August 9th, 2013 
Justin Proper 
Movie: The Bates Haunting
Director: Byron Turk
Writer: J.L. Stremberg
VOD services have opened the floodgates for independent filmmakers to have a platform to release their films while keeping distribution costs down. This has given new life to the indie film scene which was bleeding out in the gutter thanks to sequels, prequels, and remakes. Unfortunately not every film being released has flown gracefully from the VOD nest to become a majestic movie eagle. Some films spread their wings for the first time, overconfident from seeing their brothers succeed, and fall straight to the ground below to die alone. The Bates Haunting is one of those films.
The first thing you need to know about The Bates Haunting is that it has absolutely nothing to do withPsychoin any way. This movie is about a haunted hayride in a small town that may have a serial killer problem. The story focuses around Agnes, who witnessed her friend get killed at the hayride the previous year by a malfunction of one of the attractions. She thinks it was no accident and after being forced to work there by her sheriff dad to help her grieve more “accidents” happen. Will she be able to figure out what is going on before it’s too late?
The only good thing this movie has going for it is it’s premise. The idea of a haunted hayride as a setting for a bunch of murders is great but everything else was so mediocre to awful that The Bates Haunting was hard to watch. You wont recognize anyone in this movie (except for the brief and pointless cameo by Ryan Dunn at the beginning) and there is a reason: they cannot act. This makes it completely impossible to connect with any characters in any way. There are some deaths but the gore looks like something a high school film class would come up with. There is even a scene where someone is supposed to throw up and I am fairly certain he just halfheartedly spits out some water while holding his gut. On top of all of that this movie kept trying to be humorous which sucked any chanceThe Bates Hauntinghad left to be decent right down the drain.
Some movies make you wish you had your money back, but thanks to The Bates Haunting I have now lost something even more precious than dollars: about 90 minutes I could have used to do something more fun like go to the dentist.
Score: F
Review written by: Justin Proper
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Omg. That movie sucked. The only thing that was even remotely interesting was the relationship between Clyde and Agnes. And even that had it’s head chopped off.