Psycho a Go-Go (1965)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Thanks for the memories!

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Absolutely the worst movie.

A way under-rated movie, if ever there was one. I found it so exciting and terrifyingly suspenseful, that I watched it twice! The demented killer would have to be one of the ugliest and most terrifying ever! And the rest of the players - even the little girl - give outstandingly realistic performances. I even liked the musical numbers as they were not only very 1960s in style and presentation, as well as nice and jumpy and pleasing in themselves, but this nightclub scene allowed us to settle in with the very realistic characters (notice how well dressed the singers and the band and the background dancers were - not sloppy like today's so- called entertainers) and absorb their backgrounds, their hopes, their dreams. All the villains - not only the psycho - were both terrifying and realistic. And the climax in the snow is a real tour-de-force, if ever there was one! It had me sitting on the edge of my seat!

I'm Tacey Robbins' cousin, but that isn't the reason I'm giving this movie the highest rating I can. It compares very favorably to Drive-In type movies of the same era, and was filmed on about one-tenth the budget. It's fun to watch on a number of levels: A great look at mid-1960's culture, a pretty good thriller-type story line, and Tacey Robbins' great voice. And she's pretty easy on the eyes, too! People interested in seeing this movie should be aware that John Carradine does not appear in it. Bits and pieces of "Psycho-A-Go-Go" were cannibalized over the years and randomly spliced into several other movies. This film was, in fact, lost completely until the company Troma took the trouble to edit it back to what it looked like when originally released in 1965.

I'm a fan of Psycho a Go-Go, and Al Adamson in general, though his films can be hit or miss at best. Psycho a Go-Go is about middleground for him, not as dreadfully incoherent as Blood of Dracula's Castle, not as existential and apocalyptic as Satan's Sadists. Yet "Psycho" can at times reach the weirdness of a David Lynch movie (Blue Velvet comes to mind), and at other times the "coolness" level of Tarantino's overrated Pulp Fiction. Here we have thin-tied gangsters in black zoot suits, dames in beehive hair with lounge voices, the catchy but surreal siren call of go-go song and dance, a chipmunk-voiced black doll, and a killer who is a cross between a young Jack Nicholson and Michael Ironside, with an ugly butch haircut and an uglier mind. The scene where he sadistically strangles a girl, intercut with the blinking neon blue lights of a seedy motel sign, is unquestionably a work of art, or at least of high imitation.A decent genre flick without the pretensions of its later imitators, and a portal into the weird dark world of Los Angeles.

A jewel heist is going just about as planned until the loot ends up in the back of a pick-up truck. Unaware of what he's carrying, the unsuspecting driver of the truck takes the fortune in jewels home with him. His young daughter finds the treasure and stuffs it into her doll. Unfortunately for this suburban family, one of the robbers is also a killer and he'll do anything to get his hands on the jewels.I'd be stretching the truth if I said Psycho a Go-Go was a good movie. It's got far too many problems to be "good". Spotty acting, giant plot holes, bad editing, and poor sound are among the many problems you'll find in the movie. But the film's biggest weakness can be traced directly to its director – Al Adamson. Adamson is responsible for some of the worst, albeit entertaining, movies made in the 60s and 70s. In Psycho a Go-Go, Adamson's biggest sin is losing focus of what's going on. Too often, he lets the movie grind to a halt before going on to the next set-piece. Stronger direction and better pacing would have made a world of difference in the movie.But the movie isn't without its strong points. Chief among them (and I'm not really sure how to put this), the film is just whacked-out enough to be fun despite itself. From the go-go dancers at the beginning, cool music choices, a coherent and interesting plot (yes, an Al Adamson movie with a plot I found interesting), and a prolonged chase through the snow, Psycho a Go-Go is at least worth a watch. There are also a couple of songs performed by Tacey Robbins with The Vendells that are almost worth the price of admission alone. The opening number, My L.A., is especially catchy. Finally, even though I called the acting spotty, the movie is not without at least one standout performance. Roy Morton plays the menacing killer to perfection.