Growing up in Waterbury, Connecticut, Gorman Bechard became interested in writing after reading Breakfast of Champions and In Watermelon Sugar. After attending a college class on Alfred Hitchcock, Bechard started learning how to shoot using 16mm film. In 1983, he made his first feature film, Disconnected, on a $40,000 budget, which received mixed reviews. He raised the money with fellow Waterbury resident Carmine Capobianco, who had a small part in the film. For their next film, Bechard and Capobianco decided to make a horror-comedy inspired by Woody Allen and The Marx Brothers. On a $75,000 budget, Capobianco co-wrote, starred, and made the music for the film, while Bechard co-wrote, produced, and directed. The film gained much attention when it was screened at the Bleecker Street Cinema, including Charles Band. After acquiring the rights, Band released Psychos in Love under his Wizard Video label in 1987.
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Synopsis
Joe (Carmine Capobianco) is a strip-club owner who happens to kill women in between serving drinks at the club. While working the bar, Joe meets Kate (Debi Thibeault), a manicurist who also kills men at random. The two fall madly in love as they each continue their murderous ways, though they’re usually separated when they’re killing. Joe tries bringing women back so he and Kate can kill them together, but it doesn’t quite work. After killing many people, the two start to wonder if they should continue being psycho-killers or retire. Realizing they enjoy each other more, Joe and Kate decide to end their murderous ways and be a happy couple. Unfortunately, a plumber named Herman (Frank Stewart), a killer who eats his victims, tries to blackmail the couple. Will they cave in and work with Herman, or will these psychos in love stand up to him?
Review
Even by Charles Band’s standards, Psychos in Love is one of the oddest movies from his library. It’s a gory, violent slasher film that’s also a screwball comedy with romantic elements similar to Annie Hall. As bizarre as the movie is, its weird nature almost makes it work despite how disjointed it is. You can tell this was made for very little money, from the reused locations to the cheap effects. Also, the acting isn’t the greatest, with many actors making stuff up on the fly with no rhyme or reason. Plus, the film has an odd Casio keyboard soundtrack that starts to grate on you after a while. Yet, these technical shortcomings give the film a charming, homebrew quality, like you’re watching something some friends made. There’s a lot of heart that was put into this movie, unlike most big-budget Hollywood pictures.
While not the best actors, Carmine Capobianco and Debi Thibeault work well together and have great chemistry. They genuinely feel like they love each other, and you start rooting for them despite them being serial killers. Also, Frank Stewart is odd as the murderous plumber who randomly shows up only to become relevant near the end. Even with a low budget, the gore effects are decent, and Bechard manages to inject some style into the production. Admittedly, the film doesn’t have much plot and is more of a series of random events. The movie mainly relies on slapstick, but a few gags work, especially whenever grapes are mentioned. At 83 minutes, the film drags slightly, and the ending is somewhat anticlimactic, but it’s worth seeing at least once. Overall, Psychos in Love isn’t the most excellent horror comedy, but it’s one of the strangest.
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