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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

67
$9.99
75
24 City
66
Adoration
74
Afghan Star
48
Alien Trespass
56
American Violet
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57
Away We Go
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
62
Big Man Japan
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55
Brothers Bloom, The
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx
Call of the Wild
63
Cheri
62
Cherry Blossoms
63
Dead Snow
65
Departures
18
Downloading Nancy
58
Easy Virtue
70
End of the Line, The
77
Every Little Step
64
Examined Life
80
Food, Inc.
38
Gigantic
56
Girl from Monaco, The
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
87
Gomorrah
89
Goodbye Solo
63
Great Buck Howard, The
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx
Home
82
Hunger
91
Hurt Locker, The
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
81
Il Divo
54
Is Anybody There?
71
Jerichow
58
Julia
74
Lemon Tree
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
40
Limits of Control, The
42
Little Ashes
64
Lymelife
50
Management
57
Merry Gentleman, The
66
Moon
35
New York
62
Not Forgotten
xx
Offshore
78
O'Horten
64
Outrage
40
Paris 36
54
Pontypool
71
Pressure Cooker
52
Quiet Chaos
83
Revanche
67
Rudo y Cursi
86
Seraphine
65
Sex Positive
70
Shall We Kiss?
77
Sin Nombre
59
Sleep Dealer
74
Song of Sparrows, The
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
82
Sugar
84
Summer Hours
61
Sunshine Cleaning
28
Surveillance
42
Tennessee
63
Tetro
64
Throw Down Your Heart
80
Tokyo Sonata
63
Tokyo!
70
Tony Manero
74
Treeless Mountain
88
Tulpan
74
Two Lovers
83
Tyson
83
U2 3D
60
Under Our Skin
69
Unmistaken Child
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
22
What Goes Up
45
Whatever Works
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
91
Hurt Locker, The
89
Goodbye Solo
88
Tulpan
87
Gomorrah
86
Seraphine
84
Summer Hours
83
U2 3D
83
Revanche
83
Tyson
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
82
Sugar
82
Hunger
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
81
Il Divo
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
80
Food, Inc.
80
Tokyo Sonata
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
78
O'Horten
77
Every Little Step
77
Sin Nombre
75
24 City
74
Treeless Mountain
74
Afghan Star
74
Two Lovers
74
Song of Sparrows, The
74
Lemon Tree
71
Pressure Cooker
71
Jerichow
70
Shall We Kiss?
70
Tony Manero
70
End of the Line, The
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
69
Unmistaken Child
67
$9.99
67
Rudo y Cursi
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
66
Adoration
66
Moon
65
Sex Positive
65
Departures
64
Outrage
64
Examined Life
64
Throw Down Your Heart
64
Lymelife
63
Tokyo!
63
Cheri
63
Dead Snow
63
Tetro
63
Great Buck Howard, The
62
Cherry Blossoms
62
Big Man Japan
62
Not Forgotten
61
Sunshine Cleaning
60
Under Our Skin
59
Sleep Dealer
58
Julia
58
Easy Virtue
57
Away We Go
57
Merry Gentleman, The
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
56
Girl from Monaco, The
56
American Violet
55
Brothers Bloom, The
54
Is Anybody There?
54
Pontypool
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
52
Quiet Chaos
50
Management
48
Alien Trespass
45
Whatever Works
42
Little Ashes
42
Tennessee
40
Limits of Control, The
40
Paris 36
38
Gigantic
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
35
New York
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
28
Surveillance
22
What Goes Up
18
Downloading Nancy
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
xx
Call of the Wild
xx
Home
xx
Offshore
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Psycho Beach Party
Strand Releasing
MPAA RATING: Not rated
Starring
Lauren Ambrose,
Thomas Gibson,
Nicholas Brendon,
and
Kimberley Davies
Described as a cross between a 1960's beach movie and an Alfred Hitchcock psychological thriller, this film focuses on a girl who joins the Malibu beach surfing scene and who is suspected as the perpetrator of a rash of homicides of the girl's friends.
| GENRE(S): |
Suspense/Thriller
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Charles Busch (also play)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Robert Lee King
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: April 10, 2001
Video: April 10, 2001
Theatrical: August 4, 2000
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
95 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
80
The New York Times
Stephen Holden
It is surprisingly timely.

75
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
A little Hitchcock and some good Psycho fun at the beach.

75
San Francisco Chronicle
Bob Graham
If it doesn't always come off, enough headlong energy develops to carry it through.

67
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
Its cheeky, good fun is what makes Psycho Beach Party an enjoyable, if weightless, romp.

63
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
Smart, fun and mildly subversive, but it rides the wave of its joke a little too long.

63
San Francisco Examiner
Wesley Morris
Overstays its welcome until the jokes curdle and the satire becomes a blunt instrument, but not before Busch throws some priceless one-liners.

58
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sean Axmaker
For all its energy and inspired moments of giddy goofiness, Psycho Beach Party gets stuck in the sand.

50
Chicago Tribune
Marc Caro
There's nothing here that's outrageous, startling or daring enough to give your funny bone a jolt.

50
Miami Herald
Charles Savage
While there is archival value in permanently recording this work on celluloid, the best way to really enjoy it remains live on stage.

42
Portland Oregonian
Kim Morgan
Never maintains the spark necessary to sustain a feature film.

40
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
This unsubtle parody probably worked better on stage; its candy-colored artifice looks more than a little strained on film, and the actors are all trying really hard to be camp.

40
LA Weekly
Ernest Hardy
Ultimately, Psycho...can't overcome the redundancy of parodying a genre that long ago sank into its own satiric muck.

40
Film.com
Ernest Hardy
The problem is, director Robert Lee King has a hard time sustaining the aimed-for camp tone, and while there are a few well-spaced giggles to be had, the movie sputters more than it soars for most of its 95 minutes.

30
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
Psycho Beach Party is, from the start, in dire need of the electroshock therapy that Florence ultimately undergoes.

30
Village Voice
Dennis Lim
The viewer is left to ponder the number of levels on which this counts as a pointless exercise -- a parody of parodic movies, a deconstruction of transparent genres, a self-negatingly knowing example of camp.

25
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
Charles Busch's spoof of beach-party movies and psychological thrillers, an off-Broadway hit 13 years ago, stubbornly refuses to entertain in this unrelentingly dull film version.

20
Chicago Reader
Lisa Alspector
This multigenre parody is excruciatingly slow and unamusing; a go-go dancer in the opening and closing credits does as much in a few minutes to shake up our perspective on a bygone aesthetic as the entire narrative in between.

13
Mr. Showbiz
Michael Atkinson
Struggles like a fat kid on the gym rope to conjure up even a single decent laugh.


The average user rating for this movie is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 12 User Votes
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