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Joe Vickers Is Here To Protect And Serve...Satan! PSYCHO COP 2 (1993) Review

In the '80s, no franchise was safe from rip-offs. Originality was waning, so what do you do? Steal a concept from a different movie! And back then, not even modestly-successful stuff like Maniac Cop was safe. In 1989, a film was released straight-to-video called Psycho Cop ( you can really see the "originality" just by looking at the title), which followed a group of young adults in the woods being stalked by a psychotic police officer named Joe Vickers. At the end of that movie, Vickers died in an oddly milar fashion to the way the maniac cop died in, well, Maniac Cop. But is that enough to keep down a Satanic (and potentially profitable) officer? You know the answer!

Psycho Cop 2 1993 Review So where do you start a killer cop movie? At the doughnut shop, of course! Larry and Brian, two work friends, are there, discusng (rather loudly) the bachelor party they're going to hold fro their friend Mike at their office building, complete with strippers, booze, and weed. A cop approaches them, and asks if they're doing anything illegal. They lie and say they're not, but unfortunately, this cop just happens to be Police Officer Joe Vickers, mass-murderer and Satan-worshiper. Joe follows them to where they work, and sees them bribe the night security guard so that they will be undisturbed. Vickers kills the security guard and begins picking the party-goers off one by one and sending the remaining men faxes of the dead bodies. Will these co-workers live to receive another memo? Here's a word of caution when purchang Psycho Cop 2: Both the DVd and one of the VHS releases are EDITED. They didn't just butcher the film; they slaughtered it. They edited out every ngle gory scene, and it's completely obvious where they did because of how awful the editing is when it skips over, say, the stabbing of an eyeball with a pencil. To save you some money (so that you don't shell out you're hard-earned moolah for an edited VHS tape), the VHS tape that is EDITED just features a close-up of Vickers with the reflection of a stripper in his sunglasses. The UNEDITED tape has Vickers standing in the background with three ladies cowering in fear in the foreground, and it goes by the title Psycho Cop Returns. Be wary, my friends. Now onto the film. Let me just say it flat out and clear right now: this is not a good movie. It is far from ever being a good movie. But if you enjoyed films like Troll 2 and lent Night, Deadly Night Part 2, you're going to love this. I think the film sets out to be a parody of slasher films, and if it is, it does it very, very well. Joe Vickers is, without a doubt, one of my favorite (if not my favorite) wise-cracking villains. His puns are so predictable and cheesy, I was laughing my ass off! Of course, the character would be nothing without the perfect casting of Bobby Ray Shafer as Vickers. To make it mple, Shafer is to the Psycho Cop series as Bruce Campbell is to the Evil Dead series. It just would not be the same without him.

While the first film (from what I've seen of it) tries to be scary and plays it straight, the sequel embraces the cheeness of its subject matter and makes one fun movie. The office building setting is pleasantly unique for a slasher film, and I appreciated how the director made the most of the setting. Fax machines, elevators, office cubicles, and more are used to the killer's advantage, and I loved how they didn't just let the setting go to waste. There's one scene at the end that's so fantastically ridiculous, I was literally rolling on the floor laughing. It IS a spoiler, so click below to read it:At the end, Vickers is chang after the essential final girl who managed to escape the building and pursues her into the parking lot of a bar. The bar goers see Vickers beating the hell out of her, so each of them grab a baseball bat, head outde, and start beating the shit out of Vickers I love Psycho Cop 2. I picked up an edited VHS tape for $5 at a flea market, watched the whole thing (it was painfully obvious they cut out the gore), and loved every second of it. I would give the entire thing a 10/10, and that's without the gore! I managed to find the gore scenes on YouTube (the language is French though, so when Vickers says a one-liner they cut out of the finished product, I can't understand it!), and they're fantastic. I'd say, if they put the gore back in, this could posbly be my favorite slasher of all time. It's funny, self-aware, gory (in the unrated cut),filled with memorable scenes (who can forget the part where Joe is reading the dead guy his rights?), and just an all-around good time. Joe Vickers says any horror fans who enjoys a good time should conder Psycho Cop 2 essential viewing; and you know what happens when you break his laws. http://youtu.be/9CucQDllRko
ObscureCinema101 Sunday 9/25/2011 at 12:28 AM | 83228