10 Worst Horror Prequels Ever Made

9. Bates Motel

Red Dragon Anthony Hopkins
Universal

Alfred Hitchcock's classic masterpiece Psycho already got its prequel with 1990's Psycho IV: The Beginning. However, directed by Mick Garris and featuring Anthony Perkins as a Norman Bates recalling his earlier days, it's not a half bad bit of schlock, unnecessary as it might be.

No, the Psycho prequel which really gets our goat is this TV melodrama, painfully dragging out the story of Norman Bates's teenage years over the course of four plus seasons.

Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga are excellent as Norman and his surprisingly rounded Mother, but the storytelling is as bland and dull as it gets, and a classic case of TV decompression. The series' problems are only compounded by its achingly boring supporting characters (most notably brother Max) and for the utter waste of Nestor Carbonell, who deserves so much more.

Contributor
Contributor

A film critic and professional writer of over ten years, Joel Harley has a deep and abiding love of all things horror, Batman and Nicolas Cage. He can be found writing online and in print, all over the Internet and in especially good bookstores.