Customer Reviews

Psycho Sisters

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Psycho Sisters is nothing if not original. The story is simple:

Jane and Jackie, two sisters with a tortured past (as young children, they saw their mother murder their father, then herself; then in early adulthood witnessed the brutal rape/murder of their younger sister Janice) are released a bit too early from psychiatric rehabilitation.

Jane (the oldest sister, portrayed by a perfectly psychotic Theresa Lynn) has become bent on seeking out and offing every young man that even slightly resembles the ones that murdered her younger sister.

Jackie (played exceptionally well by the lovely J.J. North), on the other hand, assists Jane on her vengeful quest but secretly longs for a normal happy life and wants to experience what it's like to have a boyfriend and be in love. She also has periodic visions of her dead sister Janice, who makes it clear to Jackie that she doesn't feel the need for her death to be avenged in the way Jane so strongly believes. Jackie really only kills because, although Jane really loves and cares about Jackie, she is very overbearing towards her and is constantly guilting her into the revenge-killing. This causes some interesting and suspenseful twists within the storyline of the film.

While Psycho Sisters is not for the squeamish by any means, as there are quite the gory special effects and nudity (although nothing is really gratuitous), the film is highly entertaining right up till the end.

The DVD of Psycho Sisters presents the film (which is the Unrated Director's Cut) in it's proper full-screen aspect ratio.

Special Features are abundant on this release.
They include:
*2 deleted scenes (nothing special--just extended versions of 2
scenes from the film)
*a Behind-the-Scenes segment
*a wonderful "History Mini-Documentary" of how the film came to
be hosted by the director, Pete Jacelone
*a Video Profile of Jacelone, which includes his full 15-minute
short film "The Lost Child" (a mysterious, crude, yet oddly
intriguing little film based on H.P. Lovecraft's short
story "The Outsider")
*numerous trailers for this and other films
*finally,a deluxe 8-page booklet which is packed with
information about the production.

Psycho Sisters is a great movie, and a great DVD.
**HIGHLY RECOMMENDED**

I have to admit I really enjoyed Psycho Sisters despite its borderline ludicrous plot. Those of us who walk the dark pathways of horror and love nothing more than to assuage our demented yearnings in tales of death and destruction will find much to smile somewhat maniacally about in this convoluted plot. This movie's writers are fearless, daringly throwing in plot elements that make little sense when viewed objectively and delineating outcomes that even I would have held back from unleashing on the public. You can't help but laugh and admire the fortitude of writers who refuse to bow down to the false gods of logic and audience expectations. This movie seems rather simple in the beginning, but all kinds of plot elements, both logical and illogical, are thrown into the mix as the story progresses, resulting in what some would call a mess but which I would call a delightful amalgamation of really weird yet gleefully evil elements.

Jane and Jackie Sicole have had a rough time of it. First, they watched the murder-suicide of their parents; then, a short time later, they were attacked by a group of men who murdered their younger sister right in front of their eyes. Understandably, they have some serious issues with men in general. Despite Jane's clearly unstable mind, the head of the Lawrence Institute releases the sisters from his care, over the strong objection of the girls' doctor. Jane seemingly blames every man on earth for the murder of her little sister, and she and Jackie are on a mission to basically kill as many men as possible. They are wildly successful, having already killed 35 young men by the time we begin to follow their daily activities. There is, oddly, no sign of outrage on the part of a terrified community, but this is for the good because the local police are hopelessly inept. I don't consider this movie particularly gory, although some might. Huge garden shears are the girls' weapon of choice, and although we rarely get to see the instrument plunging into the body of a victim, there is plenty of blood splashed on the killers and surrounding area each time the blade is buried exuberantly into the each body.

The lovely J.J. North plays Jackie, a vulnerable soul intimidated by her overbearing, frequently gratingly annoying sister Jane, whose hatred really drives the whole serial killing spree. Jackie still ends up killing her share of men, but she is not really happy about doing it, nor does she think that all men, especially sperm bank employees, are too evil to live. Among the other characters joining the mix are a group of bikers upset about the murder of two of their buddies, the aforementioned sperm bank worker and his college friends, a tabloid reporter and her sexually perverted husband, and, in a couple of limited guest appearances, the Psycho Sisters' own dead sister. There are all kinds of twist and turns in the closing scenes, and I loved the way everything came together in the end. Some will walk away wondering why they wasted their time and money on Psycho Sisters, but I believe a significant number of horror fans will get over any initial disappointment and soon realize the ludicrous brilliance of the conclusion.

This was a good movie. It was oversaturated with murder though. To many murders dilute the emphasis of each in this genre. The movie could have made us feel more for two or three of the victims by letting us get to know them. It only did this once with the boyfriend of the younger sister. His not being an indescriminate sex addict, by jumping into bed with her before knowing her last name was a refreshing turn, since usually men in most films are portrayed as sex-mad immature hormones. This movie was worth the money. The ending was good as well with a refreshing twist. The characters of the gossip magazine editor and her husband served absolutely no purpose at all in this movie. It also would have added to the movie if the sisters had found one of the guys who assaulted them when they were younger and tortured and killed him. All in alla good movie.

I didn't expect much before I put this movie on, but once it started, I couldn't get my eyes off the screen. Theresa Lynn and J.J. North are great in the roles of the crazy sisters. They murder everybody! I also loved the locations for the movie and even the car the sisters drive is an old 50's Pontiac! The director is top notch. Don't wait, put your little fingers on that keyboard and order this masterpiece. You won't regret it.

A piece of sewer sludge designed to entertain the brain dead and the deviant. It seems every yahoo with a camera these days thinks he's a film maker. This film is just a waste of time. Nothing scary just silly. The scary thing is that the film maker actually found people who were willing to act so retarded on camera for him. It just goes to show people will do anything for a few bucks. zero stars.

If you are a fan of B horror movies- you will love this! The movie does not drag and moves quite rapidly and is filled with outstanding kill scenes- the gore at times is over the top but the movie is so much fun to watch. It's one of those movies you could watch over and over. I highly recommend this movie for people who like fun B movies- if you are expecting an outstanding plot and acting- you may want to go elsewhere. Highly enjoyable!

Psycho Sisters (Pete Jacelone, Sal Longo, and Gary Whitson, 1998)

I watched Psycho Sisters almost a month ago as I write this, and I've been trying to come up with something good to say about it since. I haven't succeeded.

The movie is credited to three directors. One, Sal Longo, has not since directed, and is also listed as the cinematographer; I wonder if someone's finger slipped wile cutting and pasting at IMDB. Pete Jacelone, the guy generally called the director for this shindig, has since gone on to direct a number of other low-budget horror films. And to be fair, I'm probably going to be making a few assumptions about this movie I shouldn't see without taking in a screening of Sculpture or Beef: You Are What You Eat, neither of which I've seen (but both, I've been told, are highly entertaining for low-budget horror junkies like me). But any assumptions I make are going to come out with Jacelone looking better than he otherwise would, because I'm going to place the blame for this mess completely on the third director named, Gary Whitson.

It's not that much of a stretch, given that Whitson directed the painfully bad cheesecake-catfight flick, Female Mercenaries on Zombie Island, that spawned the careers of the two leads here, Tina Krause and Pamela Sutch. (Both still have thriving careers in bad DTV horror flicks over a decade later.) FMoZI makes no bones at all about its stature as an exploitation film, though it never actually succeeds in becoming one. Psycho Sisters, on the other hand, seems to be trying for a bit more; it wants to have a message, albeit one that mixes in just fine with exploitation film. But, like its predecessor, it never gets there. And there's no "quite" in that sentence because it misses the mark by a pretty fur piece, as they used to say back in the day.

Not to say that you can't see the message, which basically boils down to "you shouldn't treat women like this because they will take their revenge not only on you but on every other male they ever come across as long as they live". But good god, the naked (and stupid) emotional manipulation was actually done better in The Sadness, and when The Sadness did something, ANYTHING, better than your movie, you should probably just go commit ritual hara-kiri immediately.

Worse, it suffers from the same exploitation-film problem as FMoZI, which is a decided lack of two of Joe Bob's three necessities for a good movie. (We all know what those are, yes?) You can get away with not having one, but not having two is simply unforgivable. Why in the world would you cast scream queens, part of whose job description is "get topless at the drop of a hat", and then not exploit that? (Why do you think it's called exploitation filmmaking?) Once again, given the similarities to FMoZI, I'm taking Whitson to task for that.

Simple answer: it just ain't worth it. Some unintentionally amusing scenes, but nothing to go out of your way to find on, say, Netflix Instant View. * 1/2

THIS WAS A GOODER MOVIE! THIS MOVIE WAS GOODER THAN TITANIC CAUSE IT HAD GOODER EFFECTS. I LOVE THE PART WHERE THE GOODER SISTER CRIES ABOUT THE NOT SO GOODER SISER. I MEAN THIS MOVIE IS SOOO MUCH GOODER THAN THAT ONE MOVIE. YOU KNOW THE, ONE WITH THE GORILLA...THAT ONE WAS NOT GO GOODER. I CRIED AT THE END OF THIS MOVIE, IT WAS SO SAD. I'VE NEVER SEEN SUCH A HEARTWARMING, MOVIE AND IT WAS GOODER BECAUSE THE GIRL DID NOT HAVE HEAD LICE. THAT IS GOOD. SEE THIS MOVIE IF YOU WANT TO BUT I MUST WARN YOU: FOR GOD'S SAKE BUY SOME KLEENEX FIRST CAUSE YOU WILL USE THE WHOLE BOX ON THIS FILM. THAT ALL THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION REGARDING THIS MATTER.

OH MY GOSH THIS IS THE BESTEST MOVIE OF ALL TIMES..I THOUGHT TITANIC WAS GOOD BUT THIS MOVIE IS MUCH GOODER. I'M NOT EVEN KIDDING ABOUT THAT EITHER. THE EFFECTS WERE SO GOOD, AND THE ACTING WAS EVEN GOODER. THE MESSAGE THAT THIS MOVIE HAS IS IMPORTANT. I WAS CRYING MY EYES OUT BY THE END OF THIS MOVIE, FOR GOODNESS SAKE PEOPLE BUY A BOX OF GOODER TISSUE BEFORE YOU WATCH THIS ONE, YOU WILL NEED IT. I'M NOT EVEN KIDDING ABOUT THAT EITHER. I SEE THIS MOVIE WINNING ALOT OF AWARDS IN THE FUTURE. GO AND SEE THIS GOODER MOVIE FOR THE MESSAGES OF GOOD THINGS THAT WE ALL SHOULD LEARN. MOVIES LIKE THIS MAKE ME WANT TO LOVE MY FELLOW BROTHER. THAT ALL