Editor’s note: This article was edited on March 9, 2026 to include a new graphic and contains spoilers for “Psycho Killer.”
“Psycho Killer” released with a promising premise in theaters on Feb. 20. The movie centers on a police officer who witnesses a serial killer murder her husband. She decides to take revenge by hunting the murderer across multiple states, uncovering horrifying darkness along the way. The film was written by the creator of “Se7en,” Andrew Kevin Walker, and features Georgina Campbell — the lead actress of the acclaimed horror film “Barbarian.” With big names behind “Psycho Killer,” there were many expectations for a great horror film. Unfortunately, viewers were left with a soulless feeling.
The film debuted with a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, leaving critics bewildered on how it reached the big screen. “Psycho Killer” waited almost 20 years to be turned into a movie. It was originally written by Walker in 2007 and went through several directors until it landed in Gavin Polone’s hands.
“Psycho Killer” starts off with a suspenseful opening scene in the Midwest. Jane Archer (Campbell) is a highway patrol officer who runs into her husband, a fellow officer, talking to a driver he suspects is in possession of drugs. The scene follows the lens of the suspect hiding the gun in the vehicle — leaving audiences already feeling uneasy. Jane lingers around with a gut feeling something is wrong, and finds on closer inspection that the car is eerily familiar with a possible connection to a serial killer named the Satanic Slasher (James Preston Rogers). After her husband is suddenly shot, she shoots at the driver who gets away. A poignant performance of Jane holding her husband as he dies ends the scene, foreshadowing a strong theme of grief.
A few days after the funeral, Jane makes the decision to hunt the killer and avenge her husband despite the dangers. Then the game of cat and mouse that follows builds up tension, leading to a single confrontation that unfortunately ends too soon and feels anti-climatic. Jane delivers a painful expression of grief in the opening scene, but this emotional weight doesn’t carry into the rest of the film.
Jane tracks a ruthless serial killer alone, without any backup, and repeatedly takes risks without consequences. She manages to escape each encounter unscathed which strips the story of suspense. It becomes clear to the audience that each of Jane’s pursuits are operating under the safety of plot armor.
Despite the Satanic Slasher’s perspective making most of the film, his motive does not feel compelling and is impersonal. Perhaps this mystery is supposed to have a purpose — a mask to hide his identity, a deep intimidating voice while on screen but a lack of persona. When his purpose is revealed later in the film to be an obsession with satanism, he still feels flat and generic. With the satanist trope in horror films being overdone, the movie left no room for a twist or a different viewpoint. Although the killer’s satanism is dramatic, the ridiculousness of it makes the film nowhere near scary.
The synopsis of “Psycho Killer” promised that Jane would find “his sinister agenda is more twisted than anyone could have imagined,” but what she discovered wasn’t shocking at all. Although the Satanic Slasher’s murders are terrible and disturbing to watch, the film doesn’t build enough of a connection with any of the characters for there to be high stakes.
“Psycho Killer” has the bones to be a good horror film, but ends up being predictable and bland. Jane as the protagonist fails to connect with the audience while her antagonist feels like he has been assembled from spare parts of past iconic killer characters, culminating in an empty creation. The film attempted to build something new but lacks its own soul. The Satanic Slasher and the woman who hunted him are too generic to be remembered.
Ayiana Grana is an Arts & Entertainment Intern for the winter 2026 quarter. She can be reached at angrana@uci.edu.