Posted: 09/06/2000

Psycho Beach Party

(2000)

by Coco Delgado

Hey everyone—finally a great summer movie, even if it took all summer to get here…

Like surfing and bikinis? Like horribly disfigured and dismembered corpses? How about really cool surf music by new bands like Man or AstroMan and Los Straightjackets? Oh…and if that doesn’t get you, how about wicked awesome props and furnishings, including some kitchen appliances and lamps that I, personally, would commit some serious mayhem to own? Plus great clothes and a diner to die for…Throw in some psychobabble, some beatnik poetry, a little homoeroticism and you got yourself a movie!

This thing is like Frankie and Annette and Giget go to Beach Blanket Babylon. It’s WONDERFUL. It’s witty, and it’s such a perfect satire it’s almost ONE of these movies, to the point of I keep expecting three silhouette heads to pop up in the lower right. It’s a 50’s Psycho-thriller, a 60’s Beach movie, and a 70’s Slasher flick ALL ROLLED INTO ONE and you’ll have a vague idea of what this movie’s about. Truly a film for the ages, one which transcends the decades.

The action centers around Florence, aka “Chicklet,” a wanna-be surfer girl who suffers from psychotic episodes of schizophrenia when she’s not being as perky as all get out. There’s her mother Ruth, who makes a mean martini and hates imperfection, her best friend Berdine, who looks for hidden meaning and Neitzche-esque undertones in movies like Sex Kittens Go Bossa Nova.

There’s StarCat, who’s a drop out Psyche major. The Great Kanaka, who’s the resident beatnik, surfer guru and secret naughty boy. And Lars, the Swedish exchange student, and Bettina Barnes, the B-picture actress who lives in the haunted beach house and strives to write and direct. And there’s Lt. Monica Stark, the police inspector, played by the film’s writer, who will make you believe he’s Susan Hayward.

This was a stage play first, and the dialog shows it. It’s brilliant, and it’s really the best movie I’ve seen all summer. Don’t miss it…it’s likely to be showing at one of those “foreign/art” movie theatres, like the Landmark chain in California…at least, that’s the kind of theatre it was showing at in my city (Boston/Cambridge). It’s only out in a few select cities right now, but you can check out their website to find out if and when it’ll be near you by clicking here.

Coco Delgado is a writer who always sits in the front row. For fun she moves to different cities, which have included Montreal, San Francisco and Atlanta. This year it’s Boston..

Got a problem? E-mail us at filmmonthly@gmail.com