Psycho Killer review
Psycho Killer seems confused about what it wants to be.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Psycho Killer
Directed by Gavin Polone
Written by Andrew Kevin Walker
Starring Georgina Campbell, Malcolm McDowell, James Preston Rogers, Stephen Adekolu, Logan Miller and David Tomlinson
Psycho Killer Review
There’s a moment fairly early in Psycho Killer that I found…puzzling. We’d been introduced to a story that seemed dark and grounded…and then an oil tank truck flips on its side, wipes out an innocent person trying to escape the titular character and explodes. It’s very strange. It was also, unfortunately, a sign of things to come. What appeared to be the story of an officer’s attempt to track down the serial killer who murdered her husband constantly backslides into a ridiculousness that doesn’t fit that plot description whatsoever. Imagine if The Silence of the Lambs involved Buffalo Bill trying to cause a volcanic eruption. That will give you some idea of how off the rails Psycho Killer becomes.
But it’s not without some entertainment value. When that truck slammed into that poor woman I chuckled. I chuckled again when our serial killer watched it explode. I’d chuckle several more times as the story tipped itself over and slammed into its good ideas too. I don’t think that’s the reaction that Psycho Killer was going for…but I did chuckle. I stopped laughing by the time it reached its absurd climactic showdown, however. At that point I was more…dumbstruck by how we got there.
Jane Archer (Georgina Campbell) is a state trooper on a mission. She witnesses the death of her husband…also a state trooper…at the hands of the Satanic Slasher (James Preston Rogers). Using her leave of absence from work to track the serial killer across the country…Jane stays one step ahead of the (mostly) unhelpful FBI. While tracking the Slasher, Jane uncovers his true end game and races to prevent any more deaths.
Let’s get the good out of the way. Georgina Campbell is, as always, very good in Psycho Killer. She’s carved out an impressive resume as a genre lead and even subpar material can’t keep her from shining. The Satanic Slasher is unique enough to feel more interesting than he ends up. There are some (probable intentional?) comedic beats when we’re following his journey. That’s something that Psycho Killer spends a surprising amount of time doing. He wears a sinister mask and kills whoever he wants as he makes his way east.
If Psycho Killer had focused on Jane’s pursuit of the Satanic Slasher…it may have found a more cohesive story. Instead, it doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be. At least not for very long. It makes odd turns towards the ridiculous seemingly every chance it gets. By the time Jane figures out where the Slasher is heading…the movie has gone completely off the rails. I can’t stress how absurd it felt watching the climax of this movie and where it chooses to set itself. A personal journey of vengeance becomes a bad low-budget Gerard Butler movie script.
A quick investigation will reveal that Psycho Killer had a long and somewhat troubled production. People have been trying to make it for almost 20 years. It was actually made over two years ago…and just sat around for a while. I’d like to think the hold up was less about trying to figure out how to market it and more about trying to figure out how to edit it together in a way that made sense. The pieces only fit together if you accept you’re watching at least three different movies starring the same characters. A revenge thriller led by Jane Archer, a horror movie starring the Satanic Slasher that is unintentionally funny more often than it should be…and whatever the idea was supposed to be for the climax. The three things don’t flow together. Only Jane’s quest is remotely interesting. But the other two are accidentally entertaining at times.
Psycho Killer begins as a very personal story that makes sense and rapidly devolves into the opposite of those things. It’s cool to watch Georgina Campbell trach down this killer. It’s ridiculous to watch where it ends up and, often, how it gets there. When only one third of your movie is working…you’ve got a problem. Especially when the other two thirds are actively working against what you like about that first third. That’s what Psycho Killer does. Even if some of the absurd impulses can elicit a chuckle.
Scare Value
Psycho Killer opens strong, but it sidetracks its own best idea early and often. Some of the choices are flat out weird…though there is something entertaining about that. If you told someone where this story ended up based on the simple premise of a vengeful officer tracking down a serial killer…they’ll probably tell you that it sounds ridiculous. And they’d be right.
2/5
Psycho Killer Link
Buy tickets on Fandango
