Bates Motel - checking in or checking out?

[The Curmudgeon]

So the TV schedules seem to be getting quietly filled with modern day re-tellings or origins of famous horror faces. Dracula is coming soon (to the UK, at least), Hannibal Lector has been given a glossy makeover exploring his origins (which I've not yet seen), but the one I'm most interested in starts up in the UK next week.. Bates Motel.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtzT0E9MAdo

The credentials of those involved (Lost, Friday Night Lights) suggest nothing but good things, but I have a nagging doubt over this show before I've even seen it. Unless they make her unbearably wicked (not suggested in this trailer), there's nothing to suggest the monster that Mrs Bates actually is, and do we REALLY want a brooding, possibly emo Norman Bates?) He calls Norma "MOM." It's fucking MOTHER. Change what you want, make it modern day, but holy shit, Norman Bates calls his mum "mother." That really needs to be set in stone.

Anyway, I'm dissing this before it's even aired, but I have a real soft spot for the Psycho movies. Fingers crossed this is good.

[trashcanman]

Seen it. Watch it. You'll enjoy it. It's kind of like a remake of the prequel film, but with a lot more depth. It really captures the spirit of the Psycho sequels that highlight the fact that as fucked up as Norman is, the world that helped make him that way is even worse. It's so rare that a remake of any kind is true to the originl themes.

[The Curmudgeon]

There was a Psycho prequel film?

[trashcanman]

Yeah, Psycho IV was Bates telling his story about his childhood and his mother. Bates Motel covers the same stuff, but moves it up to the present day and makes Mrs. Bates more relatable.

[The Curmudgeon]

Ahh, right, right. I forgot about all that. Yeah, I've set the series to record. I was kinda dubious but looking online (and here) I've read nothing but good things.