Bates Motel (film)

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. Years later, Norman dies and Alex learns that he has inherited the Bates Motel. He 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 Willie (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."

• Bud Cort as Alex West
• Lori Petty as Willie
• Moses Gunn as Henry Watson
• Gregg Henry as Tom Fuller
• Khrystyne Haje as Sally
• Jason Bateman as Tony Scotti
• Kerrie Keane as Barbara Peters
• Robert Picardo as Dr. Goodman
• Lee de Broux as the Sheriff
• Kurt Paul as Norman Bates
• Martha Frumkin as Dr. Phillip
• Rick Lieberman as the Architect
• Timothy Fall as Terry Miller
• Kelly Ames as Beth
• Peter Dobson as Billy Parks
• Paula Irvine as Rebecca
• Greg Finley as the Attorney
• Nat Bernstein as the Salesman
• George 'Buck' Flower as the Vagrant
• Carmen Filpi as Buddy
• Gary Ballard as the Pastor
• Andy Albin as Mr. Yokes
• Dolores Albin as Mrs. Fisher
• Robert Axelrod as the Sheepskin Salesman
• Craig Richard Nelson as The Funeral Director

The film was released to DVD on October 3, 2013 as part of Universal's "Vault Series", exclusively on Amazon.com.[2]

On September 2, 2014, Universal re-released the film on DVD (along with Psycho II, Psycho III and Psycho IV: The Beginning) as part of its "4-Movie Midnight Marathon Pack".[3]

• Bates Motel on IMDb