Psycho Killer Review: An inoffensively mediocre snoozefest
As somebody who was decently excited for this film, it was disheartening to see the horrible reviews and the death sentence that is the over-advertising of creators' previous works and producers throughout the promotional material. Did the film rise above the ashes of its reputation for me, or did it cement its reputation as the disappointment my fellow critics warned about? That's what I, Brighton Nelson of The Reel Ranker, will be answering in today's review. As always, I'm honored you've taken time out of your day to join me, and I hope your time here on my site always feels well spent!
Regrettably, this film lacks many positives, despite my rooting for it. While the opening scenes were very promising, and the film poses an interesting moral point about Satanic worship in the middle of the second act, unfortunately, the rest is quite bad, outside of the graphic genius who made those opening credits. The film is simply mediocre throughout the first two acts, and then completely falls apart in the third. Even Georgina Campbell's performances as the protagonist do nothing for me, as she feels like she's completely phoning it in for a paycheck: a stark contrast to her other wonderful performance this month in the fantastic Cold Storage.
While the killer's performance wasn't terrible, the cinematography and way the film was shot in such an un-scary way didn't do him any favors. At no point did I feel any tension or scares in this film... Except for the fact that I was scared to write this review because I hate being the bearer of bad news and poor reviews here on The Reel Ranker. The third act also completely falls apart, trying to raise the stakes in a nonsensical way and then teasing a sequel that, if it comes to fruition, will inevitably be an even more low-budget, low-passion mess. When a film's strongest element is its opening credits sequence, you've got to know something's up, and it isn't something good.
Even with all that said, this is nowhere near the worst film I've ever watched. Far worse horror films have come out in theaters this month, and I'm honestly bamboozled that this is the one critics have given such low ratings. It was at 0% for a while! This film's biggest flaw is its mediocrity and lack of innovation, but it's still not a movie I felt like I wasted my time with. It isn't one I'd dissuade people from watching in any way, shape, or form, even if I wouldn't recommend it. This is certainly not as bad as recent films like The Mortuary Assistant and Strangers: Chapter Three, and nowhere near as bad as some films like Ouija or a lot of other direct-to-video slop we get.
While I don't have much good to say about the film, there are films out there that are way, way worse than this one. Psycho Killer is just an inoffensively bad movie that, while I have no desire to revisit, I also have no desire to ever talk bad about it after I conclude this review, because it's not that kind of movie. It doesn't feel like a completely soulless, corporate product only thrown out into the world to capitalize on some trademark expiration or anything like that. It's just a mediocre movie, and I hate to trash on it, but I also hate lying about my opinion even more.
The Reel Ranker Verdict
Reel or Unreel? - Unreel
The Reel Ranker Score: 42%
Letter Score: S+
Star Ranking: 5 out of 5
While Psycho Killer is by all means an inoffensively mediocre movie, I wouldn't say I wasted my time or money on it at the theaters. However, it's also not a film I would recommend anyone go out and check out; I would only recommend it to the most die-hard horror fans to stream. This is a film whose hate is a tad overblown, but it's also a sad case of a film where there are simply too few saving graces to justify defending it. Hey, at least I like it better than the homonymous track by the Talking Heads...
Check out all of my horror reviews below! There's a lot of fun ones, including fantastic recent flicks Ready or Not 2, Slanted, and They Will Kill You!
Brighton Nelson
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