a poster only.
source and poster here
I will still want to check this out. On cable I think this will offer them the time to play out the suspense and character development ala Mad Men style. Is this to be set in the 1950s?
A&E devloping Psycho prequel series
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I will still want to check this out. On cable I think this will offer them the time to play out the suspense and character development ala Mad Men style. Is this to be set in the 1950s?
Call me crazy, but this could actually be done well--with the right direction, casting, writing. Who would have thought that a series about a chemistry teacher cooking meth or a protagonist serial killer could be successful? They were.
With the proper time to develop characters--it might work. Maybe. Of course it could be a disaster, but I'm willing to give it a shot. Then I'm a completely psychotic and morbid person.
With the proper time to develop characters--it might work. Maybe. Of course it could be a disaster, but I'm willing to give it a shot. Then I'm a completely psychotic and morbid person.
That name, Dylan, didn't sit right with me, assuming they're being true to the time period and the character would have been born, what, in the 1930s?
Then it hit me, people started to name their kids Dylan because of Bob Dylan (and therefore indirectly, Dylan Thomas). And sure enough, the name dates only from 1966 in America.
Hmm. Time travel?
Then it hit me, people started to name their kids Dylan because of Bob Dylan (and therefore indirectly, Dylan Thomas). And sure enough, the name dates only from 1966 in America.
Hmm. Time travel?
That's true. It does ring a bit odd for the 1950s. It would be like having a female character named Madison or Taylor set in the 50s. You never heard the name Madison for girl until the early 80s after the movie Splash came out, and Taylor didn't come into prominence for girls until the 1980s either.
To this day, I HATE the name Taylor for a girl because it evokes the wholly masculine image of Charlton Heston running around in a loin cloth in Planet of the Apes. Taylor the astronaut/human ape.
To this day, I HATE the name Taylor for a girl because it evokes the wholly masculine image of Charlton Heston running around in a loin cloth in Planet of the Apes. Taylor the astronaut/human ape.
Psycho II was a fine sequel and a top notch thriller in it's own right. Nothing mediocre about it whatsoever. Psycho IV was a poor movie though I don't blame Anthony Perkins, Joe Stefano or Olivia Hussey. I put it all on Universal hiring noted hack Mick Garris. Garris couldn't direct his way out of a 7-Eleven parking lot much way a prequel to a Hitchcock classic.
I don't think they've actually said that this will be set in the 50s. Since it's a re-imagining, it could very well be set in the present.
If it's modern day, ten demerits!
Indeed. That would make me much less likely to check it out.
Part of the fun of a Psycho prequel is making it a period piece!
I'm sure it's not set in the present. If it were, they'd call it a reboot. TPTB are pointedly calling it a prequel in all the print descriptions. The sign in the poster is not a modern hotel sign. I'd bet my paycheck it's set in the 1950s. Norman simply couldn't get away with everything he did, including keeping a dead body, in a present day setting. The whole nature of the story, how isolated he is--the fact that no one came snooping around from child protective services even though a well known crazy woman had a child with her....it just wouldn't work in the internet age. Norman could google mental illness.
No, it's a prequel. It's set in the past. And I agree that Psycho II was a good film. It had the saddest music I think I've ever heard in a movie. Google it and it really sets a tragic tone. The more I think about this series--the more I think it could work.
No, it's a prequel. It's set in the past. And I agree that Psycho II was a good film. It had the saddest music I think I've ever heard in a movie. Google it and it really sets a tragic tone. The more I think about this series--the more I think it could work.
I hope you're right. It has enough going against it as it is. 
Crack reporting from the AV Club:
Having perhaps realized that it might otherwise be a rehash of the TV movie Psycho IV: The Beginning, the Carlton Cuse-produced series has been revealed (via a script leak to Shock Till You Drop) to be less straight prequel than contemporary reimagining, with all the creative liberties and cell phones that implies.
On that note, the recent casting of Max Thieriot also answered the question of "Who will play Norman Bates' motorcycle-riding, rebellious, James Dean-like brother Dylan?" that was likely never asked, because Norman doesn't have an older brother, because his being an only child and thus his mother's best friend is seemingly crucial to their weird dynamic. But in this new, more modern take on Psycho lore, Dylan is as much a part of Norman's world as his trying out for the track team, going to wild high school parties, hanging out with a quartet of rebellious teen girls, and sneaking looks at Japanese manga comics filled with "young, Asian girls in various states of sexual slavery." Boy, for his mother to compete with all of that, she must be super sexy. Maybe they should just forego the Psycho connection entirely and rename this Sexy Mom Motel?
On that note, the recent casting of Max Thieriot also answered the question of "Who will play Norman Bates' motorcycle-riding, rebellious, James Dean-like brother Dylan?" that was likely never asked, because Norman doesn't have an older brother, because his being an only child and thus his mother's best friend is seemingly crucial to their weird dynamic. But in this new, more modern take on Psycho lore, Dylan is as much a part of Norman's world as his trying out for the track team, going to wild high school parties, hanging out with a quartet of rebellious teen girls, and sneaking looks at Japanese manga comics filled with "young, Asian girls in various states of sexual slavery." Boy, for his mother to compete with all of that, she must be super sexy. Maybe they should just forego the Psycho connection entirely and rename this Sexy Mom Motel?
Oh my god, this is gonna be so much fun, get the popcorn out and watch heads explode! 
Obviously, mommy loved her sexy James Dean-esque son more than Norman, whose pathological jealousy is what sparked his serial killer career. 
I blame the comic books.
Doctor Wertham...what a nut.
That's it right there. That refrain breaks my heart. It screams loneliness and grief. Norman's tragedy that turned deadly for all.
A contemporary reimagining? I don't know about that. Of course, it may well be good, but I just don't know. I'll give it a chance, but it'll have to hook me very quickly. For me, the period piece would have been more effective. Show Norman as a normal young man, desperate to be good, struggling against his mother's illness as we know he's condemned to the same fate. It could have been compelling with skilled enough writing.
A contemporary reimagining? I don't know about that. Of course, it may well be good, but I just don't know. I'll give it a chance, but it'll have to hook me very quickly. For me, the period piece would have been more effective. Show Norman as a normal young man, desperate to be good, struggling against his mother's illness as we know he's condemned to the same fate. It could have been compelling with skilled enough writing.
For the 21st century, everybody must be a psycho.