Psycho Sleepover (2008)

Studio: Troma/CAV
Theatrical Release: Are you fucking kidding?
DVD Release: Dec. 13, 2011
Rated: Unrated!
Review by Craig Sorensen




Debbie Dickey is a (movie type) nerd and outcast at her high school.  Evidently her old boyfriend and father were both serial killers.  Anyway, she’s unhappy.  Then some girls invite her over for a sleepover.  And then a bunch of crazy people break out of the local asylum and try to kill everyone.  That’s basically the plot. I’m leaving out a few details for two reasons, 1) I want to leave some surprises if you decide to view this and 2) I’m so fucking tired of thinking about this video and I just want to get this review done so I can write about The Quatermass Xperiment (which is FUCKING AWESOME).

OK, I’ll admit, when I was told I would be reviewing a new video called “Psycho Sleepover” I was not enamored with the idea.  And then when I was told it was a Troma release, well, let me just say that it didn’t help matters.  Still there’s always the chance that I’ll be surprised.  The plot did kind of sound interesting I guess.  Forty serial killers break out of an asylum to terrorize a sleepover.  It sounds kind of like a cross between Night of the Living Dead and Halloween, which could be interesting I suppose.  And then the movie started and all my hopes were crushed.  The film opens with what seems like a fifteen minute scene of a guy trying to get his girlfriend to give him a blow job (or a blow-jo as the script hilariously calls it).  This thing is a long 84 minutes (it feels like Fanny & Alexander long though) of bad sketch comedy.  I sat through this whole thing stone-faced.  I don’t know how many times I checked my watch while watching this.  I don’t even know why I was checking my watch as I didn’t really have anything better to do.  I guess I just needed something else to look at.  Look, I really don’t want to be harsh but I just don’t know what else to say.  I didn’t like this.  It was a chore to sit through.

I guess I’ll give these kids some props because they did make their movie and Troma released it and people have to review it and that’s much further than I’ve gotten on my “Super Dog” script (about the crime fighting robot dog).  And it looks like they had a lot of fun making it too.  They got all their friends together and had a few fun weekends.  And I’m sure that they have a lot of fun watching the video and remembering all the crazy things that happen on a film set (me and my friend Nick still laugh about Glass Eye Don).  The thing is that for those of us that didn’t work on this, it's a chore to sit through.  It’s like watching someone’s home movies.  As a high school kid, me and my friends used to take my parent’s video camera and make little action movies or talk shows (they’re all on Youtube if you really must see them).  I still like watching them and I still laugh at the awful jokes.  But for people who weren’t involved in making those things they don’t mean shit.  It’s just a bunch of dumb ass kids doing stupid stuff that no one cares about.  That’s how I feel about this movie.  Sorry guys.
OK, so what did I like about it?  Well the girls are cute.  That’s always a plus.  Also, Kurt Kroeber as Barry kind of has a good screen presence.  I did like some of the music as well.  The opening theme by (I believe) the Love Grenades is pretty catchy.  Um...  I’m kind of having a hard time thinking of anything else at the moment.

So this was shot on digital video and it looks it.  I guess I don’t really have a whole lot to say about the transfer.  It looks cheap but I doubt it will look any better on home video.  I don’t have any issues with the sound at all.  Dialog is clear and the music sounded good.  There are plenty of extras on this disc though.  There is a full length commentary with quite a few of the participants.  It’s also kind of hard to sit through.  I’m sure it’s fun to get together with your friends, drink a bunch of beer and record a commentary but it’s not so much fun to listen to.  There are also outtakes and deleted scenes, which I will admit to not watching as I’m kind of tired of Psycho Sleepover at this point.  There is also a trailer, a photo gallery and two behind the scenes videos.  You can also view the “Tromatic Extras” which include more trailers for other Troma releases, the “Radiation March” video that’s on all their dvds and some video of a girl talking about the Canterbury Tales while taking her shirt off.  I guess that’s supposed to be entertainment.