Daniel´s B Movie Autumn Madness: The Bates Haunting ( 2012 )

Autumn!

The month where we get colorful trees, we can light some candles when it gets darker and get cozy in our sofa or chair in front of the TV and watch films. Just imagine a fresh brewed coffee or perhaps a freshly made cup of tea while the dark surrounds your home while it´s getting colder outside. I don´t mind autumn even if it´s not my favourite time of the year, that is actually when we get to sacrifice humans during Swedish Midsummer. This is a tradition we started since director Ari Aster guided us how Swedish Midsummer should be celebrated through his horror film Midsommar. A truly wonderful film and really show the true spirit of Swedish summer. Anyway, let´s talk about the season of autumn again. For me personally autumn is the perfect season for horror films and i do enjoy watching a lot of different categories. No matter if it´s zombies, vampires, monsters, mutated animals, anyhthing works in my autumn basket. I remember in the autumn of 1990 when i first saw Alfred Hitchcock´s classic film Psycho on VHS, i had heard about this film in school since a school friend of mine named Henrik said i have to see this one. So i recorded it from TV on VHS and watched it during a rainy cold night. It turned out to be really good and legendary actor Anthony Perkins as the lead character Norman Bates gave a very powerful performance. After i watched this first film i did get my dad to rent both Psycho 2 and Pyscho 3 on VHS since he could tell i really wanted to see the other stories of Norman Bates. I do enjoy these sequels also but for completely different reasons compared to the original film, however i never watched the 4th film. I have it in a blu ray box of Psycho film so i will eventually check it out. Speaking of Bates Motel in the Psycho franchise there have been many films who made low budget horror films inspired by the Psycho films or the motel. One of those films that clearly seems to have been inspired in some way of this franchise is a low budget horror film simply called The Bates Haunting. When i picked up the DVD of this film from the UK it is called The Haunting Of Bates Hotel, so the original title was changed for the UK release. Either way i decided to check this film out to get into the autumn atmosphere with a horror film i have never heard of before. Is this a film worth picking up on a physical copy or is The Bates Haunting just as terrible as The Trump Prophecy, one of the worst films i have ever encountered that i unfortunately remember?

One year ago, Agnes Rickover ( Jean Louise O´Sullivan ) attended opening night at the Bates Motle and Haunted Hayride to see her best friend Lily Hanson´s ( Aleksandra Svetlichnaya ) dramatic show debut. A horrific accident resulted in Agnes witnessing Lily´s fiery death in a spectacle gone wrong. A year have passed and Agnes is struggling with the death of her friend, while she needs to have a job she have no other option but accept one at the same haunted house area where Lily passed away. While she is dealing with traumatic memories there is also something mysteriously going on in this area when people suddenly are brutally murdered.

When you see a title such as The Bates Haunting you might believe this film is connected to the original Psycho film in any way. It really isn´t honestly, it feels more like they used the Bates name to make fans of the Psycho interested watching this film. You could say that the haunted house attraction that you see in the film is inspired by the film Psycho and that might be the case, but it still doesn´t feel very connected to be honest, at least not in a way that actually could have worked. So how do i describe The Bates Haunting? Imagine mixing a Halloween themed b movie with young happy party people who are all excited going to a ghost house similar to Norman Bates motel while adding a ghost ride as well. There is a side plot as well where a young woman was brutally murdered being burned alive. Ok so let´s get to the best part regarding the low budget horror film The Bates Haunting. Without a doubt the best part of this film is in the corn field where the dead burned woman seems to be coming back to life. The make up effects are cheap but i do like the idea behind the burned woman showing herself long after her death. The idea behind a haunted house regarding Bates Motel is a fun idea if they would have made an effort to actually make that work. Unfortunately there is not a lot of things to enjoy about this film since it lacks of effective horror scenes or any fun characters. It is almost as if they just made this film for college youngsters who don´t care if the acting is bad or the fact that there are really not many interesting characters in this film. Regarding the main character Agnes ( played by actress Jean Louise O´Sullivan ) i do think shes one of the better characters in this film, at least there are some scenes where actress Jean Louise get a chance to make an effort to lift up her character. We do get to see Jackass actors Bam Margera and Ryan Dunn in some very short scenes but to be honest they don´t really help the film become more fun. Director Byron Turk have an interesting idea regarding The Bates Motel and i do like the concept of a haunted house of the legendary motel. At the end of isthe day it feels like The Bates Haunting was constructed to sell physical copies of this film using the title for marketing than actually making a interesting connection to Norman Bates. If you are 15 years old this film might scare you, i definetely need more than that to be scared at all.

Rating: DD