Psychos in Love

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Psychos in Love
Psychos in Love.jpg
Film poster
Directed by Gorman Bechard
Written byGorman Bechard
Carmine Capobianco
Produced byGorman Bechard
Starring
  • Carmine Capobianco
  • Debi Thibeault
  • Frank Stewart
CinematographyGorman Bechard
Edited byGorman Bechard
Music byCarmine Capobianco
Production
company
Generic Films
Distributed by Empire Pictures
Release date
  • July 24, 1987 (1987-07-24)(New York City)
Running time
88 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$75,000

Psychos in Love is a 1987 American black comedy slasher film directed by Gorman Bechard and starring Carmine Capobianco and Debi Thiebeault. Its plot follows a bartender, Joe, and Kate, a manicurist, who begin dating only to discover that they are both longtime serial killers. The film has developed a cult following in the years since its release. [1] [2]

Contents

Plot

Joe, a bartender and strip club proprietor, and Kate, a manicurist, meet after trying to find a significant other for a long time. They are both murderers, a fact the two bond over after revealing their crimes to each other. They also bond over their mutual hatred of grapes. Kate has exclusively killed women, while Joe targets women. Before meeting Kate, Joe murdered many women after bringing them to his home.

During a house visit to a male mechanic, Kate is attacked and sexually assaulted, but stabs the man with a nail file before clobbering him to death with a rock. Later, Susan, a topless dancer, auditions for a job at the bar in Joe and Kate's home, only for Joe to stab her to death before decapitating her and using her head as a decorative centerpiece in the kitchen.

As the couple's relationship progresses, Kate suggests that she and Joe commit a murder together. Joe brings home Nikki, a dancer from the bar who is attracted to Kate. Once there, Joe stabs Nikki several times, but she does not die. As Nikki attempts to attack, Joe proceeds to clobber her with a frying pan. When she revives again, Joe shoots her with a shotgun. Kate suggests that the two stop killing, as she is bored by it and oney interested in her romance with Joe. The two decide they will be married before dismembering Nikki.

Joe and Kate have a wedding, and honeymoon in Chicago, where they meet a female prostitute at an oldies bar. Having never murdered a prostitute, Joe is excited about fulfilling his "Jack the Ripper" fantasy, and stabs the woman to death in the shower. Following their honeymoon, both Joe and Kate begin indulging in their murderous urges again. The couple's marriage begins to falter when Kate becomes jealous of Joe's encounters with women. Kate contemplates that she no longer finds murder enjoyable. The couple decide to buy a VCR, hoping to find voyeuristic enjoyment out of watching slasher films. The two rent numerous videos, including the entire Friday the 13th and Halloween series.

After finding their kitchen sink is clogged with entrails of their victims, Joe and Kate summon a neighborhood plumber, Herman, who is in fact a cannibal. Finding severed fingers in the drain, Herman tries to blackmail the couple, hoping they will supply him with corpses, and threatens to kill them and cook their bodies with a grape sauce if they refuse. Joe turns out the lights to divert Herman's attention, and manages to brutally kill Herman.

Following Herman's murder, Joe and Kate decide to go out for dinner, but bicker over which type of cuisine they want and continue to proclaim their hatred of grapes.

Cast

Production

Carmine Capobianco said of the script, "We decided to do something that was totally off the wall, totally fun". The part of Herman the Plumber was played by Frank Stewart, for whom the role had been especially written. Many of the scenes were improvised and the music was played on a Casio CZ synthesizer. [3] Filming took place in Connecticut in Hartford, New Haven, and Waterbury. [4] [1]

Release

Psychos in Love screened at the Bleecker Street Cinema beginning the weekend of July 24, 1987, [5] receiving coverage from news outlets.

Home media

Psychos in Love was released on VHS in 1987 by Wizard Video. [6] The film was released on DVD by Shriek Show, a division of Media Blasters, in 2009. The special features include commentaries, a behind the scenes look at the film's production, multiple beginning credits, longer scenes, the film's trailer, a picture gallery, and parts of the stage production. [7] The film is also available on the Xbox Marketplace. [8]

On September 26, 2017, the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray by Vinegar Syndrome. [9] [10]

Reception

A TV Guide review said, "Sophomoric, gross, warped, and more than a bit depraved, Psychos in Love succeeds as a low-budget satire of American dating rituals, modern relationships, suburbia, and slasher movies. Although at times the pacing is sluggish and only about half the jokes are funny, it does have a zany originality. Narrated by both Joe and Kate, the film is often self-reflexive as the viewer is reminded throughout that it's all 'just a movie' as actors make asides to the camera, or put their hands over the lens, or slap away the mike-boom when it comes into frame. While certainly not for the squeamish, Psychos in Love does have a certain grotesque charm and may achieve a minor sort of cult status among fans of the bizarre." [11]

Bill Gibron of DVD Talk wrote, "This critic didn't like this movie when he first saw it back in the late '80s, and nothing has changed since then. He didn't find it funny, inventive, or scary". [7]

A play adapted from the film was released in 2003 at the Broom Street Theater. [12]

References

  1. 1 2 Lambert, Kellie (February 12, 2025). "CT-filmed cult classic 'Psychos in Love' showing on Valentine's Day" . Connecticut Post . Archived from the original on August 6, 2025.
  2. ↑ Grandjean, Patricia (September 27, 2023). "CT director Gorman Bechard discusses his films" . CT Insider . Archived from the original on May 1, 2025.
  3. ↑ Watt 2013, p. 141.
  4. ↑ Damsker, Matt (June 21, 1986). "Slash Now, Cash in Later". Hartford Courant . pp. B1, B3 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ McGrady, Mike (July 26, 1987). "Playing Ketchup on the Screen". Newsday . p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "Psychos in Love VHS". Family Video. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
  7. 1 2 Gibron, Bill (May 25, 2009). "Psychos in Love". DVD Talk . Archived from the original on July 30, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Psychos In Love". Xbox. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Psychos in Love Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  10. ↑ Hunter, Rob (October 2, 2017). "Vinegar Syndrome's Latest Bring Blood, Love, and Other Bodily Fluids Home". Film School Rejects . Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  11. ↑ "Psychos In Love: Review". TV Guide . Archived from the original on August 6, 2025.
  12. ↑ Albright 2012, p. 186.

Sources

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