Psycho Cop

Plot

Two lost newlyweds named Barbra and Greg stumble onto the site of a ritualistic murder and are killed by Joe Vickers, a corrupt police officer who is also a Devil worshiper. The next day, three couples travel to a secluded mansion that they have rented and are given a tour by the property's caretaker, who is later murdered by Vickers. Upon noticing the caretaker's disappearance, the couples go looking for him and encounter Vickers, who reassures them by claiming that the caretaker injured himself chopping wood and is now recovering in the hospital. That night, Zack leaves to get beer and is killed by Vickers.

Vickers proceeds to butcher Eric, Julie, and Sarah. Doug and Laura realize that Vickers is the culprit and are chased into the forest where they are found by a pair of policemen, Chris and Bradley. Before being killed by Vickers, the officers reveal that he is really Gary Henley, a discharged psychiatric patient who has somehow infiltrated the California Police Department. Laura is pursued by Vickers to a clearing containing the crucified bodies of Zack, Julie, Eric, and Sarah. Laura shoots Vickers with his own sidearm, but he is unaffected, only being felled when he has a sharp log thrown through him by Doug. Emergency services greet Laura and Doug at the mansion as Vickers recovers and a newscast announces that further evidence indicates that he is actually an escaped psychopathic serial killer named Ted Warnicky.

Cast

Reception

Scott Aaron Stine, author of The Gorehound's Guide to Splatter Films of the 1980s, referred to Psycho Cop as "completely lifeless, homogenized fare" further hampered by the "grating" Robert R. Shafer. Conversely, Kent Byron Armstrong, writer of Slasher Films: An International Filmography, 1960 Through 2001, found Shafer to be "great" and opined that "Psycho Cop provides enough humor to be an enjoyable film".

Ozus' World Movie Reviews's Dennis Schwartz awarded Psycho Cop a C+, calling it "dumb" and "ridiculous" while Todd Martin of Horror News wrote, "I think that it is just a fun little movie and if you are looking for a nice brainless slasher film that doesn't make you think too hard then you should give this movie a shot". Digital Retribution condemned Psycho Cop, giving it a 1/5 while dismissing it as a "Routine slasher flick that's trying to be a riff on William Lustig's Maniac Cop but instead ends up as a poorly acted and weakly penned misfire" with terrible special effects and direction that was "some of the worst in filmic history". JA Kerswell of the Hysteria Lives! gave the film a similarly low score of 2/5, noting, "If you had to pick a perfect example of a join-the-dots slasher flick then this hopelessly generic addition to the subgenre would fit the bill perfectly".