SnoopyStyle This is a spoof of the 60's beach party movies. Florence Forrest (Lauren Ambrose) is at the drive-in movie with best friend Berdine. Florence doesn't feel like having a boyfriend like every other girl and she has bouts of disassociated anger. Berdine discovers a murdered girl and police captain Monica Stark investigates. Lars is the Swedish exchange student living with Florence and her mother Ruth (Beth Broderick). Wheelchair-bound Rhonda (Kathleen Robertson) is mean-spirited. Marvel Ann (Amy Adams) falls for lead surfer Starcat (Nicholas Brendon) and brings Florence and Berdine to Malibu Beach. Florence becomes fascinated with surfing but the boys laugh at the idea of a girl surfer. She turns into the aggressive hyper-sexual Ann Bowman and scares local surfing guru Great Kanaka (Thomas Gibson) into teaching her. She gains the nickname Chicklet. B-movie actress Bettina Barnes (Kimberley Davies) is living in the supposed-haunted beach house. The murders continue and Florence keeps switching to Ann Bowman.This is a deliberate broad wacky spoof. There is fun about being on the beach but there is also an aspect of trying too hard. It doesn't always come off as funny. Lauren Ambrose and Amy Adams are terrific. The actors are generally good but Thomas Gibson does not fit as a surfing guru. He sticks out like a sore thumb on the beach. His character goes off in a crazy direction but it would be funnier with someone else with more comedic potential. This is all very wacky but it's not very funny.

transmogrified I watched this movie by sheer accident one night it was playing on a pay channel, and since then it's showings have become an "Oscar-night" type event that my friends and I eagerly await with snacks, dimmed light, and a child-like glee that so few movies garner. This is usually followed by light discussion on the elements of the film that capture us, as well as things we didn't catch during the previous few viewings.If only every director/writer/crew/actors could be so passionate about the material in the movies they create, then we would not have to sit through the garbage that so many movies are these days... more so big budget ones.Every scene in this movie is polished and perfectly executed, while staying true to it's satirical tone that both pokes fun at those 60's style beach slasher films and also conveys respect for them at the same time. I think the film works so well because it stays true to itself right to the visceral end. There also seems to be a duality with most of the film... and the characters are stereotypical on the outside, but convey depth and sincerity.This movie is a satisfying treat indeed.

Billie "Psycho Beach Party" is a parody of teen slasher horror films, taking place in the 1960's. It's a combination of beach movie, horror film, and camp. It's really not a very good movie for the general public, but as a cheesy camp flick it has its appeal, and it's worth at least a rent, at least for people who like this kind of John Waters-esquire camp. My main complaint is that it seems to try a bit too hard. But it's a great movie if you're in a certain kind of relaxed mood. Anyway, we have a copy of it in our collection, and re-watched it yesterday.Florence "Chicklet" Forrest (Lauren Ambrose, of "Six Feet Under") is the highlight of the whole movie, and makes the film worthwhile just on her merits alone. Her character has multiple personalities, the main two being the nice, peppy Florence, but the hilarious one is her alter-ego "Anne Bowen", a dominatrix minx. Ambrose switches back and forth seamlessly and hilariously between these two personalities (and a minor third one).The story: Florence and her best friend Berdine (Danni Wheeler) get involved in a series of murders after Florence starts hanging out with the all-male surfers' club, wanting to be part of the group. Captain Monica Stark (played by writer, actor and novelist Charles Busch, who for some reason saw fit to be cast in this female part - he is not really funny, and the character is treated as if she were really female, instead of a obvious man in drag) is the officer in charge of the case. Add to the mix a sequestered B-horror film actress, Bettina Barnes (Kimberley Davies), Florence's picture-perfect mother, Ruth (Beth Broderick), psychology major dropout Starcat (Nicholas Brendon, of the TV series "Buffy The Vampire Slayer"), the catty Marvel Ann (Amy Adams, of "Drop Dead Gorgeous"), Swedish exchange student, Lars (Matt Kessler), Kathleen Robertson as the bitchy, wheelchair-bound Rhonda, whom you really just want to literally push out of her chair, and the supposedly omnipotent Kanaka (Thomas Gibson), a great soundtrack, and you've got a completely silly, fun film for lovers of the cheesy camp genre.

DK Bengel First things first: 'Psycho Beach Party' is funny, fresh, light-hearted and completely likable. It is a rare film that can walk the tight-rope between mocking a particular film genre (in this case, the "Beach Blanket" movies of the fifties and sixties) while still showing great affection for said genre. 'Psycho Beach Party' does it wonderfully. Using an obviously skewed view of these pleasant if vapid films, 'PBP' covers us in satirical humor and warmth, a tricky combination to pull off. If you have ever sat through a film in which a surf board was the star, check this one out...great fun.Now, second: In response to Brian Bagnall's review from Canada, this film is NOT gay propoganda (just because the writer/director is gay does not make this a gay film). Gays do NOT have to have blonde hair (one of the only two agy characters has black hair...must have missed that one, huh, Brian?). The film does NOT portray the era as demeaning to women (the women in this film are some of the most empowered I have seen in a long time). And if you can not suspend your disbelief for long enough to watch our young heroine escape from a man twice her size, you probably should not be watching a film with the word "psycho", "beach", and "party" in the title. This film looks foundly back on a time that was simpler, both in the movies and reality. Anyone who gets anything other than a Genre Spoof from this was not paying attention.Put simply, people; 'Psycho Beach Party' is Fabu!