Psychos In Love

Psychos In Love (1987)

Dir. and written by Gorman Bechard

Starring Carmine Capobianco, Debi Thibeault, Frank Stewart

PSYCHOS IN LOVE begins unpromisingly, with some unappealing lighting, awkward blocking, disorienting editing, and hectoring repetition, all of which leads to a shot-for-shot parody of the PYSCHO shower scene which is so played out by this point that I almost turned the movie off then and there. But then, just as things start to look hopeless, something unexpected happens: the same sequence of images and words play through again, only this time with a different conclusion, subverting the established expectations. And suddenly it becomes clear that all the labored repetition was put in place so it could be intentionally disrupted. How bout that, huh? This isn’t just random slapdash incompetence. I mean, it's that too, but despite how crude it looks, someone purposefully made specific choices here in order to pursue a specific goal.

This will more or less describe the entire movie. It's crude, and sometimes out-and-out amateurish in its construction, but it has something that very, very few zero-budget independent "American Regional Horror" films (or, hell, these day even --and maybe especially-- a big-budget films!) can claim to possess: a real sense of purpose. It's trying to do something unique and specific, and it's making artistic decisions to try and accomplish that goal. That may not sound like much, but it makes all the difference in the world between a hollow genre exercise and something vastly more interesting.

This unusual focus is unexpected enough on its own, but what makes it even more shocking is that the particular purpose being pursued here is actually an interesting one (if more so in the execution than the conceit). The premise is simple: a schlubby bartender (Carmine Capobianco, GALACTIC GIGOLO) and a vivacious manicurist (Debi Thibeault, CEMETERY HIGH) bond over their mutual pathological hatred of grapes... oh, and also the fact that they're both prolific serial killers. This seems like an easy setup for an exploration of a poisonous relationship that blooms into some nihilistic sadism, a la THE HONEYMOON KILLERS or NATURAL BORN KILLERS. But PSYCHOS IN LOVE goes in a completely unexpected direction: their shared predilection towards homicide actually makes them a really compatible pair, and the movie is much more interested in exploring the complications of a healthy, mutually honest relationship than a toxic one.

I mean, don't get me wrong, there's a ton of murder in here, all of it played as broad --and sometimes out-and-out slapstick-- black comedy. But the film has a refreshing sweetness and sincerity to it that puts the characters and their relationship first. And to its credit, it never creates the expected, easy conflict about whether or not they'll stay together. They love each other and there's never any talk about breaking up, but that doesn't mean their relationship isn't complicated by jealousy, boredom, fears of loss of individuality, the tedious routine that comes with constantly disposing of hacked-up corpses, and so on. It's a rare story about relationships which recognizes that they are defined not by dramatic lows and passionate highs, but in negotiating the small foibles of life with honesty and empathy, and a commitment to both the relationship as a whole and to the partners as individuals. In fact, despite all the blood and nudity, its primary artistic inspiration seems to be more ANNIE HALL than PSYCHO, right down to its characters directly addressing the camera and occasionally indulging in some surreal meta comedy about their awareness that they're in a movie.*

Of course, resisting the easy will-they-won’t-they drama also forces the movie into something of a dilemma: it needs some sort of conflict in order to create a narrative, but doesn’t have the heart to push the lovebirds apart. It partially compensates with a subplot about another serial killer in the same town, this one a cannibal plumber (Frank Stewart, GALACTIC GIGOLO). He too is killing victims, and it’s clear that at some point he’s going to encounter our protagonists and complicate their lives in some way, in what could generously be called a climax. But really, most of the movie isn’t about that, and consequently the movie is less a “story” than it is a series of vignettes that offer little glimpses into the evolution of the central relationship, as excitement and passion give way to ennui and routine and force the two lovebirds to reevaluate who they are and what kind of life they want. It’s not exactly psychologically deep stuff --most of the movie is composed of goofy jokes and comic murder scenes-- but there’s an unmistakable sincerity and thoughtfulness that makes you take the characters seriously, even in some blatantly cartoonish scenarios.

I don't want to overpraise it -- it IS crudely constructed, repetitive, indifferently paced, and suffuse with the sort of awkward editing and blocking that you might expect in something this cheap and primitive (none of which is helped by its inescapable lack of stakes or narrative urgency). But both leads are genuinely charming, and the movie's approach is so unique and surprisingly insightful that it's hard to hold the occasionally amateurish construction against it. And as ungainly as it can get, there’s a surprising and undeniable wit that underlies it all. Plenty of Z-grade horror movies offer campy chuckles, but PSYCHOS IN LOVE has some real earned laughs, some of them pretty lowbrow (there's a sequence about an unkillable stripper that's as unapologetically sophomoric as it is hilarious) but others rather more sophisticated (one scene finds a potential victim dumping her entire depressing life story on her would-be killer, bumming him out so much that the tables unexpectedly turn). Considering I’m usually overjoyed to find a film this obscure which can even offer a handful of eccentric moments, finding one which genuinely succeeds on its own merits feels nothing short of miraculous. A big thank you to Vinegar Syndrome for rescuing this hidden gem from an unwarranted obscurity.

* In fact, I notice that late in the movie when the characters get a VCR and rent dozens of horror movies, ANNIE HALL is the only box remaining in the “Sci-Fi/Horror” section of the video store. It’s also funny that while the movie makes a big joke about all the franchise sequels, it’s only 1987 so there are only six Jason movies!