Review: HYSTERICAL PSYCHO

Title: HYSTERICAL PSYCHO

Year: 2009

Director: Dan Fogler

Writer: Dan Fogler

Starring: Noah Bean, Lennon Parham, Kelly Hutchinson

 

Parody is a tough bit to pull off. It typically requires the audience to have knowledge of whatever it is you’re parodying for it to be a success. When it’s done well, it can be fantastic. But when done poorly, it can be really, really awful. Parodies these days have almost become their own genre which is a shame as it has made most watered down. Luckily there’s Dan Fogler.

 

With the horror/comedy HYSTERICAL PSYCHO Fogler proves that you can still make a really funny parody. It’s no AIRPLANE, but HYSTERICAL PSYCHO is damn good and a whole hell of a lot of fun.

 

In Fogler’s directorial debut a group of sex-starved teens, who are clearly not played by teenage actors and who also happen to be a theatre troupe, head on a retreat to Moon Lake. Unfortunately for the troupe they soon discover that Moon Lake has a whole lot of weirdness going on. Apparently this spot holds more insanity inducing lunar radiation than any other spot on Earth!

Dun dun dun!!!

This is a pretty basic setup. All the characters are what you'd expect - your virgin, your stoner, your nerd and so on. These characters are used to tell a story that pokes fun and varies horror films, particularly the work of Alfred Hitchcock. An animated Hitchcock-like character works as our host, narrating the film.

HYSTERICAL PSYCHO starts off a little slow with jokes that feel forced. The first 20 minutes or so have a few good jokes, but they mostly miss the mark for me. Then the film takes a turn. They reach a cabin and the weird stuff begins.

Once the weird hits, HYSTERICAL PSYCHO takes off on an odd but very enjoyable journey. And there's gore. Lots of it actually. Much more than I was expecting. And it's fun. Lots of fun!

Lennon Parham steals the movie playing the deaf, mute sister. This character is such a good spoof of the weird-sibling-who-hasn't-something-wrong-but-still-knows-everything that horror films often have. Parham is great, it's as simply as that.

HYSTERICAL PSYCHO is a fun, gory, oddball of a movie. You don't have to be familiar with horror movies to enjoy this flick, but it definitely helps. Kudos to Fogler. He killed it with this one.

Rating: 4/5

Own HYSTERICAL PSYCHO: http://www.indicanpictures.com/films/comedy/hystericalpyscho/