Psychotic! (2016) - Shudder Spree

 

Streaming Services: Shudder
Movie Name/Year: Psychotic (2016)
Genre: Horror, Mystery
Length:  87 minutes
Rating: Unrated
Production/Distribution: Destruction Inc Films, Terror Films, GoDigital, Premiere Digital Services
Directors: Maxwell Frey, Derek Gibbons
Writers: Maxwell Frey, Derek Gibbons
Actors: Aldous Davidson, Cirocco Dunlap, Clint Keepin, Courtney Maginnis, Danielle Grace, Derek Gibbons, Holland Kemp, Katie Hawthorne, Kristen Martin, Maxwell Frey
 
Blurb from IMDb: A group of hard-partying Brooklyn hipsters are stalked and savagely murdered by a masked maniac known as the Bushwick Party Killer.

 
Selina’s Point of View:

This is one of those days when the notes I take are longer than the actual review. There’s not much to say, it all boils down to one thing.
 
Psychotic is awful. It’s not even ‘so bad it’s good’, It’s just objectively bad.
 
Nothing about it feels natural. The story is not even a little original, the acting sucks, and the writing is very nearly as bad as what you would find in The Room (2003). In fact, it almost feels like that’s what they were going for.

It takes itself so seriously, though.
 
Movies like this, generally, there’s a bit of self-awareness to it. The writers will inject a little humor to make it all easier to swallow. That humor takes away from the absolute monotony of watching the whole thing. There’s nothing of the sort in Psychotic. Sitting through it is difficult. It’s like a punishment.
 
Don’t waste your time. There are many other films on Shudder that would be perfect for the Halloween season. 

 
Cat’s Point of View:

I'm pretty sure the production team for Psychotic tried to hypnotize its audience into liking this movie – and failed. There’s a swirly animation effect at the beginning and end of the film. It’s the kind of thing you typically see when people are trying to hypnotize in cartoons and the like. I don’t know if anyone can convince me otherwise. I’m pretty sure you have to actually be under the effects of mesmerism to like this movie. I certainly didn’t.
 
There was nothing that distracted from the flaws, and those were huge and glaring. Everything felt so forced. The acting was sub-par, the dialogue didn’t feel natural, it was clear the effects were low-budget, and everything else was all over the place.

 
I could tell that the cinematographer paired with the effects crew tried to use some nifty tricks to elevate the material. While it supported the trippy vibe of the drug-laced movie overall, it did nothing but make it harder to watch. The background electronica and ‘killer theme’ desperately tried to give us an 80’s slasher feeling of nostalgia. I got the point, but the rest was just so horrible that it fell flat.
 
Try as I might to find a single redeemable thing to discuss with this film, the only thing I enjoyed was the rolling of credits at the end. Our spree took a Psychotic wrong turn with this one, but I’m sure there’ll be more good movies in store for us as we continue to explore Shudder in October.

There are so many other titles available on Shudder and other platforms that I’d say just skip over this one.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – None
Metascore – None
Metacritic User Score – None
IMDB Score – 3.5/10
 
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 0/5
Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 0/5
 
Trust the Dice: Parental Advisory Rating – R
 
Movie Trailer: