Psycho Beach Party

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Psycho Beach Party

Released Jan 23, 2000

1h 35m

Comedy

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

54%

Tomatometer

35 Reviews

66%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

"Psycho Beach Party" is a manic party-mix of 50's psychological thrillers, 60's beach movies, and 70's slasher films. The story focuses on Chicklet Forrest (Lauren Ambrose), a sixteen-year old tomboy who's desperate to be part of the in-crowd of Malibu beach surfers. She's the typical American girl - except for one little problem: her personality is split into more slices than a pepperoni pizza.

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Globe and Mail

Rated: 2/4

Mar 22, 2002

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Kevin Thomas

Los Angeles Times

It's too much filmed theater to come alive fully on the screen.

Rated: 1.5/5

Feb 14, 2001

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Ernest Hardy

Film.com

Saddled with both a script and direction that never comes near the wit or cleverness in Busch's own performance.

Jan 1, 2000

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Jae-Ha Kim

Jae-Ha Kim

Just when it looked like the "Scream" franchise and "Scary Movie" had pretty much had their way with spoofing the horror film genre, along comes "Psycho Beach Party" attempting to horn in on the territory. Unfortunately, it's the little movie that can't.

Rated: 1.5

Jul 28, 2023

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David Reddish

Queerty

Psycho Beach Party is a relic of a time when major studios would never green-light or bankroll a film about queer characters that werent tragic, or that would feature good-natured gay sex. Fortunately, fringe cinema had other priorities.

Rated: 3/4

Mar 20, 2022

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Johnny Gayzmonic

Fanboys of the Universe

Let me just break it down in high-fidelity stereophonic sound: this film is funny as hell. It's the most killer beach party you'll ever get invited to.

Rated: 9/10

May 8, 2020

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Colleen K

It is fantastic to see a lot of these actors in their early careers. I don’t really understand the relatively low rating —as creating this parody of campy beach movies seems super successful and all the boxes are ticked off. That said I don’t often notice plotholes, & I am super able to suspend my disbelief with fiction. Perhaps it is the reaction to the portrayal of transvestivism, homosexuality, mental illness being treated in a humorous way—-Which in 1999 definitely was less seen on USA tv or movies. Not sure how I would have felt about this movie in the 2000s however I find it very funny now .

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/17/24

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Julian S

Star Lauren Ambrose dives headfirst into this zany horror satire that’s as absurd as it is fabulously queer.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

10/24/24

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Audience Member

It's definitely got that 50's feel to it, and Amy Adams and the whole cast did a good job. The writing was so-so, but it was interesting enough to keep me interested.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

09/15/24

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Audience Member

I love the style of this movie . It was so spot on from how I’d imagine the 50s and 50s movies being, while also keeping it nice and satirical . 3.4

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

10/17/20

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steve d

Intentionally cheesy but not at all funny.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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Audience Member

A parody of the beach movies, slashers and coming of age PSA films. Psycho Beach Party was somewhat amusing thanks to Ambrose's performance, though most of the lines felt forced.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

Full Review

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Robert Lee King

Director

Lauren Ambrose

Florence "Chicklet" Forrest

Thomas Gibson

Kanaka

Nicholas Brendon

Starcat

Kimberley Davies

Bettina Barnes

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Synopsis

"Psycho Beach Party" is a manic party-mix of 50's psychological thrillers, 60's beach movies, and 70's slasher films. The story focuses on Chicklet Forrest (Lauren Ambrose), a sixteen-year old tomboy who's desperate to be part of the in-crowd of Malibu beach surfers. She's the typical American girl - except for one little problem: her personality is split into more slices than a pepperoni pizza.

Director: Robert Lee King
Producer: Virginia Biddle, Jon Gerrans, Marcus Hu, Victor Syrmis
Screenwriter: Charles Busch, Charles Busch
Distributor: Strand Releasing
Production Co: Strand Releasing, Red Horse Films, New Oz Productions
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 23, 2000, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 18, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $268.0K
Runtime: 1h 35m
Sound Mix: Dolby Stereo, Dolby A, Stereo, Surround, Dolby Digital, Dolby SR
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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