Halloween Horror Challenge Oct 08: Psycho Sleepover

PSYCHO SLEEPOVER (2008)
D. Adam Deyoe, Eric Gosselin
TROMA
S.O.V.

This movie starts off strong with some genuinely funny banter between a guy and his girlfriend Ginny (Emilia Richeson) about how far their relationship has reached. She is all about the Eskimo kisses and he wants a blow job. There is some witty and knowing dialogue about how they are 15 and 17 years old even though the actors both clearly look to be in their late twenty’s (a nice gesture since these kinds of movies always cast people too old to be teenagers). Felicia Rose appears on TV as a newscaster mentioning a maniac killer loose in the neighborhood. Soon their argument reaches heated proportions and she leaves the room only to hear the doorbell. When she returns her dumbass boyfriend is no where to be scene but a maniac clown is at the door. A struggle ensues with some funny gags along the way that ends with her leading him to a long stair case outside. Cue a funny pratfall down those stairs and her dispatching him.

This opening is shockingly funny, with some witty dialogue, fun performances and a very knowing wink to the audience that they know what they are getting. Granted the movie is cheap looking, but it is forgivable because it seems like we are in for something fun.

Then the movie starts proper and there are signs that things may be rotten are afoot. The first sign is that the gaggle of teen girls that are her friends has one of them played by a overweight guy in drag. You can either look at this as a homage to John Waters or just an act of desperation. I'm voting for desperation. Ginny's friends invite her over for a sleepover in hopes of getting her hooked up with a nice guy since she killed her last boyfriend. Turns out her dad was killed by a serial killer too. Once Home from school the doctor from the loony bin comes by to check on her, instead trying to get into her pants. The neighborhood nerds are all excited to peep in the sleepover because they “might to get see boobs and finally get to have a boner.”

At the loony bin the Doctor brags that he is going to go get busy with Ginny at the sleepover and blabs the address. Then leaves the door unlocked to the place and all the serial killers and crazies wonder out into the streets to start killing people. They be-line to where the sleep over is. Of course the doctor was given a false address so some innocent people are killed along the way. 

The movie is tolerable, but just silly until the boyfriends show up, then it just plows into stupidsville headfirst. Pretty much from this point on out the movie is just dumb jokes that wouldn't hit if you threw them against the wall. Silly sex jokes where they are clearly not having any kind of sex, juvenile gross out antics that are annoying instead of funny. The opening that seemed aware of genre conventions seems to get tossed out the window in favor of a kitchen sink approach of any possible joke just to see if it could work. The tedium of unfunny to funny wears out its welcome. By the time you get to a moment that does work you really have stopped caring.

There is a major plot twist by the later third when it turns out the girls running the sleepover are actually psychopaths themselves who lure guys over to kill them for fun. So outside are dozens of loons trying to get in, the girls inside are crazy too. The only normal people are Ginny and the virgin Peeping Tom Nerds. It all climaxes to a huge free for all blood bath that is more tedious than fun. Though to be fair the movie finally has some nudity from no name extras who come out of nowhere to play topless psychopath extras. So finally a movie about a sleepover gives a smidgen of naked flesh.

Ultimately PSYCHO SLEEPOVER is a resounding failure, which is a shame, because it started off so strong.

The DVD includes a commentary, outtakes, deleted scenes and several behind the scenes featurettes. So have fun with that stuff!!!

Review © Andrew Copp