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Psycho Beach Party

Play trailer Poster for Psycho Beach Party Released Jan 23, 2000 1h 35m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
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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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Psycho Beach Party

Critics Reviews

View All (35) Critics Reviews
Globe and Mail Rated: 2/4 Mar 22, 2002 Full Review 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 Full Review 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 Full Review 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 Full Review 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 Full Review 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 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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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 Full Review 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 Full Review 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 Full Review 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 Full Review steve d Intentionally cheesy but not at all funny. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review 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 Read all reviews
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Psycho Beach Party

Beth Broderick, Charles Busch and Jenica Bergere in Strand's Psycho Beach Party. Lauren Ambrose as Chicklet and Charles Busch as Captain Monica Stark in Strand's Psycho Beach Party. Thomas Gibson as Kanaka and Lauren Ambrose as Chicklet in Strand's Psycho Beach Party. Nick Cornish, Andrew Levitas, Nicholas Brendon and Thomas Gibson in Strand's Psycho Beach Party. Thomas Gibson as Kanaka in Strand's Psycho Beach Party. Psycho Beach Party (2000) Psycho Beach Party (2000) Psycho Beach Party (2000) Psycho Beach Party (2000) View more photos

Movie Info

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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