To me, this movie is perfection.

Overrated and overhyped

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

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?).

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 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 drainBates 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.

I was on this site and appalled to see the nasty comments about the movie. It was a rather good "closing chapter" to the Bates legacy. Anthony Perkins and his "mother" would be proud of it. So all of you people out there need to take a shower. a cold one and get over the fact that you as movie consumers are inferior to a normal person. I mean come on now i was 4 when i first watched it and even then i was smart enough to aknowledge "a great movie" when i saw one. For TV it was a edge of your seat thriller. You guys must be mad when u type awful comments like that. But as norman would say "we all go a little mad sometimes".Josh Atterbury