We’re currently living in a golden age for horror movies. Several recent titles in the genre have achieved a tremendous level of critical and commercial success. Sinners is one of the frontrunners for Best Picture at the Oscars this year, and Amy Madigan is up for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Weapons. The odds of Sam Raimi’s Send Help gaining traction on the awards circuit are low, but the film is his highest-rated work on Rotten Tomatoes (beating out Spider-Man 2) and performed well at the box office in its opening weekend. Horror fans have plenty of films to enjoy these days, but they can’t all be winners. Case in point: this weekend’s new arrival Psycho KIller, which pulled off an unfortunate Rotten Tomatoes feat.
As of this writing, Psycho Killer has a rare 0% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. So far, just 20 reviews have been counted. Viewers seem to mostly be in agreement with the critics in this case, as Psycho Killer‘s audience score is only 32%. The Critics Consensus reads, “Qu’est-ce que c’est? Better run, run, run, run, run, run, run away,” communicating to prospective viewers that the film is not worth checking out on the big screen.
Psycho Killer‘s Rotten Tomatoes Score Is an Unfortunate End to Its Development Saga
Image Courtesy of 20th Century Studios
Psycho Killer took a long and winding road to the big screen. It’s been in development for nearly two decades; screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker finished an early draft of the script back in 2007. It took a long time for a creative team to round into place after that; Gavin Polone signed on to direct in 2010, and production didn’t begin until 2023. Psycho Killer is only just being released now three years after wrapping, so it’s an unfortunate end to its time in development hell that it’s universally panned. People have been trying to get this film off the ground for a long time, and nobody sets out to make a bad movie, so it’s disappointing this is how Psycho Killer turned out.
Walker is best-known for writing David Fincher’s acclaimed serial killer Seven, a film renowned for its moody atmosphere and high levels of tension. While few were expecting Psycho Killer to be the next great horror classic, Walker’s involvement meant there was some pedigree behind it. Reception to most of Walker’s post-Seven output has been mixed, but he did script the well-received thriller The Killer (coincidentally another collaboration with Fincher), demonstrating he was still capable of delivering something entertaining and engaging. Sadly, Psycho Killer is a new low for the screenwriter.
Psycho Killer had potential to be something special. The film’s story revolves a police officer’s investigation into the murder of her husband, and she finds herself in the crosshairs of a serial killer. On paper, that setup could be the foundation for a chilling and emotional narrative, but it falls well short of that. Reviews have criticized everything from the messy filmmaking approach to the poorly constructed plot and weak performances. Usually, even movies that receive mostly negative reviews have a small circle of voices highlighting a couple of merits that make it worth watching once, but there seems to be little reason to check Psycho Killer out unless one is morbidly curious.
With this kind of word of mouth, it’s unlikely Psycho Killer makes any kind of dent at the box office. Currently, there’s a wide variety of titles playing, each one appealing to a different demographic. There’s something for everyone — and Send Help is still out there for horror fans looking for something new. Odds are, Psycho Killer is going to get buried at the box office, and even though it cost less than $10 million to make, it’ll be interesting to see if it recoups its production budget. Perhaps it will find an audience on streaming, where horror fans are more likely to take a chance on something so poorly received.
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