The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
View MoreEasily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.
View MoreGreat movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.
View MoreOne of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
View MoreMaybe its due to my seeing this movie immediately AFTER having the misfortune of watching "After Darks Film:The Haunting of Whaley House", but I did not find this movie to be near as crappy as some have opined it to be. In fact after having watched what is a very real crap-fest "The Haunting of Whaley House", I actually rather enjoyed "The Bates Haunting". Don't get me wrong this is indeed a very much B-grade horror flick, but its definitely one that has enough redeeming qualities to hold my attention throughout, as well as the movie as a whole made complete sense. The actors did a fine job of playing each of their respective roles, the gore scenes are done very professionally and would rank right up there with the quality special effects of some of the grade A-horror movies. It had a beginning, middle, climax, and an end that left me feeling satisfied with the overall movie.Maybe the fact that I had just watched the REALLY-pathetic-in-EVERY- SINGLE-WAY-movie, "The Haunting of Whaley House", that had me going into "The Bates Haunting" with very little expectations, but whatever the reason I can tell you that this film was miles apart from that pathetic garbage, and offered more than enough entertainment that left me totally satisfied at the conclusion of the film. I even took the time to REwatch "The Bates Haunting" the next day to see if my opinion of it changed and/or if it would even be tolerable for a complete repeat viewing...and I can tell you that Yes, it did hold up, I watched the entire movie again,and had no change of heart as to how I felt about the film going into without having had the horrible misfortune of viewing "Whaley House" immediately before hand.To me, that says an awful lot due to the fact that there are quite a few "good" horror movies that just don't hold up in repeat viewings, whereas "Bates" absolutely did!
View MoreA year after her best friend Lilly was roasted in a freak accident at The Bates Motel and Haunted Hayride, Agnes reluctantly takes a job at the yearly Halloween attraction's concession stand. But before the park even opens, the bodies begin to pile up, so Agnes seeks to find a connection to Lilly's death and the new string of murders.I went into "The Bates Haunting" knowing virtually nothing about it, expecting the absolute worst... and was pleasantly surprised by it. Don't get me wrong, this is unquestionably direct-to-video fare (bad acting and shoestring effects galore) but there's a slick look, a few decent performances (leading lady O'Sullivan ain't bad and Fletcher devours the scenery as semi-retarded redneck Junior Bates), lots of funny moments and one-liners, a little T&A, some gore (though there's an annoyingly high ratio of old-school cutaways in lieu of practical/CGI effects) and a nice twist (not unpredictable but unexpected). Casual moviegoers will doubtlessly hate it, but the film's quirky enough that it could develop a small cult following.If you're seeking a big connection to the Universal-owned Norman Bates "Psycho" franchise (as the cover suggests), you'll be utterly disappointed... though there's more than a couple references to Norman/Mother and the basic plot is the same as Robert Bloch's novel "Psycho House" (murders occur at the opening of a Bates Motel theme park attraction). It's really a shame that they didn't utilize that book's story - it would've made a much better movie. "Jackass" fans will also be disappointed by the blink-and-you-missed-it appearance of Bam Margera (in a real commercial for the park?) and a mildly amusing but only slightly longer scene with the late Ryan Dunn as an annoyed customer in an empty pizza place.In the end, "The Bates Haunting" is a thinly-veiled commercial for the Pennsylvania tourist attraction (presumably starring local actors) which features shockingly little of the park, but if you're in a frame of mind to enjoy an innocuous low-budget horror-comedy, there are certainly much worse ways to waste 75 minutes of your life.
View MoreThis movie has nothing to do with the actual Bates Motel used in the original "Psycho". It's about the haunted attraction which is located in Pennsylvania. Furthermore, we have a movie mocking the original in a haunted attraction form.Acting was bad. Story wasn't anything special, but only kind of fun. Not scary at all. While it was entertaining enough to make it to the end, that's not saying much. I'd say only watch if your a die hard for anything Bates and interested in the attraction located in Pennsylvania. Almost seems like a movie made to gain recognition for the haunted attraction and also cashing in on the success of the recent "Bates Motel" show.
View MoreRight, already at the opening of the movie, when Bam Margera appeared, I was ready to turn off the movie. I just knew right there and then that this was going to be bad. And then you see Ryan Dunn (who can't act even if his life depended on it) is listed to be in the movie, and it seems it would go from bad to worse.Right, well "The Bates Haunting" is a slasher movie, but ultimately not in the higher end of the scale. The movie wasn't particularly interesting, and the story was just so-so. And the fact that the acting throughout most of the movie was amateurish and staggering, really didn't help elevate the movie out of the gutter of mediocrity.The story is about Agnes Rickover (played by Jean Louise O'Sullivan) who sees her friend burnt to death at a local haunting attraction. And she ends up working at the very same attraction later on as all of her job possibilities are bled dry (no pun intended here). But things are escalating at the attraction and the make-believe deaths of various people to scare people turns out to be real killings. Someone or something is after Agnes, and wants her blood.Alright, well fairly average slasher storyline here, but it was just badly acted, badly scripted and executed on the screen. The movie was anything but scary and there weren't any shocks throughout the movie.The movie's poster/DVD cover makes the movie seem far better than it actually is, and also insinuates a much higher level of production value. Guess you can't judge a movie by its cover, eh?If you are looking for some slasher entertainment, I would recommend that you get your kicks elsewhere. This movie was not really worth spending about an hour and a half on.
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