The Bates Motel Re-Opens!
One of the scariest locales in horror film history is about to re-open for business- but on a smaller screen. The Bates Motel is putting out the “vacancy” sign again, since the A & E cable network has decided to bring “Psycho” fans a new series inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s unforgettable film.
The series- “Bates Motel”- is, according to Entertainment Weekly’s “Inside TV” cyber column, a new take on the character of Norman Bates- the quiet motel manager with the hidden dark side. The producers promise to show us the “formative years “of Norman, his interactions with his mother Norma, and the twisted world they inhabit. We’ll witness the events that help Norma turn her shy son into the sly serial killer who made countless people fear taking showers.
The show, which will premiere in 2013, will have an initial season of ten episodes- then, we’ll see if the “no vacancy” sign goes up…but, with its pedigree of having the show run by Carlton Cuse of “Lost” and Kerry Ehrin of “Friday Night Lights”- travelers who get “lost” and see the “lights” of the motel sign may just get sucked into a continuing story with hot and cold running terror for seasons to come.
There have been attempts, both on the big screen and on TV, to try to recapture the chills of the Bates Motel and/or provide the back story to why Norman turned out the way he did- we had “Psycho II” and “Psycho III”, and a couple TV movies- one with Anthony Perkins, “E.T”s Henry Thomas as young Norman, and Olivia Hussey as his mother (whoa-mama!) called “Psycho IV: the Beginning” that delved into the past history of Norman Bates and his mom, and one with Bud Cort as Norman that was hoped to spawn a series, but never did. Will this latest version be the one that works? Somebody call your mama! (…not YOU, Norman- please!)
Speaking of other murderous movies, I read an article recently that made me laugh- it indicated that, for “Abraham Lincoln-Vampire Hunter”- one of the necessary staff members when they were shooting in the Louisiana swamps was-an alligator whisperer! His job- to make sure the cast and crew didn’t become victims of a nasty bite- not from the vampires, but from the many gators that occupy the creek bottoms where the movie was filming! One Jeff Galpin, a master at handling nasty reptiles , not only helped remove alligators from the set, but various snakes as well- water moccasins, corn and King snakes. He’d pretty much just capture them and humanely deposit them elsewhere- a fair enough distance away from the shooting site. Galpin says they put everything they found back somewhere else- still alive and kicking- or squirming…he wasn’t always a ‘gator wrangler- he spent a few years as a narcotics agent and police officer in New Orleans! The best way to cool down a hot-headed gator? Galpin says it’s simple- you literally cool it off! Just by putting the alligator in a room that’s around seventy degrees- comfy for us, but cold for a gator- you slow down the nasty beast’s metabolism, and he’s easier to handle.
I will probably be thinking of that 70 degree room tonight- when you join me for a hot time at Silver Cross Field for the Joliet Slammers game on “Friday Fright Night”! I’ll be there to sign autographs and take pictures with you, and, of course, cheer on the Slammers! Game time is 7 pm- with fireworks after the game. Click on the “appearances” tab on this site for more information, as well as the full story on our Sunday visit to the lake in the Hills Rockin’ Ribfest!
9 Responses to The Bates Motel Re-Opens!
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Found myself in a “shower” of bad jokes as I read this blog. So bad they made want to go “psycho” and run to a “hotel”. Once there, I would keep using “quotes” around words as jokes “got worse”….JUST KIDDING, SVENGOOLIE! You are awesome and thank you for the heads up on the new series about characters from “Psycho”. I wonder what Robert Bloch would’ve thought about all this? I read that the sequel he wrote to “Psycho” was quite different from any of the film sequels.
NO! MOTHER! SEQUEL!!!! What the hell, if the producers have good scripts, a solid cast and make the series stylish like American Horror it should be a hit. I enjoyed Tony Perkins Psycho movies.
In “Bates Motel” Bud Cort actually played [spoilers] a disturbed young boy who meets Norman Bates in the insane asylum and who takes over the motel upon Norman’s quiet off-screen death. It was a TV movie that was intended to double as a pilot for a Bates Motel series. The TV network geniuses intended to turn the Bates Motel into a sort of spooky version of the Love Boat, where every week new guests would come and along with Bud (and his teenage runaway punk rocker girlfriend- a very young Lori Petty) solve… I don’t know, Scooby-Doo style spooky mysteries or something. (Note: There were actual ghosts in one subplot’s ghost story- just to demonstrate how far off-kilter this veered from the original Psycho concept.) But when this was made Anthony Perkins was still very much alive and not at all happy about them killing off his signature character without so much as a by your leave. He needn’t have worried. Bates Motel was rock bottom in TV ratings and few years later Perkins got to take his final bow as Norman in Psycho IV. I’m not sure about this new TV series. What is there to say about the young Norman when every viewer already knows exactly what is going to happen to him? Of course, such pre-knowledge about the main character didn’t stop Smallville from running for about a decade, so what do I know?
If they really wanted to do something with Psycho they ought to just option Robert Bloch’s novel “Psycho House” where the remnants of the old Bates Motel is turned into a seedy/spooky tourist trap/horror museum about Norman’s crimes. I don’t think it would be filmable as written but it might make an excellent starting point for a contemporary horror story that touches on the Psycho mythos.
I remember the one TV movie where people were saying the hotel was haunted but proved to be a hoax, the sub plot was a woman who was going to committ suicide until a group of teens pulled up in a car and she meets and falls in love with one of the boys while dancing at a party only to find out he had killed himself. All of the teens were ghosts.
Sven – the pedigree you mention does sound encouraging. Bath salts, anyone?*
May you all stay cool (in so far as that is possible, anyway) and have fun tonight.
*The real kind, of course!!!
Shut the Door! “Lost” with a “Bate’s” twist, do I sense a dash of Sven in this series? Could it get any better?
Will Hollywood start coming up with original ideas anytime soon? There is also a series coming called 1313 Mockingbird lane…a remake of The Munsters. Wow.
Though the Psycho series will not be a ‘remake’ it just seems wrong to touch a classic in any way. The problem with the Psycho remake in the 90′s was it lacked class…oh and the best director that ever walked the face of this green earth.
I am however very interested in this visual concept of Abraham Lincoln -Vampire Hunter. Wish as I watched new movies they had Svensurround sound. That would make every movie worth watching!
I think they should remake “My Mother the Car”… but update her to a 1980 Yugo…
They could write-in a Prius as her Earth-conscious boyfriend…
And make all sorts of jokes about economy cars & “green” politics…
Okay… I’m choking on the sarcasm…