BATES MOTEL Review: A Psycho is Born

Bates Motel airs tonight on A&E and I had a chance to do an advanced review.

A&E is touting this show as a prequel to the Alfred Hitchcock classic Psycho something that confused me a little as the show is set in present day not in the 50’s. However I understand period pieces are more expensive to film and therefore not always great for TV budgets. That aside Bates Motel does fill a current scary story trend sweeping TV right now. It was only a matter of time before A&E joined in and with Bates Motel there is already the hope of a built in fan base since just about everyone has heard of the movie Psycho.

So let’s cover the basics – Bates Motel follows Norma Bates (Vera Farmiga) and her son Norman (Freddie Highmore) to a seaside town in California after the unexplained death of Norma’s husband. There they buy a motel and rename it “Bates Motel”. Norma is a master at keeping her son close to her and under control, however in this new town there are also new influences such as classmate Emma Decody (Olivia Cooke). And you can’t have a small town without a popular high school looker (Nicola Peltz) a Sheriff (Nestor Carbonell) and his deputy Zach Shelby (Mike Vogel). Rounding out the main cast is Dylan (Max Thieroit) as Norman’s half-brother.

You know the old adage, “Nothing is how it seems” and this picture perfect coastal town is no different. Horror is a lot about surprises, intrigue, twists and turns; something they should be able to handle in upcoming episodes since this reimagining is being brought to us by Carlton Cuse whose last TV series was Lost.

There are points in the show when I found myself thinking they might have been better off to rename the characters and just make it a show about a boy and his almost incestuous relationship with his mother, severing the ties to Psycho. However, when I let that go I find it really was a decent outing. If nothing else you get to watch two very strong actors, Farmiga and Highmore, do some amazing work. The show has a good energy and is sufficiently creepy to keep me watching.

Bates Motel airs Monday 10/9c on A&E