Let's face it Freddie Highmore has always looked like a creepy kid with something very scary going on behind the eyes.
Even when he was being shown around that Chocolate Factory with his grandad, you couldn't help wondering if he was going to produce a meat cleaver at any moment and start chopping the other kids into tiny pieces.
Not one of my favourite movies of all time, but Charlie & the Chocolate Factory is movie that would definitely have benefited from a nice gory shower scene.
Freddie's all grown up now with a golden ticket into a sinister new setting, and Norman Bates is clearly a role that he was born to play. Baddies are so much more interesting when they're cute.
Universal's stylish prequel to Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" is set in the present day, which does rather break the spell, particularly as the motel itself seems to have got stuck somewhere in the early 1960′s.
But the awkward sexual tension between Norman and his foxy cougar of a mother Norma Louise (Vera Farmiga) more than makes up for any loss of period detail.
Directed by the excellent Tucker Gates, Bates Motel begins when Norm and his mum arrive in a new town, determined to make a fresh start for themselves. It isn't long, however, before they're carrying bodies down to the cellar and lying to the local mascara-wearing police chief.
It's all very "Welcome to Night Vale" but without the Dog Park and the strange lights in the sky.
I'm guessing the only reason they moved the story to the present day was budget. It would obviously have cost a fortune to dress every exterior shot with 60′s cars and 60′s extras, and it does make it quite hard to mentally connect with the Anthony Perkins version when young Norman pulls a 4G smartphone out of his pocket.
This is history in reverse. I might try watching it in black and white in order to restore at least some of the atmosphere of the original.
In the movie, Hitchcock very cleverly killed off his heroine early on, leaving Bates as the only character the audience could readily identify with. Using this device to get everyone in the theatre to root for the killer right from the start was a sensational new spin on screen writing, and helped to establish Hitchcock as one of the foremost film makers of his generation.
Whether or not we'll be able to stay on Norman's side for an entire series remains to be seen. A man who's attracted to his mother and likely to kill at the drop of a hat is difficult to love, and the success of this new incarnation of the franchise will no doubt sink or swim on how well they pull off that tricky balancing act.
Bates redemption's begins in the second episode, when his cocky half brother shows up and starts bullying him and his mother. Ah, that old trick. Bring in a character who's an even bigger monster than the monster and draw the sympathy of the audience – like the way Sybil Fawlty makes us feel sorry for Basil. Good spin. Hitchcock would be proud. The problem is, I think Norman's probably going to kill him.
That being the formula, looks like every episode will feature Norman dispatching someone he perceives to be a bigger monster than he is, or who severely gets on his tits for some reason. Dexter meets Room 101.
I enjoyed the first couple of episodes of Bates Motel, but there is something a bit annoying about watching a show when you already know how things are going to turn out in the end. Whatever happens, poor old mum's going to end up dead, her decaying body propped up in a chair in the bedroom. Which is no way for a foxy cougar to end their days.
For more reviews visit Mouthbox.co.uk
Even when he was being shown around that Chocolate Factory with his grandad, you couldn't help wondering if he was going to produce a meat cleaver at any moment and start chopping the other kids into tiny pieces.
Not one of my favourite movies of all time, but Charlie & the Chocolate Factory is movie that would definitely have benefited from a nice gory shower scene.
Freddie's all grown up now with a golden ticket into a sinister new setting, and Norman Bates is clearly a role that he was born to play. Baddies are so much more interesting when they're cute.
Universal's stylish prequel to Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" is set in the present day, which does rather break the spell, particularly as the motel itself seems to have got stuck somewhere in the early 1960′s.
But the awkward sexual tension between Norman and his foxy cougar of a mother Norma Louise (Vera Farmiga) more than makes up for any loss of period detail.
Directed by the excellent Tucker Gates, Bates Motel begins when Norm and his mum arrive in a new town, determined to make a fresh start for themselves. It isn't long, however, before they're carrying bodies down to the cellar and lying to the local mascara-wearing police chief.
It's all very "Welcome to Night Vale" but without the Dog Park and the strange lights in the sky.
I'm guessing the only reason they moved the story to the present day was budget. It would obviously have cost a fortune to dress every exterior shot with 60′s cars and 60′s extras, and it does make it quite hard to mentally connect with the Anthony Perkins version when young Norman pulls a 4G smartphone out of his pocket.
This is history in reverse. I might try watching it in black and white in order to restore at least some of the atmosphere of the original.
In the movie, Hitchcock very cleverly killed off his heroine early on, leaving Bates as the only character the audience could readily identify with. Using this device to get everyone in the theatre to root for the killer right from the start was a sensational new spin on screen writing, and helped to establish Hitchcock as one of the foremost film makers of his generation.
Whether or not we'll be able to stay on Norman's side for an entire series remains to be seen. A man who's attracted to his mother and likely to kill at the drop of a hat is difficult to love, and the success of this new incarnation of the franchise will no doubt sink or swim on how well they pull off that tricky balancing act.
Bates redemption's begins in the second episode, when his cocky half brother shows up and starts bullying him and his mother. Ah, that old trick. Bring in a character who's an even bigger monster than the monster and draw the sympathy of the audience – like the way Sybil Fawlty makes us feel sorry for Basil. Good spin. Hitchcock would be proud. The problem is, I think Norman's probably going to kill him.
That being the formula, looks like every episode will feature Norman dispatching someone he perceives to be a bigger monster than he is, or who severely gets on his tits for some reason. Dexter meets Room 101.
I enjoyed the first couple of episodes of Bates Motel, but there is something a bit annoying about watching a show when you already know how things are going to turn out in the end. Whatever happens, poor old mum's going to end up dead, her decaying body propped up in a chair in the bedroom. Which is no way for a foxy cougar to end their days.
For more reviews visit Mouthbox.co.uk