Psychopath

This is a gritty, low-budget oddity from the early 1970's that actually tried half-heartedly to tackle a serious social issue, child abuse, with less-than-sucessful results. While the abusive parents who are offed by the titular protagonist (the deranged host of a kiddie show) are definitely deserving, their gory deaths are so ridiculously over-the-top that it's hard to take the whole thing very seriously. There's nothing wrong with a horror movie having a serious social message,on one hand, or entertaining the audience with absurd, cartoon-style violence,on the other, but it just doesn't work to do both things in the same movie. Still this movie is worth seeing if you can find it. One of the only existing video prints has burned-in Spanish subtitles that will have you in stiches if you're at all bilingual--they're often NOT EVEN CLOSE to the actual English dialogue.

Pretty amazing movie directed by a guy who primarily directed gay porn (and produced by Jackson Bostwick...TV's Shazam (?!?))

It was released in the South under the title "An Eye for An Eye" with the gimmick that you voted whether the little girl at the end was guilty or innocent (by dropping a ballot in a box on the way out of the theater, so obviously it was a pretty lame gimmick).

My father called it "utter trash" (I begged him to take me to see it) and I credit it for nurturing (creating?) my love of exploitation movies. Someone should do a nice DVD release on this film.

Tom Basham's over the top performance as a looney children's television show host is frighteningly realistic. When he discovers that some of his viewers are being abused by their parents he flips and takes matters into his own hands. Death by baseball bat, lawnmower, and strangulation are just a few of the things he has in store for the abusive parents. This seldom seen slasher is also highlighted by Basham's odd relationship with his puppets, as well as his blanket which he calls Mr.Rabbey. Psychopath also features weird music and endless close-ups of Basham's wild eyes. A must for fans of weird horror.

His name is Mr.Rabbey and he is the host of puppet show.He loves children and murders their parents.But he kills only parents,who are abusing their children.Mr.Rabbey rides a bike and even talks in a childish falsetto."The Psychopath" is a bizarre horror film that inspired Buddy Giovinazzo's "Maniac 2".The main performance of Tom Basham is gloriously creepy and convincing.The film lacks gore,but the killings are pretty vicious and mean-spirited.The abusive parents are loathsome and the final twist is supremely bizarre.If you are into 70's horror you can't miss "The Psychopath".A different kind of serial killer cinema.7 abusive parents out of 10.

This was a weird movie on obviously a low budget. It features a children's show host who takes matters into his own hands when he realizes some kids are being abused by their parents-by killing the parents. It was kind of lame, and the only "great" parts were the close-ups of the title character's wild eyes. All in all, just another slasher movie.

** out of ****