Year of Release: 2000
Director: Robert Lee King
Starring: Lauren Ambrose, Nicholas Brendon, Thomas Gibson, Matt Keeslar, Beth Broderick, Amy Adams, Kathleen Robertson, Charles Busch, Kimberley Davies, Channon Roe, Nathan Bexton, Nick Cornish, Andrew Levitas, David Chokachi, Ruth Williamson, Nicholas D'Agosto
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 5
Watch it on Tubi
Synopsis and Review
"Psycho Beach Party" originally started as a play in 1987, authored by Charles Busch (who has also written the screenplay and has one of the lead roles), and is in fact the feature directorial debut for Robert Lee King, after his prior experience with shorts and one of the segments of "Boys Life: Three Stories of Love, Lust, and Liberation". The film follows the story of Florence Forrest, a teenager who is determined to learn to surf and hang out with the young male surfers. The guys nickname her "Chicklet". Florence has a great relationship with her mom and best friend, but starts displaying multiple personalities, and experiences blackouts that she can't explain. A series of murders also start happening in her beachside town, and she questions if she's involved in those. In the meantime, the police, led by Captain Monica Stark, suspects Florence's mother may be involved in those crimes.
"Psycho Beach Party" is an homage to the surfing movies of the 1960s, infused with a rather campy slasher ingredient, making the film a rather humorous concoction. Robert Lee King manages to illustrate the context and the various plot points the script sets in motion fairly well, mimicking some of the aspects that made the 60s surf films so iconic and memorable for audiences, but sadly doesn't fully embrace the motif, or for that matter, has a very strong stylistic point of view on the topic (unlike what Peyton Reed did with "Down with Love" for instance). What does work about this film is the tongue in cheek aspect of the script authored by Charles Busch, with its gay references, the campy interactions between the characters, and the production design that is on display. Charles Busch clearly relishes creating these archetypes for the group of performers he has in place, and the cast goes along for the ride, which makes this film a harmless one to watch. It does borderline on a fun TV Movie of the week in some sections, but it's nonetheless well crafted and well acted. The cast, particularly the underrated Lauren Ambrose, Amy Adams, Kathleen Robertson, and Matt Keeslar are all highlights. The production design from Franco-Giacomo Carbone and the costumes from Camille Jumelle, are the highlights from the production team. The material needed a stronger directorial voice and a more defined stylistic point of view, but the film is still enjoyable and humorous.
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