PSYCHO COP – A carload of the usual suspects (i.e young, annoying Americans) fall foul of a satan worshipping cop – stand by for some standard slasher mayhem. Not all that much, though. There are a couple of things about 'Psycho Cop' that I like. Psycho Cop himself is defiantly post-Kruger in his signature, which amounts to little more than pithy put-downs of his victims after each kill. Normally I can't stand that kind of comedy horror bollocks, but in this case there's a lameness to Psycho Cop's pronouncements that's transcendentally awful. Take for example the scene near the end where he rips out a guy's heart – “have a heart,” he says, offering the still beating organ to a screaming person. OK, so that's just cheesy. But nearer the beginning he kills someone who was trying to escape him - “you shouldn't run from the police.” Erm, Psycho Cop, can I just point out to you that that massive serial killer grin on your face is supposed to indicate that you've just said something devastatingly witty. The capper has to be the moment when he, again with a massive comedy horror leer on his face, asks someone if they “need a hand?” Normally, there would be a poor gag in there involving a severed hand. In this case, nothing. Just his outstretched hand. Zen or what? I'm going into some detail here, as 'Psycho Cop' offers pretty slim pickings on most other fronts. It has that flat feel of perfunctory early nineties genre cinema. The acting and the action flow with that feeling. It's all very detached, plastic almost. Nothing much happens for a good hour after we've been introduced to the villain and the kids. This 'nothing much' is a bit bizarre though, as Psycho Cop's idea of a tense build up is to play mind games with his victims involving misplaced personal effects – a good amount of run time showcases a protracted argument about the whereabouts of a bag. Fascinating, or really, really boring? I couldn't quite decide, but again, it's all a bit Zen. When all's said and done, 'Psycho Cop' can't really claim to offer much to those in B-horror mode. There's not enough of the genre staples - tension, thrills, gore. There's just not enough stuff happening. There's not even enough real 'laugh out loud' badness going down. Something's going on though, but it's difficult to say what exactly. Like a mirage with something skewed and twisted behind it. It's like it's broadcasting on a bandwidth different to the one your receiver's picking up. You're tuned in, but what's turning you on? Probably not 'Psycho Cop'. 'Psycho Cop' is a film looking for a state of mind, a 'Psycho Cop' state of mind.
 |