Lady Psycho Killer

I stumbled across this movie not knowing what to expect, I liked the cast and it had a cool cover.

I think it's an independent movie in the truest sense of the word. What I mean is that while it touches upon some familiar territory in this particular genre, it is by no means confined to convention... it is, perhaps, more of a response to said convention.

The central character is an attractive 'good girl' in college, pursued by a virtuous dude-bro with an obnoxious buddy (the two seemingly serve as each other's alter egos)... the essence of this group harkens back to the classic set-up of Friday The 13th and other popular franchises... but we learn from the onset that there is more to this 'good girl' then what she leads on. She's both the protagonist and a deeply disturbed young lady.

The voice over provides a deeper characterization of who she is with her homicidal thoughts and we really do see the world through her eyes... the world being the veritable den of male sexual deviants... even the nice old neighbor, played brilliantly by Malcom McDowal is deviant under a thin veneer...

All of these cretens get their just deserts when she is given a rather unorthodox assignment by her professor (the incomparable Michael Madison) who challenges his class to break one sexual norm during the course of the semester and then to write about it. Something that would most likely not hold up well in today's #MeToo movement but our suspension of disbelief is adequately maintained because ultimately what is more compelling is Ella's journey.

There is the obligatory confusion between sex and death that comes with these teen slasher flicks... with Ella as the virginal maiden, expressing her sexuality through grotesque violence, thus effectively distancing herself from her own discomfort. It is only when she and the aforementioned Dude-Bro come together that a resolution to this conflict comes into sight.

The pop psychology angle of it posed some interesting questions that likely would be explored in a sequel but proved, more so, to add a very interesting twist in the end... in which all is right with the world... this very devious world... her world.

All in all, I really enjoyed this picture because, like I said, it thwarted my expectations and I give it high markings because I believe efforts like these are important in cinema and should be encouraged!

Just watch it, give it and chance, and see what you think!

Lady Psycho Killer is one of the most scatter brained movies I have seen. I realize that it's trying to be both a horror and a comedy, but no one here seems to understand tone or timing. In the Child's Play movies, Chuckie is terrifying and also able to offer some comic relief. Lady Psycho Killer just randomly throws in a couple of "Oh boy, I get nervous around pretty girls" and odd sexual innuendos. I can dig the idea of a female serial killer that gets off on murder, but they do it all wrong. It's never quite certain whether Ella is supposed to be likable or relatable. She's a terrible person who is sexist and hypocritical, but I think that they think we think she's funny or compelling and she isn't. Kate Daly, who plays Ella, is okay sometimes, but whenever it's time for her narration, she does a terrible job. Her actual acting is never full believable, but it's not awful, but when she is only doing a voice over, she over act and feels almost cabaret. Dennis Andres, who plays her love interest, is actually pretty good. They don't give him much to work with, but he is the only character that I actually believe, everyone else is awful. Somehow, they managed to get Malcolm McDowell, a real actor who has been in actual movies, and give him the worst script that he can't possibly salvage. I guess the cinematography was alright and everything was clear, but the story zips around with no sense of pacing and very minimal as far as actual story beats. There are so many stupid little things they get wrong that just prove they weren't putting in 100%. They are at crowded night club and there is only one car in the parking lot? They pull up to a hotel (apparently the local hotel has the best bar) and just park in front of it, blocking the road. There is no Valet, so you can't just park your car there, that's not how it works. There is a lot of stabbing, but the amount of damage a single stab does widely varies, because I guess no one has seen a slasher film before? The main plot line is largely tangential to just watching Ella stab guys and we don't get a real conclusion, not that we had a believable beginning or anything really in the middle. Ella is in Psych 101 in college and the teacher is a punk rock guy so he tells everyone that he's not into all this attendance, grades, and work stuff so he says there is one assignment for the only grade in the class, a presentation and three thousand page report on you doing something "out of the sexual norm". Okay, fine, but what are you doing during class. Ella has readings to do for the class and he appears to be lecturing, but none is this is important to the paper and why is the class full every time we see it if all you have to do is show up one more time to do your presentation and turn in your paper? And how is killing guys for no reason doing something outside of the "sexual norm"? Yeah, she gets her jollies by stabbing men, but it's not related to a "sexual norm" and how can the university condone the assignment in general? Lady Psycho Killer is a complete mess and the best part is that is only lasts 80 minutes: the story sucks, the acting is almost universally bad, and there aren't any cool or even realistic kills. Even the editing is weird with a couple of scenes ending with a freeze frame that fades into the next scene while inappropriate pop music plays (the poorly matched soundtrack is another huge issue). I mean, they hired Ron Jeremy to act and a really rough looking Michael Madsen as a college professor. Lady Psycho Killer feels like something that a group of friends put together over Spring Break, at least partially to get a pretty girl to talk to them.

It takes a lot of convincing to pull me away from a movie, but in this case I had to stop half way through the movie because it was so awful. The acting was bad, the plot was bad, the setup was bad. There was nothing good about this movie except maybe the cover which is what originally drew me in. If I could give it 0 stars I would.

I rather liked it as a spoof on teen/slasher flicks. Less serious than the rape-vegeance classic ISOYG, it still had fairly decent production values, photography and acting. The character of Ella's over-accommodating mother was rather puzzling but became clearer by the twist at the end. Mom was quite a gal.

The acting was bad and only out done by the horrible writing and storyline. So stupid. Just really bad. It gets a 2 out of 10 for the eyeball in the urinal.