help. I will say, even though there are two cheap masks used at the end of this movie, I have a soft spot for them. If one of them would have been really a ghost though, I would have hated it for sure. The cinematography is fine for a TV movie as well.

Now with that said, I didn't know much about this movie and I can see why. Really the big thing for this is just how obscure it is and wild that it was made. I don't think we have a horrible set up and the idea of Alex trying to make his way outside of the comforts of the hospital. I think that the people around him are fine as well. The lack of a coherent story or building toward anything really hurts this. We get a subplot that feels out of place. It is shot fine, but the there's really not a lot working in its favor. The soundtrack fits for what they were going for. I do have to be honest there as well. I can't recommend this movie though, even if you like Psycho and its sequels as this is a spin-off and doesn't fit. I would say this is a well below average, bordering on bad.

Hmmm...what would Norman Bates say about 'Bates Motel?' Perhaps, "We all go a little mad sometimes." Except I really don't think it was all that crazy to give the TV audience a taste of Psycho. I have to admit, I've been fascinated with the character since the first time I saw Psycho in the '80s and I loved the crazy sequels that followed. I also liked Jason Bateman as an actor (still do). However, I think this show was somewhat doomed from the start. I think it's hilarious that 25+ years later, I am hooked on the 'Bates Motel' TV series, which is better because I think a prequel is a better way to go. You know what they say about hindsight though. In any event, I'd like to see this again as I only saw this version in 1987. I think in light of the fact that the new show on A&E has done so well, why not show it for giggles? I'm sure Anthony Perkins won't mind...now.

Bates Motel is a terrible film. If you are a fan of Psycho and the Psycho series trust me, you are not missing anything.

Where to start? The plot centres around a man named Alex who met Norman Bates in a sanitarium, and on Norman's death, is left the Bates Motel in his will. Alex then goes about finding the place, and fixing it up so Bates Motel can live on.

Now here's how you know a movie is bad: 1) You go into it with low expectations and it's still awful.

2) You take the film on it's own terms, not worrying how it relates to the Psycho franchise and it's still awful.

3) You take it in the context that it's a pilot for a sitcom and it's still awful.

Bates Motel is more of a comedy than anything else, and while I'm willing to accept (just) that the Psycho franchise can go in this direction, I cannot accept the woeful attempts at humour that are featured in the movie.

The acting is terrible and the script woeful, complete with an ending that anyone who has seen an episode of Scooby Doo will guess very early on. This film is so far away from the original Psycho as to be offensive to anyone who treasures the original for the stone cold classic it is.

Just please be aware, Bates Motel is rare and hard to get for a reason. It is awful, and stands as the worst film I have ever seen.

I think this was an attempt to keep the PSYCHO series alive, but failed dismally. It is classified as a horro movie, yet there are no killings, no blood, no suspense, no terrifying scenes. all in all I would say this is the worst movie ever made. Please do not waste your time or money on this worthless piece of junk, only watch to see how stupid this movie is for yourself but spend your money on something better like Halloween or Silent Night Deadly Night, they are much better than this waste of space.

This is a bad TV movie. However what is funny is that it was a pilot for a TV show. I don't know they were thinking. To me if there is no Norman Bates there is no Bates Motel. Instead we get a "Twilight Zone" set at The Bates Motel. That might not sound bad however this movie is bad. The acting from Lori Petty is beyond words. Bud Cort is no Anthony Perkins. The screenplay must of been written by a 12 year old. The direction isn't there at all. Its bad from a to z. This movie should be shown in film schools as the prime example of bad movie making. I can not think of anything worse. If you can let me know. Bates Motel must have made Alfred Hitchcock spinning in a shower drain

Bates Motel is a 1987 American made-for-television comedy-drama horror film and a spin-off of the Psycho film series produced by Ken Topolsky, written and directed by Richard Rothstein, and starring Bud Cort, Lori Petty, Moses Gunn, Gregg Henry, Jason Bateman, and Kerrie Keane.

The film is about Alex West, a mentally disturbed youth who was admitted to an asylum after killing his abusive stepfather. There he befriends Norman Bates and ends up inheriting the Bates Motel. It was originally produced as a pilot for a proposed TV series set in the Bates Motel, but it was not picked up by the network. The film ignores the time-line from Psycho II and Psycho III.

Alex West (Bud Cort) roomed with Norman Bates (Kurt Paul) at the state lunatic asylum nearly twenty years for killing his abusive stepfather, and they became close friends. After Norman's death, Alex learns that he has inherited the Bates Motel, which has been vacant since Norman's arrest. Alex travels to Norman's California hometown (renamed Fairville for this film; in the original film it was Fairvale) and with a little help from teenage runaway Willy (Lori Petty) and local handyman Henry Watson (Moses Gunn), Alex struggles to re-open the motel for business, until rumors about the place being haunted by the ghost of Norman's mother, Mrs. Bates, are apparently true. Only to find that the haunting was a prank and the ghost was the bank manager, Tom Fuller (Gregg Henry), who refused to give Alex a loan by trying to scare him away. Tom is then forced to help Alex and the others with renovating the motel or face prison for fraud. The motel was soon finished with the renovation.

Meanwhile, Barbara Peters (Kerrie Keane) runs away from home and ends up staying in Alex's motel for the night, contemplating suicide for getting older, going through three divorces, and not having children. Barbara meets a teenage girl (Khrystyne Haje), who invites Barbara to dance at an after prom party in the motel with her and her teenage friends, including Tony Scotti (Jason Bateman), though Barbara felt uncomfortable hanging with young kids. It is then revealed that Barbara's real name is Sally, and that the teenage girl is her younger self from an alternate dimension who took her own life and is now trapped in "the other side", along with Tony, and other teens who also committed suicide. Sally tells Barbara that she has a life worth living for, then Sally leaves with the rest of the group. Barbara leaves the motel the next day, planning to live her life to the fullest.

Alex looks at the screen telling viewers, "If you ever need a room, come by." "I can't say for sure what you'll find, but it is what makes the world go around."

The general idea of the film sounded interesting but it fails to send chills down your spine.

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.

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

Recently I purchased an excellent Psycho box set Bluray). Going through all the films (even the recent remake), one thing is clear - this terrible low-rent effort should have been left at the idea-on-a-napkin stage.

That it's a TV movie is no excuse. Later than this, Perkins was back on board and the excellent (by comparison) Psycho IV: The Beginning came out, and THAT was a TV film. But it was orders of magnitude better than this. Heck, even the much maligned shot-for-shot color remake puts this in the shade.

So I own this because I'm a collector and a completist at that. But after seeing it once, this is clear: I'll never see it again.

I always hate it when reviews here say "Don't see this!!!" That's a pointless direction. What I WILL say is: watch it. You won't enjoy it. But you'll have a renewed appreciation for the other films in the Psycho franchise.

I've been getting bugged for years for copies of this film -- since it hardly ever got played after it bombed on TV back in '87. As a piece of Psycho history, I taped it in '87 and foolishly let people know that I had a copy.... I'm so glad Sci-fi is airing it so I don't have to sit through it anymore. Made as a potential pilot for an anthology series, the movie flopped badly and a show never materialized. Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates himself) boycotted the production. Not that he really needed to, since the public hated it as much as he did....

I'd like to say this film is awful. But I can't really say that, since I've seen so much worse. But as an attachment to the Psycho films, it IS awful. It ignores the two sequels that had been made and even makes mistakes based on information from the original. Bud Cort gives a mind-numbingly dumb performance as the friend of Norman's who inherits the motel after his death. You never really have sympathy for him 'cause he just plays it so dumb. Lori Petti, who I usually love, is rather annoying as the squatter that befriends him. She does an okay job with her part, but the problem is that all the main parts were poorly written. We get more than half of the way through the movie, focusing on Cort and Petti trying to get the motel running again, and then we enter the first of the Twilight-Zone-ish stories: a woman who wants to kill herself is befriended by some strange teens. The writing and acting in this segment isn't bad, but after sitting through the Cort/Petti story, it hardly seems worth it.

There's really only one creepy segment in the film -- the presence of the woman in black at Mrs. Bates funeral (but the discovery of her corpse is nonsense, since they found her body in the basement in the original film). The whole Jake Bates story seemed like it was jammed in so they could add a few more scares, though the scares fell flat. And the black-and-white segment at the film's climax could have been great -- if they hadn't went the Scooby-Doo unmask-the-villain route -- but as another reviewer wrote, it seemed to be the inspiration for "Scream 3" (which I love, by the way).

Though the film is a piece of Psycho history, I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone, except maybe fans of the actors -- even then it wouldn't get a strong recommendation....

Now if you are here because you heard about a TV show ... well this is not it! And I can't even tell you if there are any similarities at all (though I highly doubt it) with the TV show. This movie was made in the 80s and it had as premise that Norman Bates was no more. Now one has to assume that you are aware of the Psycho Legacy and the movies overall.

Having said that, the movie tries to be light and fun and have a good time. Unfortunately it fails on almost every front. Comedy is in the eye of the beholder and I guess if you into this with a very low expectation bar - you might actually have quite some fun with it - if not which will be the case mostly - not so much. It's a shame, because the idea was not really bad, but then again making fun of Bates and his ... history. The final nail in the coffin? No pun intended

This weak as water flick really disappointed me to the point, I was almost gonna smash the video cover. This is no way deserves it place along the other 4 Psycho films, that Hitch himself, would of had a heart attack a thousand times over, if learning of this potential bomb. What we have is a former mental patient (Bud Cort) who roomed with our late Norman, who must of killed again after Psycho 4, or just went plain nuts. He's been given the heavenly job of taking over Norman's motel. But greedy developers want to knock down the Bates Motel, "Oh no, not the Bates Motel" at the hands of their evil faced manager (Gregg Henry-Body Double, Payback) who you should hire if ever you're short of a villainous role. He goes to such lengths as scaring Cort off, either by wearing a chicken suit or dumping a fake body in the car lot, (the film's only low level violent scene) and who's gonna believe Cort over a respected property developer. But then again, I couldn't believe this film. And of all people, who should pop up, as a cooky female friend of Cort's, Lori Petty, in her early acting stage. But I guess you gotta start somewhere. If apart from Petty, Cort and Henry should of said "No" to this pile of garbage that is lucky to get two stars. Honestly, I would of stopped at one and a half. This film's so bad, that the Universal, Mca logo music, comes up at the end, following a quick end credit sequence, preceded by a little soliloquy from Cort's character. Honestly, some things in life leave me ultimately stupefied. Avoid at all costs, cause the consequences could be fatal.

Bates Motel 1987, with camera work and melodrama that resembles soap operas and writing that makes you wish for syfy quality, this movie is bad even by TV movie standarts.

If you want more "Psycho", watch literally anything else. The "Psycho" sequels are more than watchable or the TV show offers something good. Just avoid this one.

Not to be confused with the far more recent TV series of the same name, this Bates Motel is an extended television pilot for a series that was never picked up. Ignoring the events of Psycho II and III, it forms its own separate continuity in order to start afresh, while on paper Bates Motel is a good idea, it's executed in the worst way possible. The only directorial effort by writer Richard Rothstein, there's no real flair to the visuals and plays like your standard TV episode but bloated full of unfunny moments and horror on par with Scooby-Doo.

Norman in this timeline has recently died and left in his will to someone he met while locked away in the asylum, Alex. Bud Cort plays Alex and while this is decent casting, his character isn't enough to sustain the film's runtime. Nor is a young Jason Bateman in a small role which is more fun in hindsight knowing his status now. Lori Petty is at least pretty entertaining as teenage runaway Willie and provides a few laughs. The only other thing worthy of note is the music by J. Peter Robinson who has some decent pieces, but is so few and far between you'd forget this even had a musical score.

All in all, Bates Motel feels like a few stitched-together episodes of the series more than something that would actively kick it off. It's an interesting oddity and footnote in Psycho's history but really not worth watching in any capacity unless you are really curious.

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.

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?).

An alternate continuity of Psycho (1960) and a direct sequel and a spin-off to the original (ignoring the other sequels) with a supernatural and comedic spin.

A silly and messy movie with amateurish yet entertaining performances + low budget yet true to the original set and locations.

An alternate continuity of Psycho (1960) and a direct sequel and a spin-off to the original (ignoring the other sequels) with a supernatural and comedic spin.

A silly and messy movie with amateurish yet entertaining performances + low budget yet true to the original set and locations.

An alternate continuity of Psycho (1960) and a direct sequel and a spin-off to the original (ignoring the other sequels) with a supernatural and comedic spin.