Few homes in movie history are as utterly scary and nightmare inducing as Norman Bates’ home in Alfred Hitchock’s ‘Pyscho’. Perched ominously on a hill up from their “Bates Motel”, the old wooden and monstrous (in more ways than one) home set the bar for frightening audiences with scenes so shocking that moviegoers literally fainted in the middle of theaters back in 1960.

Even though the house looks like it came straight out of an old Dracula movie; an uninformed buyer might be tempted to pull the trigger on buying this place if they were looking for some steady income from it (the motel) along with a huge accompanying house with a lot of land to go with it.

That could be a good or bad idea depending on your take on things. So let’s go back in time and go on a short objective tour of one of the scariest movie homes of all time!

The Exterior

The Good: Lovely cobblestone steps lead you up to the massive turn of the century home. The Bates’ do very little landscaping as the vegetation is sparse but all in all the actual framing of the home seems to be solid and in good order .

The Bad: The big issue here is the windows are so massive that any thought of privacy can be thrown right out the door. One look at the picture below and you can clearly see Norman Bates’ mom hanging out in her night gown. The creaky windows are probably too large to put Venetian blinds up so you can pretty much guarantee the whole neighborhood would see your every creepy move while you’re inside.

The Stairs

The Good: Stairs usually mean there’s another level to your house which means more room for you and your belongings which is always a good thing. There’s also a very cool looking three headed lamp at the foot of the steps.

The Bad: These are some pretty steep steps. In fact, they are so steep that house guests tend to fall down the whole flight of stairs; often injuring themselves. That’s a very bad thing.

The Basement

The Good: If well maintained, basements can fill many important needs for you. You can use it to store old clothes, turn it into a media or game room or even fix it up and rent it out for some extra income. The Bates’ home basement certainly has enough space to fill any of these needs.

The Bad: Norman Bates kept his mother’s skeleton in the basement. Now is it healthy and/or dangerous? Not sure. Is it ridiculously scary and weird? Sure is. Real life skeletons in the basement are usually a deal breaker. Good luck getting your kids to go down there to do some laundry.

The Motel and Surrounding Area

The Good: Not only would you be buying a large home, but you’d be purchasing a potentially income generating business! That’s right, if you’d like to get into the hospitality business then this home plus motel combo might be too good of a deal to pass up.

The Bad: The motel is located on a deserted highway in the middle of nowhere so from an actual income perspective, chances are you wouldn’t be raking in the money. Oh, and in one of the rooms, let’s just say that the bathroom should be kept off limits to the public. Audiences literally passed out in the middle of theaters when they saw what happened in that bathroom. There’s also a swamp a stonesthrow away with at least one car buried in there. Not at liberty to say what else is in there, but I just know it’s pretty bad.

There you have it! A tour through one of the all-time scary movie homes! Would you buy this home on the cheap? What are your other all-time scary movie houses?

A&E is premiering a new series called “Bates Motel” tonight at 10pm that’s a prequel to the events of “Psycho”. The series starring Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore takes place in the present and looks at the weird relationship between young Norman and his very much alive mother Norma. We’re pretty excited about it! From what we’ve seen from previews and trailers, it sure does look scary. Will you be watching?