Knife of the Party
It’s a surfer movie.
No, it’s a slasher movie.
No, it’s a surfer move and a slasher movie all rolled up in one.
Better yet, it’s a satire of surfer and slasher movies.
Or maybe it’s just a parody.
Whatever it is, Psycho Beach Party is certainly one of the oddest comedies I’ve seen this year. And I’m not entirely sure that’s a good thing.
The movie starts out parodying horror movies of the 1950s and 1960s, only to shift its point-of-view to that of the audience for such films. We see one couple complain about the plot of one such movie -- a movie that doesn’t even pretend to be coherent, even by b-grade creature feature standards -- then shift to yet another couple -- a platonic same-sex couple of friends -- who are analyzing the same movie to death.
Along the way, various characters are introduced and one ends up being fatally stabbed. Who did it? That’s what the big mystery of the movie is allegedly all about, but the filmmakers seem more interested in satirizing the social attitudes of the early 1960s than actually telling a funny story.
Some jokes hit, some miss. Eventually enough jokes hit for me to like this film but it took a second viewing to really win me over. One can tell why the film didn’t exactly get a lot of publicity when it was first released back in 2000. But the film still has a lot of promise in spite of itself.
Anyway, if you’re not interested in jokes, you can get a glimpse of an early Amy Adams, who appears in this film playing a popular surfer girl. If that‘s not enough, you can get a yet longer view of an early Lauren Ambrose, who plays a not-so-popular surfer girl who has a slight mental disorder. Kimberly Davies shows up as a runaway movie star who ends up playing a key role in the plot and Nicholas Brendon of Buffy fame makes an appearance as well. Los Straitjackets provides the soundtrack and it can be argued that their musical contribution is very easily one of the best parts of the movie -- especially at the beginning and end. But then there’s a twist ending that has to be seen to be believed, and, well, there’s not much else I can say without spoiling half the fun.
In the end, Psycho Beach Party isn’t quite the cult classic that it wants to be, but it‘s not for want of trying. And quite frankly, I find it hard to hate a film that manages to reference both Marnie and The Wizard of Oz. It’s not exactly 2000’s answer to The Rocky Horror Picture Show but fortunately, it’s not the 2000 equivalent of Shock Treatment either.
It’s a surfer movie.
No, it’s a slasher movie.
No, it’s a surfer move and a slasher movie all rolled up in one.
Better yet, it’s a satire of surfer and slasher movies.
Or maybe it’s just a parody.
Whatever it is, Psycho Beach Party is certainly one of the oddest comedies I’ve seen this year. And I’m not entirely sure that’s a good thing.
The movie starts out parodying horror movies of the 1950s and 1960s, only to shift its point-of-view to that of the audience for such films. We see one couple complain about the plot of one such movie -- a movie that doesn’t even pretend to be coherent, even by b-grade creature feature standards -- then shift to yet another couple -- a platonic same-sex couple of friends -- who are analyzing the same movie to death.
Along the way, various characters are introduced and one ends up being fatally stabbed. Who did it? That’s what the big mystery of the movie is allegedly all about, but the filmmakers seem more interested in satirizing the social attitudes of the early 1960s than actually telling a funny story.
Some jokes hit, some miss. Eventually enough jokes hit for me to like this film but it took a second viewing to really win me over. One can tell why the film didn’t exactly get a lot of publicity when it was first released back in 2000. But the film still has a lot of promise in spite of itself.
Anyway, if you’re not interested in jokes, you can get a glimpse of an early Amy Adams, who appears in this film playing a popular surfer girl. If that‘s not enough, you can get a yet longer view of an early Lauren Ambrose, who plays a not-so-popular surfer girl who has a slight mental disorder. Kimberly Davies shows up as a runaway movie star who ends up playing a key role in the plot and Nicholas Brendon of Buffy fame makes an appearance as well. Los Straitjackets provides the soundtrack and it can be argued that their musical contribution is very easily one of the best parts of the movie -- especially at the beginning and end. But then there’s a twist ending that has to be seen to be believed, and, well, there’s not much else I can say without spoiling half the fun.
In the end, Psycho Beach Party isn’t quite the cult classic that it wants to be, but it‘s not for want of trying. And quite frankly, I find it hard to hate a film that manages to reference both Marnie and The Wizard of Oz. It’s not exactly 2000’s answer to The Rocky Horror Picture Show but fortunately, it’s not the 2000 equivalent of Shock Treatment either.
Labels: Amy Adams, Kimberly Davies, Lauren Ambrose, Nicholas Brendon, Parodias, Películas de Halloween II, Películas Nuevas II, Playas, Verano Bizarro
posted by Tonio Kruger at 5:10 AM
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