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RATING |
| 5 |
DIRECTOR |
| Robert Lee King |
CAST |
Lauren
Ambrose
Thomas Gibson
Nicholas Brendon
Kimberley Davies
Matt Keeslar
Charles Busch
Beth Broderick
Danni Wheeler
Nick Cornish
Andrew Levitas
Amy Adams
Kathleen Robertson
Nathan Bexton |
YEAR |
| 2000 |
RUNTIME |
| 95 minutes |
DATE
REVIEWED |
| 6 /
24 / 04 |
SHOPPING |
| BUY
THIS FILM |
| REVIEWER: FrighT MasteR |
|
RATE THIS MOVIE:
|
RATED BY:
2 FAN(S) |
CURRENT RATING:
7.5 SKULL(S)
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Psycho Beach Party
This
movie is based on Charles Busch's play, which then got turned into a small
film that went through various festivals to finally settle on direct-to-video.
Charles Busch actually plays the lead chick in the play, but when it came
to the film the lead character was replaced with the lovely Lauren Ambrose
(Can't Hardly Wait), and he was cast as the "female"
police captain on the case. Charles is actually known to place female
roles in a lot of films, which I was unaware of while watching the movie.
With a relatively small budget (1-and-half-mil) they managed to dish out
a decent cast of familiar young faces, but I think unless you're a fan
of the play or Charles Busch, you'll probably not dig the flick. That's
what happened in my case.
The
movie was interesting had and some decent comedy, but in terms of a "horror"
flick it really fails. There are too many silly sub-plots that seem to
strand away from the actual plot of discovering who the real murder is.
The story is set in the 1960's, spoofing the old surf-beach-party-type
flicks with a horror plot involving a killer thrown in. The plot centers
on a young woman (Lauren Ambrose) who tries to fit in with a group of
surfer guys, and after getting rejected, seeks the aid of the local surfer
legend "Kanaka" played by Thomas Gibson (Dharma &
Greg). Little do they know, the young woman also has a pair of
split personalities that are unleashed when she views a spiral design.
This leads the lead chick into questioning whether it's her that is doing
the killings or someone else.
The
flick is obviously a comedy-spoof, so the fact that it doesn't have much
for horror (not one on screen death) isn't a real problem. I even found
some of the jokes and spoofs in the movie rather funny (the cheesy surf
scenes are pretty hilarious). Despite that there were still little problems
I had, like the the "Kanaka" character always rhyming the things
he says and some of the silly acting (I.E. a girl in a wheelchair constantly
moving her legs) and so on. The movie ended up coming across to me as
more dull and sometimes annoying than enjoyable. Sure it's an interesting
watch, but I wouldn't bother watching it again. It was interesting seeing
Nicholas Brendon (Xander from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series) in the film, but his role was surprisingly smaller than I expected.
In the end I thought the flick was decent, but too silly and annoying
for me to enjoy.
OVERALL
A
decent 60's-beach horror spoof, but seriously lacking in the horror department.
Worth a check if you're a fan of Charles Busch or like the play the flick
is based on, but avoid otherwise.
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