''Psycho Cop'' is a 1989 American

slasher film A slasher film is a subgenre of horror films involving a killer or a group of killers stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as a generic ...

, released direct-to-video. It was written and directed by Wallace Potts, noted for its similarities to the previous year's ''

Maniac Cop ''Maniac Cop'' is a 1988 American slasher film directed by William Lustig, written by Larry Cohen, and starring Tom Atkins, Bruce Campbell, Laurene Landon, Richard Roundtree, William Smith, Robert Z'Dar, and Sheree North. Z'Dar plays the titl ...

'' by

William Lustig William "Bill" Lustig (born February 1, 1955, in The Bronx, New York) is an American film director and producer who has worked primarily in the horror film genre. He is the nephew of former middleweight champion Jake LaMotta. Film career As ...

and

Larry Cohen Lawrence George Cohen (July 15, 1936 – March 23, 2019) was an American filmmaker. He originally emerged as the writer of blaxploitation films such as ''Black Caesar (film), Black Caesar'' and ''Hell Up in Harlem'' (both 1973), before becomin ...

. It was followed by a 1993 sequel entitled '' Psycho Cop 2''.

Plot

Two lost newlyweds named Barbra and Greg stumble onto the site of the ritualistic murder of a woman by Joe Vickers, a corrupt police officer and

serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...

who is also a Devil worshiper. Vickers murders both of them. The next day, three couples travel to a secluded mansion that they have rented and are given a tour by the property's caretaker, who is later murdered by Vickers. Upon noticing the caretaker's disappearance, the couples go looking for him and encounter Vickers, who reassures them by claiming that the caretaker injured himself chopping wood and is now recovering in the hospital. That night, Zack leaves to get beer and is killed by Vickers via billy club being shoved down his throat. Vickers proceeds to butcher Eric, Julie, and Sarah. Doug and Laura realize that Vickers is the culprit by his shoes prints and are chased into the forest where they are found by a pair of policemen, Chris and Bradley. Before being killed by Vickers, the officers reveal that he is really Gary Henley, a discharged psychiatric patient who has somehow infiltrated the California Police Department. Laura is pursued by Vickers to a clearing containing the crucified bodies of Zack, Julie, Eric, and Sarah. Laura shoots Vickers with his own sidearm, but he is unaffected. Vickers is finally defeated (and seemingly killed) when he has a "sharp" log thrown through him by Doug. Emergency services greet Laura and Doug at the mansion as Vickers recovers and a newscast announces that further evidence indicates that he is actually an escaped psychopathic serial killer named Ted Warnicky. The film ends with Vickers smiling evilly at the camera.

Cast

* Robert R. Shafer as Officer Joe Vickers/Gary Henley/Ted Warnicky * Jeff Qualle as Doug * Palmer Lee Todd as Laura * Dan Campbell as Eric *

Cindy Guyer Cindy Guyer is an American model, producer, actress and restaurateur from Stamford, Connecticut. Modeling career Discovered by Wilhelmina Models, Wilhelmina International Inc. (Wilhelmina Models) at the age of 14, Guyer went on to become the ...

as Julie * Linda West as Sarah * Greg Joujon-Roche as Zack * Bruce Melena as Officer Bradley *

Glenn Steelman Glenn L. Steelman is an American film and television director. He worked as an assistant director on a number of independent films namely '' Cyborg 3: The Recycler'' (1995), '' The Nature of the Beast'' (1995), '' The Expert'' (1995) and other f ...

as Officer Chris * Julie Araskog as Dead Woman * Denise Hartman as Barbara/Cop #3 * David L. Zeisler as Greg/Cop #4

Reception

Scott Aaron Stine, author of ''The Gorehound's Guide to Splatter Films of the 1980s'', referred to ''Psycho Cop'' as "completely lifeless, homogenized fare" further hampered by the "grating" Robert R. Shafer. Conversely, Kent Byron Armstrong, writer of ''Slasher Films: An International Filmography, 1960 Through 2001'', found Shafer to be "great" and opined that "''Psycho Cop'' provides enough humor to be an enjoyable film". Ozus' World Movie Reviews's Dennis Schwartz awarded ''Psycho Cop'' a C+, calling it "dumb" and "ridiculous" while Todd Martin of Horror News wrote, "I think that it is just a fun little movie and if you are looking for a nice brainless

that doesn't make you think too hard then you should give this movie a shot". Digital Retribution condemned ''Psycho Cop'', giving it a 1/5 while dismissing it as a "Routine slasher flick that's trying to be a riff on

's ''

'' but instead ends up as a poorly acted and weakly penned misfire" with terrible

special effect Special effects (often abbreviated as F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the fictional events in a story or virtual world. ...

s and direction that was "some of the worst in filmic history". JA Kerswell of the Hysteria Lives! gave the film a similarly low score of 2/5, noting, "If you had to pick a perfect example of a join-the-dots slasher flick then this hopelessly generic addition to the subgenre would fit the bill perfectly".

Home media

In North America, the film is only available on the

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

format as of July 2023.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0095922, Psycho Cop 1989 films American slasher films 1989 horror films American serial killer films Films set in forests Films about mass murder Films set in California Films shot in California American supernatural horror films American independent films Films about police officers Films set in country houses Films about police misconduct Films about Satanism Films about police brutality 1989 independent films 1980s supernatural films 1980s slasher films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films American religious horror films English-language horror films English-language independent films