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.

A psychiatrist, as some sort of mental experiment, introduces a deeply disturbed young boy to the institutionalized Norman Bates. The two become close friends and, 27 years later when Normal dies, Alex inherits the infamous motel under the condition that he reopens it again. He has difficulties raising the funds and finding reliable people to help him, but Alex's commitment and willpower are strong enough. Things get a little old-fashioned mysterious when they dig up the corpse of an old woman and the first customers showing up at the motel have ghostly characteristics. I personally think "Bates Motel" has an interesting enough concept. I love the original "Psycho" just as much as everyone else and consider it to be one of the top 3 most influential and important cinematic milestones ever made, but not to such a pretentious extent that I think it's blasphemy to spoof or re-interpret it. The idea of a spin-off, which obviously refers to the original characters and their notoriety, is both courageous and ambitious. There are some really good plot twists and additional background to the whole Bates legacy by dragging in speculations about Norman's supposedly adulterous and abusive father Jake. Practically all the reviews around here show people exclaiming: "What were the producers thinking?!?". Well, I don't blame them for this tryout. It was worth a shot. The sequences in and around the famous motel and parental house are automatically atmospheric, while Bud Cort's performance is pretty effective with a right balance between geeky and creepy. There are a lot of subtle and honorable homage scenes, like with the name board, the rocking chair and – of course – the shower. The film is still also very 80's as well, with annoying pointless musical interludes showing the progress of the construction works. The extended sub plot during the last main act of the film, involving a romance between a suicidal aerobic teacher and an emotional frat student was a bad idea. Giving a paranormal twist to the Bates legacy wasn't necessary, but it was presumably the first unfolding of a longer-running TV series that never got made.