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- Jul 7, 2022
Saw Psycho Killer. I need to compose my thoughts but it's incredibly mid, probably to the surprise of no one.
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kiwifarms.net
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I miss the 'show, don't tell' technique, it somehow faded off by a lot. Nowadays, you get mostly everyone explaining what they are doing, what they will do, and how they will do some stupid thing. With the bonus of the monster of the movie being right next to them.
E:
Never read the novels so things might be different there but I think Xenomorphs are a whole different beast than Freddy by design alone. Penis heads, vagina eggs, aggressively sexual movement... No way around that like Freddy.
E:
That movie was in development hell for a decade or two lol
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- Joined
- Feb 19, 2020
Oh, I think you're really underselling how retarded it is. One part that really activated my almonds was when the bad guy broke into a public library and stole some encyclopedia books, so that he could get info without being tracked on the internet, since:
- Isn't breaking and entering right in front of a security cam way more conspicuous than doing anything on the internet?
- What are proxies, what are burners etc etc
- Public libraries let you read the books for free, dummy
- Are encyclopedias really the best source for technical info? I'd think they'd have better books to steal. (Maybe he got filtered by the dewey decimal system)
Plot is conspicuously similar to the the video game Hatred (the one where a metal-looking dude whose name is Not Important goes around killing people for no raisin). This is the kind of movie that gets played at fan cons before going to Tubi. I can't believe it got a theatrical release and was apparently made by actual experienced movie people.
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2022
My cat was (and still is) in the ER for a Mysterious Illness so I wasn't always paying 100% attention.
The plot of Psycho Killer is really oddly disjointed. I know it went through development hell but I believe a part of that was major editing post-filming. It feels like important scenes and plot threads were entirely cut after the movie had wrapped filming. If you're expecting lots of gore or occult elements, based on trailers, you will be disappointed. I think the dumbest things were what a State Trooper was allowed to get away with outside of her jurisdiction. The movie is shot really well and Georgina Campbell and James Preston Rogers make admirable efforts. JPR should play more looming slashers. That's about all the good I can say.
The plot of Psycho Killer is really oddly disjointed. I know it went through development hell but I believe a part of that was major editing post-filming. It feels like important scenes and plot threads were entirely cut after the movie had wrapped filming. If you're expecting lots of gore or occult elements, based on trailers, you will be disappointed. I think the dumbest things were what a State Trooper was allowed to get away with outside of her jurisdiction. The movie is shot really well and Georgina Campbell and James Preston Rogers make admirable efforts. JPR should play more looming slashers. That's about all the good I can say.
Female state trooper sees her husband shot while a car is pulled over for a traffic stop. Her husband has no reason to pull his guy over and ask for his ID; the driver pulled over because the State Trooper was riding his ass and this guy decides that this merits harassing this guy. Anyway, he gets shot and the killer escapes. Law enforcement promptly agrees that the shooter was a serial killer they are pursuing across the country (I will call him the Killer). The Killer has been moving west to east across the US, sticking to highways/interstates, and killing wherever he has the opportunity. He doesn't have a specific victim "type" and he leaves satanic symbols drawn in his victims' blood. He also has satanic tattoos across his body, as well as a nuclear symbol on his hand (will come in later). We never see his face.
Lady Cop becomes impatient with the lack of progress and decides to take matters into her own hands. She begins driving around to various states, trying to get involved in the Killer case. She is not immediately fired or suspended for this. Insane. An FBI agent has pity on her and meets her in a bar to give her what they have on the Killer so far (here is where Lady Cop learns about the satanic symbols and the lack of victim type). We learn that the Killer has committed a few robberies, some of which were caught on camera: he stole a few encyclopedias from a library (I assume he didn't rent them because you need an ID/phone number/email), he stole explosives from a construction site, he stole some guns from a gun store, and he stole a bunch of painkillers and sleep aides from a pharmacy. The FBI agent says they have good evidence that the Killer is staying in motel rooms and not sleeping in his car. To prove this, the FBI agent takes Lady Cop to a crime scene at a nearby motel, which has somehow not been cleaned up yet. The Killer chopped up some poor cleaning lady and used her blood to scribble all over the room. The FBI has had many similar reports. Lady Cop suggests that the Killer could be some dude who shot up a church years back (????) and the FBI agent dismisses this. It is unclear to me if this mass murderer escaped or was released to make Lady Cop suggest this. Lady Cop, NOT the FBI, figures out that the Killer is driving about the same distance each time before stopping at a motel. She predicts around where he will stop next and goes there to intercept him. En route, she stops for a pregnancy test and it's positive. This won't be mentioned again until the very end of the movie.
Meanwhile, the Killer puts out an ad in the paper, in code, requesting aid from interested parties. In a motel, he sees a true crime show covering the church shooter and he glares at it meaningfully. Church shooter has the same nuclear symbol tattoo on his hand. At some point, Lady Cop finds the secret message in the paper and looks up the codename the Killer is using and sees he's using a pen name that's a reference to a metal band who idolized the church shooter. Lady Cop listens to a radio show where conspiracy theorists talk about the US government intentionally creating serial killers/shooters and releasing them onto the populace. Remember that.
Lady Cop asks around some motels in her areas of interest and finds the Killer at a motel. She's searching his room, without waiting for backup, when he gets the drop on her and throws her around a bit before fleeing. The interested party replies in the paper and both Killer and Lady Cop see it. It includes a phone number. Killer calls the number and gets directions to a mansion where some satanists live. Killer shows up and finds that these satanists are a bunch of LARPers who do drugs and have orgies. Killer says he exists only to serve satan, by killing when and where he can. The other satanists think this is a joke. He gets them to use their PI to get him a specific name (will come up later) and address and then kills everyone. As he's leaving, he's intercepted by Lady Cop. No clue how she got the address. Killer evades her and escapes yet again.
The Killer is now in Pennsylvania and his body count is almost 50. LMFAO. He kidnaps the guy he had the satanists use their PI connections to find. Lady Cop is still determined that he's the church shooter based on (for her) scant evidence. She's staking it out when she notices that the nuclear power plant on Three Mile Island is visible from the church. She recalls that the Three Mile Island incident displaces a bunch of people, perhaps this included the man who shot up the church. She intuits that this is where the Killer is headed, realizing that he stole encyclopedias that include creating explosives and nuclear energy. The kidnap victim does indeed work for the plant, and he smuggles Killer in. There is shockingly little security. The Killer forces his way into the control room with his captive and barricades himself in there. He forces the captive to shut down the systems keeping the plant from a meltdown. His goal is to cause a massive nuclear meltdown that kills a ton of people, and he thinks this will usher Satan into our realm.
Lady Cop shows up at the plant. She tells them that Killer is in there and that they need to raise the alarm. By the time they make it inside, Killer has already locked himself in the control room and it's apparently impenetrable so everyone sits around on their asses. Lady Cop finds an observation window and even though it's "bulletproof" she's able to shoot it enough to shatter a small hole. Killer reveals he's strapped with explosives and holding a grenade. Lady Cop blasts the grenade from his hand and shoots him a few times. Security forces their way into the control room and surround Killer.
The news reports that Killer was struck in the head and killed. Lady Cop is shown late in her pregnancy, preparing her child's nursery and haunted with nightmares. Killer is taken to a compound in California in an armored car and a mysterious voice welcomes him back, implying he WAS intentionally groomed into being a serial killer and WAS intentionally released. But this is never actually explained or explored.
The end.
Lady Cop becomes impatient with the lack of progress and decides to take matters into her own hands. She begins driving around to various states, trying to get involved in the Killer case. She is not immediately fired or suspended for this. Insane. An FBI agent has pity on her and meets her in a bar to give her what they have on the Killer so far (here is where Lady Cop learns about the satanic symbols and the lack of victim type). We learn that the Killer has committed a few robberies, some of which were caught on camera: he stole a few encyclopedias from a library (I assume he didn't rent them because you need an ID/phone number/email), he stole explosives from a construction site, he stole some guns from a gun store, and he stole a bunch of painkillers and sleep aides from a pharmacy. The FBI agent says they have good evidence that the Killer is staying in motel rooms and not sleeping in his car. To prove this, the FBI agent takes Lady Cop to a crime scene at a nearby motel, which has somehow not been cleaned up yet. The Killer chopped up some poor cleaning lady and used her blood to scribble all over the room. The FBI has had many similar reports. Lady Cop suggests that the Killer could be some dude who shot up a church years back (????) and the FBI agent dismisses this. It is unclear to me if this mass murderer escaped or was released to make Lady Cop suggest this. Lady Cop, NOT the FBI, figures out that the Killer is driving about the same distance each time before stopping at a motel. She predicts around where he will stop next and goes there to intercept him. En route, she stops for a pregnancy test and it's positive. This won't be mentioned again until the very end of the movie.
Meanwhile, the Killer puts out an ad in the paper, in code, requesting aid from interested parties. In a motel, he sees a true crime show covering the church shooter and he glares at it meaningfully. Church shooter has the same nuclear symbol tattoo on his hand. At some point, Lady Cop finds the secret message in the paper and looks up the codename the Killer is using and sees he's using a pen name that's a reference to a metal band who idolized the church shooter. Lady Cop listens to a radio show where conspiracy theorists talk about the US government intentionally creating serial killers/shooters and releasing them onto the populace. Remember that.
Lady Cop asks around some motels in her areas of interest and finds the Killer at a motel. She's searching his room, without waiting for backup, when he gets the drop on her and throws her around a bit before fleeing. The interested party replies in the paper and both Killer and Lady Cop see it. It includes a phone number. Killer calls the number and gets directions to a mansion where some satanists live. Killer shows up and finds that these satanists are a bunch of LARPers who do drugs and have orgies. Killer says he exists only to serve satan, by killing when and where he can. The other satanists think this is a joke. He gets them to use their PI to get him a specific name (will come up later) and address and then kills everyone. As he's leaving, he's intercepted by Lady Cop. No clue how she got the address. Killer evades her and escapes yet again.
The Killer is now in Pennsylvania and his body count is almost 50. LMFAO. He kidnaps the guy he had the satanists use their PI connections to find. Lady Cop is still determined that he's the church shooter based on (for her) scant evidence. She's staking it out when she notices that the nuclear power plant on Three Mile Island is visible from the church. She recalls that the Three Mile Island incident displaces a bunch of people, perhaps this included the man who shot up the church. She intuits that this is where the Killer is headed, realizing that he stole encyclopedias that include creating explosives and nuclear energy. The kidnap victim does indeed work for the plant, and he smuggles Killer in. There is shockingly little security. The Killer forces his way into the control room with his captive and barricades himself in there. He forces the captive to shut down the systems keeping the plant from a meltdown. His goal is to cause a massive nuclear meltdown that kills a ton of people, and he thinks this will usher Satan into our realm.
Lady Cop shows up at the plant. She tells them that Killer is in there and that they need to raise the alarm. By the time they make it inside, Killer has already locked himself in the control room and it's apparently impenetrable so everyone sits around on their asses. Lady Cop finds an observation window and even though it's "bulletproof" she's able to shoot it enough to shatter a small hole. Killer reveals he's strapped with explosives and holding a grenade. Lady Cop blasts the grenade from his hand and shoots him a few times. Security forces their way into the control room and surround Killer.
The news reports that Killer was struck in the head and killed. Lady Cop is shown late in her pregnancy, preparing her child's nursery and haunted with nightmares. Killer is taken to a compound in California in an armored car and a mysterious voice welcomes him back, implying he WAS intentionally groomed into being a serial killer and WAS intentionally released. But this is never actually explained or explored.
The end.
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2025
Modern films aren't made to be watched. They're made so if you watch it between doom scrolling you can understand them. I forget who did a podcast recently but they laid it all out. The plot must be simple and someone has to explain what the plot is every 20 minutes to catch people up who were on twitter. It's intentional.
I know the origins of Xenomorphs but you can see them as non-sexual. They're a good monster design and while the sexual stuff is there if you look for it. You can also see it's a design that works without bringing sex into it.
I am glad Wes Craven is dead after seeing "My soul to keep". One of the most bizarre horror films I've ever seen. It makes no sense, it has no direction and it does nothing with it's 2 hour run time. As his final film and the unwatchable Scream TV Series he's credited with writing, it is just bad. The dialog is laughable. The kills are bland. The one good concept (seeing dead people in mirrors) is used like twice. It wants to be Scream at points because some of it was so bad they had to reshoot it. But the dialog is still strange, the characters are flat and the twist ending isn't even remotely a twist. It's the obvious killer and the ending monologue is basically a Scream killers motivation.
Wes made some great films. He was a legend and deserves all the respect for his early work. His later work's scripts are painfully bad and it's a shame they got released to tarnish his legacy like this.
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2020
It does have a good cast on paper... the real horror is watching the actors die inside as they read their lines. Didn't they name drop 8chan at some point?
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- Jul 7, 2022
Yes they did actually. I think it was during the radio show discussing conspiracy theories on the govt manufacturing killers. Or perhaps they said someone in the FBI had leaked crime scene photos to 8chan. I can't recall. That actually struck me because wouldn't 4chan be more recognizable to the popcorn eaters?
I realized I forgot to list the dropped plot threads.
- It's never really clear how the Killer got out of prison. I do remember now that it is explicitly said he died in prison. So the only conclusion can be that he WAS being experimented on by the govt in secret, but this is hinted at in blink-and-you'll-miss-it moments. Did they release him or did he escape? If he was released, why?
- How does the Lady Cop feel about being pregnant? What led her to decide that she valued revenge over her pregnancy? Why does she never show any concern for her pregnancy after the Psycho Killer throws her around?
- Why does the Killer eat prescription drugs by the handful? Did he become addicted during his govt mind control? Does it keep him sane and steady or does it make him more unhinged? Much screentime is devoted to the Killer killing a pharmacist, stealing the drugs, and then law enforcement using that event to create a travel pattern.
- Why does the Killer think a power plant meltdown will usher in Satan? There have been worse disasters and loss of life and Satan didn't show up before.
- Is the Killer actually a Satanist, or is it a part of the govt mind control?
- Was the Killer one of the people displaced by the previous Three Mile Island incident?
- Why is the Killer so obsessed with staying offline? Is this part of his mind control? I get not wanting to keep a smartphone on you, but if you're going to be breaking into businesses with security cameras then what's the harm in carrying a laptop to Google some stuff? Do you think the FBI is always shadowing anyone who searches things about nuclear power?
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- Feb 24, 2016
Apparently the script for Psycho Killer has been around since the late 2000s as several people had been attached to the movie over the past decade. With Hatred being released in 2015, did one "borrow" from the other?
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- Feb 19, 2020
It's hard to believe the Psycho Killer script has existed for 15 years. In fact, it's hard to believe the author of the script has existed for 15 years. I figure they both just went with the most cliched edgelord stuff possible and ended up in the same spot. Imagine stealing ideas from this.
PS1gamenwatch
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2015
Anyone's thoughts on this upcoming movie Slanted starring Shirley Chen and McKenna Grace
Advertised as The Substance meets Mean Girls, a Chinese-American high schooler, undergoes ethnic modification surgery to appear white in hopes of being voted prom queen. After the surgery, her life is upended by her new appearance. For some reason it kinda makes me think of this:
As a matter a fact, they should do a parody film and make it like Kerwin White's storyline.
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- Oct 3, 2022
I recall feds dropping some (you)s in FOIAs but I forget which chan
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- Dec 16, 2025
When I see her name I can only ever think of the weirdo fucks on /tv/ that would obsess over her. I’m pretty sure the movies she typically stars in are twee garbage with hallmark channel levels of production
strumpets exeunt
kiwifarms.net
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- Apr 22, 2025
Call me crazy, but - and just hear me out here - I think there's a slim chance that this film may secretly be commentary on "white people" and how they are "bad."
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- Sep 2, 2020
Matt Damon was talking to Joe Rogan about it. He called it "second screen" writing. Movies and TV shows are written to be background noise while viewers scroll through social media on their phone.
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- Jan 16, 2023
Haven't even heard of this movie and I like Craven. According to Wikipedia it seems like it was made by a finance company who wanted to become a producer/distributor (spoiler: recipe for bankruptcy.) His other end-stage movies Red Eye was pretty good and Scream 4 is (imo) best Scream. Re: classic/middle era Craven, I saw Shocker for the first time recently and not only is it completely disjointed but even worse, boring. Amazed the bad guy is Skinner from X-Files though. The good guy plays Mike in Last Seduction ("Rape me, Mike.") has no charisma I figured he'd disappear but apparently had a long career.
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2025
Was in the files of a mass shooting.
That's the one. Thank you.
Scream 2 is the best scream. Scream 1 is the 2nd best. The others are pretty bad and are a franchise not being allowed to die. Scream doesn't work once the teen drama fad dies down and yet they just keep making them.
You're lucky you didn't hear of it. The dialog is stunted and no teenager sounds like they talk. There isn't even a shower scene since most the cast are 16 in universe. The main antagonist is naked in basically everything she's in except this.
And they reshot the ending to copy Scream. There's loads of references and the survivor walks off saying "I'm not a hero, but I'll act like one for the media. I'll be what they want me to be". The same stupid shit scream killers think they will do.
PS1gamenwatch
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2015
Like I said earlier they should do a parody except a guy does it, and he turns into Kerwin White and then the commentary turns into white people bland.
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2023
When Scream was new the meta shit really impressed me. Decades later on rewatch I'd rather sit on the couch with Randy and watch Halloween. Scream 2 story weak and forced aside from the very interesting idea of Stab franchise. While I admire the meta-meta-ness of Scream 3 it is just too convoluted and more Sydney's mama's dramas. (I do love the part where she finds the Hollywood set that is exactly like her old bedroom, which almost reminds me of A Nightmare on Elm Street.)
Scream 4 I liked most as it really just seemed like sequel to the first but now they are grown up, back in Woodsboro for a proper followup, so feel free to ignore 2 & 3. The live-streaming angle really is ahead of its time. Had the movie been made just a few years later would have hit much harder with more realistic tech. Now that Kevin Williamson is back and revealed his plans for the "real" Scream 5/6 makes it more disappointing.
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2025
When you get to 4 the series can't really do it's parody any more because it would be parodying it's self. And making fun of remakes doesn't work when you've essentially run through your original trilogy outline and now you're making the same movie again. The first 2 movies work as slasher movies on their own merit, if you don't get the references you still have a decent cast and some good horror action. 3 is much weaker as a movie, but wrapping up the trilogy usually makes for a weaker movie. Moreen never mattered as a character, she was a plot device we never saw or needed to see, so building a movie around here is the exact type of back story ruining content horror movies love to do. As you go further from the trilogy you end up with dumber and dumber stuff. Main characters who acted smart before start acting like idiots to make way for the new cast. Shock value and modern film making creeps in and you end up with generic slop with Screams name on it. I'm guessing the new one won't be much different, I expect Sid or Kirby is going to die in this. Probably Sid so Kirby can take over since fans whined about it for so long. And my money is on Stu being back as the murderer or being revealed to be the murderer's master mind.
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2022
Holy shit you weren't kidding.
I personally think that it was originally going to lean much more into the occult/government cooking up killers thing, and that with subsequent rewrites this got replaced with cliche edgy garbage. Kind of a shame because I think a movie about the government deliberately manufacturing serial killers with some sort of occult element could be neat.