The Bates Haunting (2012)

"The Bates Haunting" is a stereotypical Direct-to-DVD feature that you would most likely see at your local RedBox and would probably ask yourself who would actually rent this before you pick up the latest new release.While the story takes place at a real Halloween attraction called The Bates Motel & Haunted Hayride, you can't help but feel like this film is something that is riding a more popular and iconic horror film and comes off like something SyFy would have produced. Beside that, the film contains very bad and lackluster acting, the story is boring and predictable, the gore effects are about as convincing as a roadside haunted house attraction, it has no cohesive tone and absolutely no atmosphere, you have to deal with two stars of "Jackass" being shoe-horned into the film, it tries and fails to be funny way too many times, and the main character is very unlikable.The film does have a solid performance from Zachary Fletcher but, even then, he eventually follows suit and ends up as bad as the rest of the cast. Overall, the film comes off like a cliché low budget horror film and is just completely forgettable in almost every single way.

"The movie actually, HAS NOTHING TO DO with the Bates family from the movie Psycho or the recently made TV show. When you see the film cover and read the synopsis, you think there's a ghost haunting the Bates motel or something. WRONG!They are just using the Bates' name to attract a wider audience. I repeat, the movie HAS NOTHING to do with Norman Bates or a haunting, ever. Now how deceitful is that?? This is just a movie about a stupid hayride show and the family's name is Bates. That's it. There's not even a motel."In response to this... 1. They never said they were gonna be about Psycho, Bates Motel, or Norman. 2. The set they based this in was THE REAL BATES MOTEL & THE HAUNTED HAYRIDE. So no, they weren't, in anyway, trying to be related to Bates Motel/Psycho. They were making a movie for a REAL thing. The movie is about a REAL HAUNTED HAYRIDE & THE BATES MOTEL. So, your review is based basically on you wanting to be an ass.

A 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.

Anyone who gave this movie positive reviews clearly is somehow a part of the movie, or was paid to leave a positive review.The first thing that jumps out to anyone who watches this is just how bad the acting is. The fake reviewers say we need to just get past the actors being no-names. But them being no- names is not the issue here. It's just that most of them can't act. It's blatantly obvious to everyone and you don't have to be "in the business" or a movie critic to realize it. I wonder just how little some of these actors were paid, because they clearly took anyone and everyone willing to work for cheap without actual talent factoring in.In fact, I'm sure everybody can agree that there are some great movies with all no-names. But this is not one of them.There's also the issue of special effects. I don't think the intent with this movie was the "so bad, it's good" effect. I really think they tried. Unfortunately, they failed. The scene with the tractor was atrocious. First, they didn't even hear the tractor as it got closer? They only heard it when it was far away?The girl hit by the tractor first had a few drops of blood on her, as she's starring blankly into the distance, then, seconds later, she's covered with blood all over. But not drips of blood. Someone just took fake blood and lathered it onto her entire body. It looked like red body paint. I wasn't able to make it much further past that part — I'm sure this was the case for most viewers. Also, the addition of Bam Margera and his deceased cohort was shameless, unnecessary and outright annoying. Just because you're able to give a former reality star a cameo doesn't mean you should actually do it.Overall, two thumbs down. No stars. Rotten to the core. Don't make the mistake of thinking this is one of those "so bad, it's good" movies. "So bad, it's bad" does, indeed, exist. Bates Haunting is undeniable proof.