Psycho Killer

Directed by Gavin Polone, Psycho Killer follows a cop (Georgina Campbell’s Jane) as she obsessively tracks the vicious serial killer (James Preston Rogers) that murdered her husband. Filmmaker Polone, armed with Andrew Kevin Walker’s screenplay, does a terrific job of initially drawing the viewer into the proceedings, as the movie, which opens with a moody, ominous opening-credits sequence, kicks off with an agreeably tense stretch detailing the aforementioned murder and its immediate aftermath. From there, however, Psycho Killer progresses into a hit-and-miss midsection that often seems to be as much the latter as the former – with the less-than-gripping atmosphere compounded by Magnus Jønck’s flat visuals and an episodic structure bursting with oddball digressions and subplots. (This is particularly true of a bizarre section focused on the exploits of a goofy Satanic cult led by Malcolm McDowell’s Mr. Pendleton.) It’s clear, then, that Psycho Killer benefits from a smattering of agreeably brutal kills and an unpredictable third act that’s certainly far more entertaining (and involving) than anything preceding it, with the end result a relentlessly erratic piece of work that feels like it should be so much better (especially given that Walker’s last foray into the serial-killer genre was 1995’s masterful, iconic Se7en).

**1/2 out of ****