Psycho Killer Review: Georgina Campbell and Malcolm McDowell in Gavin Polones Inane Slasher Pic

In real life, serial killers tend to be non-descript. They can be charming and handsome, like Ted Bundy. Or friendly and jolly, like John Wayne Gacy. Or a bland Midwesterner, like Ed Gein. What they don’t tend to look like is the title character in Gavin Polone’s horror film Psycho Killer.

As played by former wrestler turned actor James Preston Rogers, he’s so menacing-looking that it’s hard to believe he can walk into a convenience store without being arrested. He’s the size of a Buick, has a voice so deep it sounds like he’s using a simulator even when he’s not, and he walks around wearing a radiation mask. You know, so as not to attract attention.

The film, which has inexplicably been in development for nearly two decades, is written by Andrew Kevin Walker, who has some experience with this sort of thing since he also scripted the classic Se7en. Psycho Killer frequently traffics in similarly baroque territory, but without any of that film’s style or wit. After a very effective opening scene, it starts to go off the rails and finally derails completely.

That scene, set on a highway in the flat terrain of Kansas (a state already forever associated with killing thanks to In Cold Blood), depicts a routine traffic stop by a highway patrolman. For some reason, the officer isn’t particularly suspicious even though the voice emanating from the car sounds like he should be performing voiceovers for horror film coming attractions. A passing patrolwoman, who happens to be the officer’s wife, stops and asks him if he needs help. He declines, but she hangs around anyway, only to see her husband shot and killed right in front of her before the assailant manages to get away.

It turns out that the killer is the “Satanic Slasher” (gotta love those serial killer nicknames), who’s been on a killing spree that has resulted in dozens of victims. He leaves behind satanic symbols and phrases, written in blood at the crime scenes, hence his moniker. The surviving officer (a very good Georgina Campbell, aiming for scream queen status after her previous starring roles in Barbarian and several other horror films) decides to pursue the Slasher on her own.

She displays a remarkable facility for detective work, considering that the FBI has been on the killer’s trail for months without getting anywhere. In no time at all, she manages to track him down, leading to several confrontations, including one particularly nasty one in a motel room, in which she barely makes it out alive.

Meanwhile, the Slasher goes about his own business, which includes a visit to a palatial estate that serves as the home for a satanic cult headed by the debonair, coke-snorting Mr. Pendleton (played with gusto by, who else, Malcom McDowell). This is where the film weirdly veers into camp territory, with Pendleton welcoming the visitor as “another traveler on the left-hand path.” Meanwhile, Pendleton’s obsequious assistant (Logan Miller, Escape Room) develops an uneasy rapport with the hulking stranger. It doesn’t take long for the Slasher to murder nearly all of the cult members, although not before they’ve enjoyed a meal of takeout Chinese food and a full-on orgy. Because, you know, that’s what satanic cults do.

It only gets stranger from there, with the Slasher’s ultimate goal revealed in a final act featuring surprises that won’t be revealed here, except to say that Psycho Killer could someday be shown on a double bill with The China Syndrome. The climax proves thoroughly ridiculous, but by that point you’ve given up on the film anyway.

Making his directorial debut, Polone — whose producing credits include everything from similar fare like 8mm, Stir of Echoes, and Primeval to Curb Your Enthusiasm and Gilmore Girls — displays a considerable amount of stylistic finesse and a definite willingness to not shy away from gore. But his efforts are undercut by the ham-fisted screenplay featuring dialogue on the order of the cop declaring, “The slasher is going to Harrisburg!”

The ending teases the possibility of a sequel, but it seems unlikely since the good folks at Disney appear to have shied away from publicizing the film and have all but entered it into the Witness Protection Program.