LADY PSYCHO KILLER (2018) ***

Lady Psycho Killer is sort of like a college coed version of American Psycho.  A teenage girl (Kate Daly) snaps and decides to rid the world of scumbag men.  (Like Patrick Bateman, our psycho girl narrates constantly and even keeps a little notebook of all her grisly murders.)  I know, I know, they did that already.  It was called American Psycho 2, and it was terrible.  Don’t worry though, because this is a whole lot better.  (Although, quite honestly, about 99% of every movie ever made is better than American Psycho 2.) 

I think the filmmakers were trying to use serial killing as a metaphor for a young girl’s coming of age.  While that angle of the movie isn’t entirely successful, it does have a surprise or two up its sleeve and is a little better at every turn than you’d expect.  The best stretches of the film play out like a drama you’d see on the CW, except… you know, with a serial killer. 

All this could’ve quickly devolved into sophomoric drivel, but the fine performance by Daly anchors the film and makes it more than a sum of its parts.  She does an admirable job in her first (and as of this writing, only) role as she balances her character’s girl-next-door charm with her over the top psychotic tendencies.  I’m not sure why she hasn’t made any other movies because she’s a lot of fun to watch here.

The great supporting cast also helps.  We have Ron Jeremy as a strip club owner, Malcolm McDowell as a creepy neighbor, and Daniel Baldwin (who’s only in it for like thirty seconds) as a victim.  Michael Madsen seems like he’s having the most fun as he is amusingly miscast as a psychology professor.  At all times, he just looks and acts like Michael Madsen, and only occasionally reminds you he’s supposed to be a scholarly professor when he puts on a pair of reading glasses.  It’s pretty great.

Lady Psycho Killer isn’t a classic or anything, but I had quite a bit of fun with it.  While it doesn’t always work, it’s only eighty-one minutes, moves at a brisk pace, and doesn’t have any wasted scenes or superfluous moments.  When you watch as many movies as I do, you come to appreciate things like that.