Psychos (2017)
Starring Angelica Chitwood, Deniele Ramos Cloutier, Melissa Elena Jones
Directed by Sandy Chukhadarian
Want to see a decent movie trailer? Watch the trailer for Psychos, 2017. Want to see a good horror film? Then SKIP Psychos, 2017.
This is one hot heaping mess of a horror flick. Norma is a young woman who just lost her job at a nursery school for a minor threat: locking children in the closet if they don’t behave. JJ is a semi-Goth punk pre-med student who self-mutilates during her spare time. And then we have Sasha… a private dancer/stripper with a little drinking problem and a potty mouth to boot.
All three ladies receive a disturbing video of abuse they endured at the hands of a torturous sexual predator 10 years prior, team up, and head over to the house of horrors to steal the DVDs of their ordeal.
Interesting story so far, hmmm? It could have been. If the acting was better, the dialogue made sense, and the violence was actually, well, violent. I have never seen such tame “beatings” outside of auditions to guarantee nobody actually gets struck in the face, kicked in the ribs, or axed to death. Talk about laughable! I was embarrassed for the actors.
Which brings me to the “horror.” There are little to no graphic incidents to shock and disturb the earnest extreme-cinema fan. Given the subject matter (Incest? Torture? Molestation?), I was expecting far more scenes of mutilation… or at least cringe-worthy dismembering along the lines of a mild slasher flick. Major disappointment. Especially for a revenge movie!
Psychos has so many holes in the story, it’s amazing that the characters didn’t fall through any on the way to their demise. Cranking out some partial character development in the beginning was painful. Who is this “plain Jane” Norma getting terminated from a daycare center? Why is punky-looking JJ in med school? And how come I want to decapitate Sasha every time she opens her ridiculously overacted awful mouth? Sorry, Angelica Chitwood (Sasha)… but you were awkwardly uncomfortable to watch. Breaking into the house of your captive and then dancing seductively with the other girls as if it were a slumber party is just plain strange.
Deniele Ramos Cloutier (JJ) had promise but later fell flat. The only saving grace was Melissa Elena Jones (Norma), whose secrets begin to unfold, but alas… she cannot save this wreckage of a movie single-handedly.
In the spirit of a “mind-fuck” ending… avert your eyes from the screen, and your brain will thank you. This plot twist was completely over-the-top ludicrous and thoroughly unbelievable. Not to mention it’s such a cop-out that it will leave you feeling as if director Sandy Chukhadarian had no choice but to turn the entire story into a ridiculous cliché. Such a poor decision. Did I mention that it didn’t work?
I think the only part of Psychos I tolerated is the title. Steer clear.
https://youtu.be/nmua2Po3OfU
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Film
Categorized:Reviews
