There are good horror movie and there are bad horror movies. Then there are movies like “Psych:9”, which really isn’t sure what it wants to be. Released in 2010, “Psych:9” stars Sara Foster (90210), as Roslyn, a girl who takes a job working at a hospital which has been shut down. Her job is to get the paper work in order. Since, this is a horror movie, she has bigger problems than paper work.You see, everyone is on edge because the is apparently a murderer on the loose, whom the newspapers call the ‘Night Hawk’. Roslyn immediately finds herself involved in some really weird stuff, because that’s what these movies are all about. Michael Bien (Terminator, The Rock) plays a detective investigating the Night Hawk murders but he isn’t good enough here to save this schlock.
The first problem is the film never finds an identity. You never really know if it’s a serial killer flick or a haunted hospital flick or if Roslyn is just going crazy. You get all the creepy things that go on in every other movie like this: she hears strange music, little girls singing mysterious songs…but obviously no one is around. It jumps from scene to scene and is so disorganized you stop caring about what is going on really fast. Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride) plays a shrink who works in the shut down hospital. At some point, Roslyn stops doing her job and apparently starts undergoing therapy with Elwes’ doctor character. We find out she was abused when she was younger. At the same time, she is at odds with her husband about whether or not they should start a family. Clearly Roslyn has some serious issues. All of the back story about abuse start muddling the picture and soon enough the Night Hawk story is forgotten…or is it?
The film has attention deficit disorder. It jumps from one horror cliche subplot to another and none of them are particularly interesting. Of course the movie has to spin you off in a ‘is this really happening” scenario, which only makes things worse. It relies more on psychological horror but it’s never scary…not even in the slightest. There is really no point in saying anymore because the movie never really tries to make a point itself.
If you see this on TV or in the video store: skip it.
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