Psycho Killer (2026) Movie Review: A Nearly Parodical Degree of Incompetence

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Not all film productions are held to the same standard, and “Psycho Killer” might have been met with more animosity had it been made with any degree of professionalism or involved any known talent. Outside of screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker, best known for his iconic script for David Fincher’s “Se7en,” “Psycho Killer” is a low-tier ripoff of better films that managed to somehow get a decent release after years of pushbacks and studio trepidation. The result is a film so incoherent, underwritten, and derivative that its sins can’t be forgiven because of any perceived noviceness on behalf of the creative team. “Psycho Killer” doesn’t contextualize itself as a modern retread of the films that inspired it, and brings so little new to the table that it’s almost completely predictable.

The plot of “Psycho Killer” might have been intriguing had it been set in the 1970s, as there is a near-constant barrage of references to the decade that birthed the myth of the contemporary serial killer, particularly in regards to the aftermath of the Manson Family murders and the rise of Satanic Panic.

However, the film is assumed to be set in the modern day because of the use of modern online search engines and references to social media. Even if the technology had been fairly up-to-date three years ago (when the film was presumably shot), the language used to describe it makes it feel as if “Psycho Killer” was hastily written to cash in on the success of “Se7en” in late 1995.

Psycho Killer (2026) — A still from “Psycho Killer” (2026)

The baffling opening of “Psycho Killer” involves the murder of the state trooper Mike (Stephen Adekolu) whilst his fiancée Jane Archer (Georgia Campbell), a fellow officer, is present. The unprofessional conduct of a workplace romance aside, it’s clear within the introduction that these aren’t characters written to have any semblance of law enforcement experience. They’re simply given that profession as a means to be proximate to a mysterious serial killer (James Preston Rogers) who is known only as the “Satanic Slasher.”

After being forced to attend therapeutic sessions, Jane is inexplicably allowed to resume her duties as an officer and begins a vigilante search for her husband’s killer. It’s a strange threat that “Psycho Killer” doesn’t follow up on. The only instances in which Jane takes the law into her own hands are mentioned as a complication, which only serves as an excuse for why she doesn’t receive the assistance of any other cops.

The existence of the killer is both omnipresent and anonymous, depending on what is most convenient for individual scenes. While expositional news footage is used to both unearth details about the killer’s background, the history of cult murders, and the growing paranoia about Satanic worship, these ideas are only brought up in passing.

The motivations for the killer feel derived from multiple different drafts of the script, and in all likelihood, there is a significant degree of footage that was left on the cutting room floor. Despite the expectation of grandiosity, the lack of national attention and lack of attention paid to other law enforcement routes would suggest that Jane is the only character remotely interested in the ruthless killer.

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The deaths in the film are so clearly orchestrated that there is little suspense, especially since there isn’t a single victim who is given even the smallest allusion to a personality. The use of graphic jump scares with graphic violence, most of which involve laughably cheap computer-generated gore effects, is at odds with the suspenseful tone that “Psycho Killer” is seemingly trying to emulate.

Additional details about Jane’s background only further complicate the film’s thematic haphazardness. At first, her motivation is revenge, then it’s to prevent the killer from spreading his influence, but later it becomes a matter of personal pride. Campbell, a talented actress who just recently gave a fun performance in “Cold Storage,” can only do so much with the most unsparing outline of a role.

Everything about the killer himself is retrograde, as another sign of the film’s unusual timeline is allusions to nuclear anxiety that would have been much better rooted in the Cold War. Rogers is such an imposing physical presence that the concept of a socially inept, nasally conspiracy theorist and religious fundamentalist is never quite convincing. The manipulation of his voice also adds another odd wrinkle that makes the character feel constructed from odds and ends of other antagonists.

Rogers’ size would theoretically be the one thing that “Psycho Killer” could have taken advantage of, but there are few moments of actual close-quarters combat. The rare standoff between the slasher and Jane is oddly truncated and has little effect on the progression of the mystery, leading to an awkward finale in which characters are moved from different locations with no logic involved.

What’s most frustrating about the lack of originality in “Psycho Killer” isn’t just that it keeps bringing up compelling thematic ideas in order to create the illusion that it is about something, but that it’s painfully dull. The only semblance of black comedy comes from the insertion of a group of under-the-radar Satanists led by the enigmatic cult enthusiast Mr. Pendleton (Malcolm McDowell).

McDowell has an aptitude for giving exaggerated performances, but his style of acting belongs in a far more interesting movie than “Psycho Killer.” While his quirky line delivery would suggest that he’s an out-of-touch radical who has no idea what dangerous territory he’s involved himself in, the film can only use him as an omnipotent source of evil, whose value in the story is muted because of its unwillingness to tackle any serious religious commentary.

The cat-and-mouse aspect of the story is ineffective because, despite their prominent first interaction, Jane and the slasher don’t share any deep connection with one another. The baffling conclusion would almost feel like a defiant slap in the face to expectations had it not also been a lazy excuse to end a film with no clear direction. “Psycho Killer” is as bad as horror films can get, but it’s also devoid of any passion for being iterative, that even the most inconsequential of genre retreads could have. A title so generic may not have suggested anything promising, but “Psycho Killer” can’t reach the bare minimum.