Single White Female 2: The Psycho

In New York City, two PR colleagues (Kristen Miller & Brooke Burns) compete for a promotion in their agency when one of them (Miller) decides to move out of the apartment they share and respond to an ad for a roommate from a woman that's not in their social class (Allison Lange). At least one of these women is a... psycho. Todd Babcock plays the beau.

"Single White Female 2: The Psycho" (2005) is a stand-alone sequel to the 1992 film and is far from a carbon copy. Being direct-to-video, it has a no-name cast and lacks the sense of artistry of the original, but Kristen Miller makes for a quality protagonist while Burns is perfect in the biyatch role and Lange is effective as the misfit.

It helps that the plot mixes up the formula and the setting isn't as one-dimensional as in the original where practically the entire story took place in an aged Gothic apartment building. It also has more pizazz and isn't as tediously monotone. Unfortunately, it's not as memorable. It's effective enough for the genre & direct-to-video, but also kind of forgettable. More coulda and shoulda been done with the resource of Kristen Miller.

The film runs 1 hour, 30 minutes and was shot in Los Angeles, California.

GRADE: C+

In New York, the PRs colleagues and roommates Holly Parker (Kristen Miller) and Jan Lambert (Brooke Burns) are disputing a promotion in their agency. The unethical Jan deceives Holly and sends her to Chicago; meanwhile, she seduces Holly's boyfriend David Kray (Todd Babcock), in the opening of the fancy restaurant of his own, and they have one night stand. When Holly arrives back home, she finds that David cheated her with Jan, and she decides to move to a new apartment. She schedules a visit with the needy Tess Kositch (Allison Lange), and they become roommates and friends. When Tess cuts and dyes her hair identical to Holly's style, she sees that her new roommate is obsessed on her. When Holly follows Tess to the underground night-club "Sin", she realizes that the girl is deranged. But Tess wants to be her friend and put Holly out misery, eliminating her former bad friends.

"Single White Female 2: The Psycho" is practically a remake of the original movie. Since the beginning, the viewer knows who the killer is; inclusive it is written in the synopsis of the DVD. But the unknown cast has good performances, I found Kristen Miller very beautiful and elegant and in spite of being predictable, this film also entertains. The shameful DVD does not have any Extra, subtitles or closed caption. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Mulher Solteira Procura 2" ("Single Woman Seeks 2")

First off, I just want to say, the directing of this movie was absolutely agitating! I literally wanted to scream my head off! I did not understand how they made Tess obsess over this one woman who she hadn't even known very long. In the 1992 film, the story had scenes in which you could see their friendship progressing in a timely manner that made sense. But in this 2005 film, everything was rushed along awfully. The beginning, the middle, and the end were terrible! Certain scenes made no sense whatsoever. All of their acting was pathetic. The movie was much too obvious on what they were leading into. This movie was lacking everything! I couldn't really feel the characters that the actors and actresses were portraying as, they just didn't bring there all, and if they did, then they need better acting lessons! And Todd Babcock, oh don't get me started on him! He seems really quite conceded! He tried to look too "good" or "handsome". He did not act out his role well, as did not the other actors and actresses. Whoever wrote and directed Single White Female 2: the psycho, should get banned from making another movie! Sorry to say, but it was CRAPPY and a waste of time to make! I give 2 thumbs up to Part 1 of Single White Female. Both thumbs down to this junk!

What the hell is up with that title? Was Hedy in the first film the epitome of sanity?? Getting past the redundant title and the title sequence which look like they were written using post-it notes, you find a movie exactly like the first one. Wait no strike that, that one has Skinamax caliber acting, a surprising total lack of nudity (save for one body double and a few extras in a S&M club), and a disjointed and uninvolving plot (hey it IS like the original in that way). This movie (and I use that term loosely) was so bad that I half expected Mark Blankfield to show up in a role. OK, maybe not THAT bad, but very awful none the less.

My Grade: D-

As a straight-to-DVD sequel made some 13 years after everyone had long forgotten about the original movie, SINGLE WHITE FEMALE 2: THE PSYCHO (what a useless sub-title!) doesn't disappoint. By that, I mean it's as defunct as you imagine it's going to be, a slightly cheesy follow-up to the first film featuring none of the same actors and an all-too-familiar script.

As DVD bargain bin fodder goes, SINGLE WHITE FEMALE 2 is far from the worst I've seen. The most interesting thing about it is the story, which avoids cliché for the first half and sets up an interesting situation in a love triangle that centres around a PR agency in New York. You're left guessing as to who the titular psycho is. Things gradually become more predictable towards the ending, and the climax is just as you'd expect, but for the most part it's not too bad and it held my interest.

One interesting thing about the production is TV director Keith Samples, who directs this film like it's a softcore erotic thriller, such as the ones Shannon Tweed starred in (endlessly) during the 1990s. Every actress is required to do at least one underwear or semi-nude scene, all the women wear low-cut, loose fitting clothing, and Samples spends an inordinate amount of time ogling female flesh.

While the cast is nothing to write home about, I quite enjoyed the performance from the unfamiliar actors. Kristen Miller headlines and makes Holly a tough, sympathetic lead for the most part, while Allison Lange does well to play it understated for much of the running time. Todd Babcock and Brooke Burns are less effective, but certainly passable enough for this genre.

So, in summation, SINGLE WHITE FEMALE 2 is just about par for the course for this sort of film. It's certainly fast-paced and held my attention for the running time. Given that I didn't like the original movie at all, I found this a step up despite the obvious flaws.