Cool original camp. This is a fun little movie.
Psycho Beach Party (2000)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:31
Fresh:17
Rotten:14
Average Rating:5.5/10
Synopsis: PSYCHO BEACH PARTY was scripted by playwright Charles Busch (author of the long-running off-Broadway hit VAMPIRE LESBIANS OF SODOM), adapted from his 1987 play of the same title. Florence Forest... PSYCHO BEACH PARTY was scripted by playwright Charles Busch (author of the long-running off-Broadway hit VAMPIRE LESBIANS OF SODOM), adapted from his 1987 play of the same title. Florence Forest (Lauren Ambrose) is a perky but unfulfilled teen. After witnessing the antics of a gang of strapping young surfer dudes at the beach one day, she decides surfing's the thing for her, and asks the group leader, the "Great Kanaka" (Thomas Gibson), to give her lessons. But Kanaka won't give Florence (or rather "Chicklet," as she is soon dubbed by the boys) the time of day--until her alter ego, S/M dominatrix Ann Bowman, unexpectedly makes an appearance. Meanwhile, a mysterious killer is offing the town's teens one by one. Detective Monica Stark (played by Busch himself) is on the case, but soon her investigation is complicated by an overabundance of suspects: Could the killer be Florence's frustrated mom, who disapproves of the company her daughter's been keeping? There's also B-movie babe Bettina Barnes (Kimberley Davies), in town incognito after running away from her studio. And then, of course, there's schizophrenic Florence herself. Expertly mimicking the corny, frantically upbeat tone of 1960s teen flicks, PSYCHO BEACH PARTY is a campy (and occasionally raunchy) alternative treat. [More]
Starring: Lauren Ambrose, Nicholas Brendon, Thomas Gibson, Danni Wheeler
Starring: Lauren Ambrose, Nicholas Brendon, Thomas Gibson, Danni Wheeler, Charles Busch, Kimberley Davies, Amy Adams, Beth Broderick, Matt Keeslar, Kathleen Robertson, Andrew Levitas, Nick Cornish
Director: Robert Lee King
Director: Robert Lee King
Screenwriter: Charles Busch
Producer: Jon Gerrans, Virginia Biddle, Marcus Hu, Victor Syrmis
Composer: Ben Vaughn
Reviews for Psycho Beach Party
It's all enjoyable enough, but it's played so broadly that it loses whatever impact it might have had.
If this wearying exercise in camp, rib-nudging double entendres, rhyming gollyspeak and groovy-daddio! set design wrapped around a wan murder mystery sounds like an Annette Funicello movie gone to hell, it at least succeeds on one level.
A funny tongue-in-cheek comedy, cinematic commentary and murder mystery all rolled in to one.
PBP made a smooth transition from stage to screen; I suppose since the play was mocking movies, making a movie of it was a more logical use of the script.
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