Themes: Split Personalities, Crime Sprees, Serial Killers
Main Cast: Lauren Ambrose, Thomas Gibson, Kimberley Davies, Matt Keeslar
Release Year: 2000
Country: US
Run Time: 95 minutes
Plot
Robert Lee King directs this wacky, campy fusion of teenaged surfer flicks and slasher sagas. Impossibly perky Florence (Lauren Ambrose) doesn't quite fit in at her thoroughly square high school in her seaside Southern California town -- that is, until she happens upon a band of ultra-hip surfer dudes. Renaming herself "Chicklet," she tries her gosh-darnedest to be the sole girl riding the waves with the group led by suave Kanaka (Thomas Gibson). While adopting her surfer alter ego, Florence soon discovers that other less pleasant personalities emerge when confronted with the sight of polka dots. One called Anne Bowman is a tough, "experienced" older lady, while the other, Tylene, is a stereotypical sassy black woman. Blacking out whenever these other personalities take over, Florence becomes increasingly worried that she is responsible for a series of grizzly murders. Of course, she is far from the only suspicious character in her oceanside community -- there's B-movie star Bettina Barnes (Kimberly Davies), Swedish exchange student Lars (Matt Keeslar), and Florence's own unnervingly-perfect mom (Beth Broderick). This film was adapted from a popular off-Broadway play written by Charles Busch. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
Review
Even by playwright Charles Busch's own admission, this parody of films as diverse as Marnie, Gidget, and Halloween was a pretty lightweight piece when it premiered in New York in the mid-'80s. Beefing up the plot and adding a fun new character for himself, however, drag auteur Busch and first-time feature director Robert Lee King turned the film version of Psycho Beach Party into a fun little luau. A who's who of young alt-Hollywood -- from Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Nicholas Brendon to Gregg Araki vets Nathan Bexton and Kathleen Robertson -- get to paraphrase the teensploitation epics of years past with a knowing wink, while future Six Feet Under star Lauren Ambrose shows her considerable range in a performance that veers from goofy melodrama to all-out slapstick and includes no less than three separate characters. (Grown-ups Busch and Beth Broderick get some laughs, too, but sometimes come off like defanged John Waters heroines.) The over-the-top but humorous homoeroticism, broad caricatures, and frequently profane sight gags and puns may not endear the film to all audiences. But for those who appreciate its dated East Village attitude and its frequently spot-on pop culture spoofs, Psycho Beach Party is a quirky, deliberately low-rent ball of laughs. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Alberto Gonzalez-Reyna - Art Director, Brad Bryan - Boom Operator, Laura Schiff - Casting, Reggie Lee - Choreography, Michael Shea - First Assistant Director, Robert Lee King - Director, Suzanne Hines - Editor, John Hall - Executive Producer, Diane Cornell - Line Producer, Ben Vaughn - Composer (Music Score), David Tobocman - Composer (Music Score), Howard Paar - Musical Direction/Supervision, Wendi Lynn Allison - Makeup, Franco-Giacomo Carbone - Production Designer, Arturo Smith - Cinematographer, Jon Gerrans - Producer, Marcus Hu - Producer, Virginia Biddle - Producer, Victor Syrmis - Producer, Ann Shea - Set Designer, Tim Walston - Sound/Sound Designer, Charles Busch - Screenwriter, Dawn Fleischman - First Assistant Camera, Douglas Salkin - Post Production Supervisor, Liesl Beneke - Production Coordinator, Peter Clines - Properties Master, Lance Brown - Re-Recording Mixer, Marc Fishman - Re-Recording Mixer, Wendy Dallas - Script Supervisor, Jay Nierenberg - Supervising Sound Editor, Camille Jumelle - Costume/Wardrobe, Martin Weeks - Assistant Properties, Alan Estridge - Storyboard Artist, Danvers Walker - Visual Effects, Jeff Melnick - Co-Executive Producer
A parody of both seaside teen flicks and cheezoid '50s horror movies, Psycho Beach Party has a highly appropriate soundtrack album: a cool retro-style background score from Ben Vaughn and seven cuts (most previously released) from a handful of contemporary nuevo-surf bands. Vaughn's soundtrack music sounds fine, and cannily blends late-'50s/early-'60s rock archetypes with the minor-key menace of horror soundtracks, but it also comes off like movie music, which means it's supposed to lurk in the background rather than stand out front. As a result, Vaughn's score is enjoyable without being very compelling by itself. As for the rest of the album, it's no surprise that Los Straitjackets and Man or Astro-Man?, two of the best instrumental bands extant, would serve up the strongest songs here (amusingly, MOAM?'s selection, "Mermaid Love, turns out to be one of their rare performances with vocals), while the Halibuts, the Hillbilly Soul Surfers, and the Fathoms sound strong but not exceptional. Psycho Beach Party is good fun for surf revivalist enthusiasts, but you're probably better off buying an individual album by any of the artists involved than this set, which only offers a taste of what they do well. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
Ben Vaughn (Guitar), Ben Vaughn (Vocals), Ben Vaughn (Producer), Ben Vaughn (Score), The Halibuts (Performer), Man or Astro-man? (Performer), Rick Arboit (Producer), Jimmy Lester (Drums), Mark Linett (Mixing), Jeff Sudakin (Engineer), David Tobocman (Orchestration), Los Straitjackets (Performer), Peter Curry (Bass), Mark Lipson (Photography), Fathoms (Performer), Four Piece Suit (Performer), Gavin Lurssen (Mastering), Geoff Goddard (Production Coordination), Howard Paar (Producer), Howard Paar (Music Supervisor), Ralph Alfonso (Design), Janet York (Producer), Jay Mason (Saxophone), Hillbilly Soul Surfers (Performer)
Psycho Beach Party is a 2000 film based on the off-Broadway play of the same name, directed by Robert Lee King. Charles Busch wrote both the original play and the screenplay. As the title suggests, Psycho Beach Party, set in 1962 Malibu Beach, is a parody of 1950s and 1960s beach movies. Besides the obvious references to Gidget and similar early 60s beach movies, the movie also borrows from Alfred Hitchcockpsychological thriller movies like Marnie.
Florence "Chicklet" Forrest (Lauren Ambrose), a Gidget-like character, experiences inexplicable blackouts, and fears that she might be the one responsible for a series of mysterious deaths in her beach-side town. The deaths are investigated by Captain Monica Stark (Charles Busch), who also suspects Chicklet's mother (Beth Broderick), Chicklet's best friend Berdine (Danni Wheeler), surfing guru The Great Kanaka (Thomas Gibson) and B-movie actress Bettina Barnes (Kimberley Davies). Florence is determined to learn to surf, and earns the nickname "Chicklet" from the surfer guys, while developing multiple personalities.
Other characters include university drop-out (and Chicklet's love interest) Starcat (Nicholas Brendon), Swedish exchange student Lars (Matt Keeslar), surfers Yo-Yo (Nick Cornish) and Provoloney (Andrew Levitas), Starcat's girlfriend Marvel Ann (Amy Adams), whom he humiliates by accident when he rips off her bikini bottoms, leaving her almost completely naked on a beach, and the wheel-chair bound class "queen bee" Rhonda (Kathleen Robertson).
The play was originally entitled Gidget Goes Psychotic, but the title was changed due to concerns about copyright. In the original 1987 production, Charles Busch played the role of Chicklet. Deciding that he might not be believable in the role of a sixteen year old girl ("while I can still manage, with the aid of a sympathetic cameraman, to play a sophisticated 25, 16 would be a stretch"), he added the character of Monica Stark to the movie.
