This is my last Keating review for this October’s 31 Days of Dread MegathonTM. I promise! You may be thinking, “Wait a minute! Danger said he only had one unseen Keating movie way back when he reviewed Offseason. And then he reviewed Invader. What gives!!??” I understand your confusion. I did say that. And I also said that I’m only counting/reviewing movies that I haven’t seen previously for this October. Well, that is still true. I’ll let you in on a little secret… I’ve been watching movies faster than I review them! So when I said that, it was true. (i would never lie to you!) Now I’ve seen them all! And this one is the 20th of 31 for the month. Let’s get into it, shall we?
A serial killer named Starkweather (like the real life Charles Starkweather) is executed releasing his soul (or maybe just the evil within?) into the ether to possess others. The others – mostly just regular folks – commit murders and violence. Ummm…. that’s it really. Synopsis over.
Psychopaths barely has a narrative structure. It’s an impressionist semi-montage strung together by the killer’s evil spirit (or whatever). What Keating has given us here is a director’s reel highlighting his influences. We get a lot of Lynch with his dreamy, high contrast sequences and with characters sometimes speaking in stilted, idiosyncratic ways. We also get some “cool” Tarantino-esque dialogue at points. If you’ve seen Shocker, the plot might sound suspiciously familiar. It’s not a direct rip-off, but it’s definitely an homage to Craven. And there is definitely a noir influence. Maybe Huston, Lang, and/or Lupino? There’s also some suspense elements reminiscent of Hitchcock and some colored gel shots that brought Refn to mind. This one is definitely not going to be for everyone. Especially those looking for a story arc. But it’s technically competent and an interesting genre history exercise.
The Final Cut: Psychopaths is more of a patchwork of nods to genre filmmaking greats than a typical plot driven story. Keating’s reverence is evident but it may not hold viewers’ attention well.
No Real Danger 