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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Psycho Beach Party
Strand Releasing


8.7

based on 18 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 12 votes
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Rate this movie

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...

The New York Times Stephen Holden

It is surprisingly timely.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

A little Hitchcock and some good Psycho fun at the beach.

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

If it doesn't always come off, enough headlong energy develops to carry it through.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Its cheeky, good fun is what makes Psycho Beach Party an enjoyable, if weightless, romp.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Smart, fun and mildly subversive, but it rides the wave of its joke a little too long.

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.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

For all its energy and inspired moments of giddy goofiness, Psycho Beach Party gets stuck in the sand.

Chicago Tribune Marc Caro

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

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.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

Never maintains the spark necessary to sustain a feature film.

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.

LA Weekly Ernest Hardy

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

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.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Psycho Beach Party is, from the start, in dire need of the electroshock therapy that Florence ultimately undergoes.

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.

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.

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.

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
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Nicholas A. gave it an8:
It's not a "parody" type of comedy. The emphasis is what would have been happening on the periphary of those old movies, had they been real. It strikes a good balance of respecting the original style and adding a modern viewpoint.

Monekka McB gave it a9:
Most of the critics just didn't get this movie... It is very hilarious!

Amber gave it a 10:
I give this movie a 10 cause man i love this movie sure i am a bit juvanile and i am a bit rambuncious but this movie rocks.

Zachamariah F. gave it a 10:
Oh my holy jesus. This movie had be laughing so friggin hard!

Sarah F. gave it a 9:
Holy sh.t was this movie funny.

Lauren S. gave it a 10:
I absolutely love it. It is a great film that takes you back to the 50's for fun and laughter.

William M. gave it a 6:
Lots of incredibly campy fun, but basically a one joke movie that goes on too long.

Psycho Beach Party Strand Releasing

Psycho Beach Party
Strand Releasing