Dive into Gavin Polone’s first directing foray, uniting Barbarian (2022) star Georgina Campbell, veteran horror star Malcolm MacDowell, and newcomer James Preston Rogers into a horrific thriller.
Psycho Killer
Starring Georgina Campbell, James Preston Rogers, Malcolm McDowell
Directed by Gavin Polone
Runtime: 1 hour, 31 minutes
Synopsis
After her husband is murdered by a seemingly random highway killer (Rogers), Highway Patrol officer Jane Archer (Campbell) decides to track down the murderer herself. Her search, however, reveals the killer has darker plans, connected to historic Satanic-driven killings, resulting in a larger death toll if he’s not stopped soon.
A Great, Lethargic Idea
The core of Psycho Killer is pretty simple: a Satan worshiper (Rogers) wants to open the gates of hell, and conducts a murder spree on his way to an unknown destination where he will perform this ritual. Killing Jane Archer’s husband unwittingly brings two forces: Jane’s sense of justice and revenge vs the killer’s Satanic delusion into direct opposition, as Jane (Campbell) decides to track him down to his final ritual. As the audience, it takes us a while to realize why he’s doing these killings, other than just a generic Satanic panic narrative. When it eventually comes together, it forms into a really solid climax idea that should have had the audience on pins and needles…
Unfortunately, so many of the scenes just lack energy and stakes to make us sufficiently care.
The first scene where Jane loses her husband to the killer is honestly the strongest, emotional core established by the film. It’s simple, in terms of revenge stories, but it does enough to make you engaged. Most of the subsequent scenes, however, simply don’t have enough juice. When Jane’s pursuing the killer and deciphering the codes, the film makes an attempt to dwell on the clues and lays them out neatly.
Credit: 20th Century Studios
Campbell’s performance, however, many times driving by herself in a car, doesn’t generate enough tension. She specifically was much better in the recent, bizarre horror film Barbarian (2022) opposite Bill Skarsgård. While she does have to hold up sections of that film by herself, she still gets to play off Skarsgård quite a bit and others (won’t spoil that in case you haven’t seen the film). Given how many solo scenes she has in Psycho Killer, it’s hard to say the lack of energy solely falls on her.
Speaking of Barbarian, marketing for this film kept referencing it, along with David Fincher’s Se7en (1995) and last year’s horror darling Weapons (2025): Se7en writer Andrew Kevin Walker made the script for Psycho Killer, while Roy Lee was a producer for Weapons and Barbarian. However, invoking the name of those movies sets audiences up for failure: yes, Psycho Killer is demented like either film and plot-wise would have easily been on par, but its execution doesn’t match the level of those films.
James Preston Rogers’ debut as a horror slasher is solid and horror fans will likely be pleased enough with his murder scenes, which are visually interesting…sometimes; otherwise they fall flat too many times. The one thing this film gets right with Rogers’ performance is iconography: while they really leaned heavily into the Satanic imagery across the board, the titular Psycho Killer’s gas mask, body markings, and movement work extremely well. It may be pulling a greatest hits of slow-moving horror fiends, but it’s distinct enough to stay interesting throughout.
While I would have to deep dive into the logs to find the genius who started using CGI blood in slashing scenes, I really wish it would stop. Psycho Killer decides to use this a few times too many, along with some slo-mo shots that don’t really add anything compelling. For everything visually this movie gets right, it is unfortunately marred by too many poor decisions to keep track of.
Conclusion / Recommendation
Gavin Polone’s debut as a horror-thriller director comes at odds with his comedic producing background, and the results undermine an otherwise smart mystery idea. Had it executed this idea well, it could have easily competed with the great films it aligned itself with. As it stands, Psycho Killer is unlikely to get many looks from even the most avid horror fans.
As a big horror fan, I can’t even recommend this for people who watch the genre no matter what. There are bad horror films that are more enjoyable or better put together, despite their flaws, than this. Would definitely wait until it’s streaming to even give it a chance.
Score: 4 out of 10
- Satanic Mystery- 5
- The combination of historical Satanic rituals / murders in U.S. history is a great touch and would have knocked this film out of the park if executed better.
- Lack of energy- 3
- It’s hard to pinpoint whether it’s a script issue, Campbell herself (or lack of people to work off of), or direction, but the end result is still lackluster and limp regardless.
- In Iconography Only- 4
- Psycho Killer has a great style for its lead serial killer, but the odd choice of CGI blood at times, along with pace-destroying slo-mo scenes, undermines the chances.
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