Psycho Girls (1986)

Psycho Girls (1986). 1h 32m | R

“My review was written in June 1987 after watching the movie on MGM/UA video cassette.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Psycho Girlsu0026quot; is a Toronto-made horror thriller that self-destructs. Shot at the end of 1984, it was released marginally last summer by Cannon and is now a home video title.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003ePic begins quite promisingly with pulp detective story writer Richard Fotr (John Haslett Cuff) pounding away at his typewriter and narrating a tale with colorful quips like u0026quot;What is money anyway, but paper with germs on it?u0026quot;. Unfortunately, the tall tale he relates soon switches from suspense to sadistic Grand Guignol horror of little interest.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTale begins in 1966 when young parents are murdered by their daughter Sarah with a poisoned meal on their anniversary. Fifteen years later Sarahu0026#39;s an inmate of Lakeview Asylum who escapes to revenge herself on older sister Victoria, who predictably was the real murderer though Sarah took the rap.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eVictoria is working as Fosteru0026#39;s cook, and Sarah shows up as her replacement after offing her sister. She drugs the food at an anniversary dinner party thrown by Foster and his wife Diana, and then, aided by two crazy henchmen, proceeds to torture and murder them one by one. Punchline of how the humble narrator/writer is mixed up in this mayhem is lifted from Billy Wilderu0026#39;s u0026quot;Sunset Blvd.u0026quot;.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWith the promised gore mainly occurring off-screen, the resulting film is neither fish nor fowl, with little to recommend it to that target gross-out audience. Pity that filmmaker Gerard Ciccoritti (who shows up on screen in a cameo looking a lot like Judd Nelson as a pizza delivery boy) couldnu0026#39;t have stuck to hard-boiled fiction with dialog to match.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCast is weak, hampered by very artificial post-synched dialog (with other folksu0026#39; voices in some cases, per the end credits).”