Mark Turner There is a large group of movies made that are considered so bad they're good. I know, it doesn't make sense when you read that does it? But the fact is they are enjoyable on some level even though there are mistakes, bad acting, bad lighting, bad cinematography and more wrong with them. Some are intentional, others are not. In the case of PSYCHO COP RETURNS I'm not quite sure which that is.Having not seen PSCHO COP I had no idea what to expect here. It doesn't matter as far as I can see. The movie kicks off with a group of office workers planning a bachelor party after hours in their workplace. As two of them walk down the street discussing plans they make the mistake of doing so in front of Officer Joe Vickers. Hearing them discussing drugs he gives them the once over and lets them go. But the truth is he only let them go to get a better idea of where they were heading and with plans on making sure they paid for breaking the law.Night falls, the office closes and the party begins. Strippers are brought in and quickly disrobe while the guys hoot and holler. Drugs are off the menu as the guy carrying them dumped them before Vickers approached them but alcohol is pouring freely. As all of this goes on there are more people left in the office building. One is a female exec working on a project, the other is a couple working on each other. Yes, believe it or not, they're fooling around in the office. Vickers enters the building and confronts the security guard and then kills him. Doors locked, elevators in his control, he heads upstairs to take care of the lawbreakers he overheard earlier. What they didn't realize in their fear of a law enforcement officer is that he isn't a standard issue policeman. The truth he is an undead Satanist with psychotic tendencies. In other words, he's evil and like to kill people. This is what he does for the next hour or so. The movie is a flashback to the films of the time with the body count rising and the gruesome methods of their demise being as creative as the ratings code would allow at the time. The gore is there, the screams are there and the chase sequences are there. And so is what was probably intended to be another franchise in the form of Office Vickers. Poor puns and bright red blood flow freely here but weren't enough to make movie fans embrace the two films. At least at the time.Instead the films developed a cult type following with fans running VHS copies of the movie until they wore out. A DVD release of the film in 2005 came out but had much of the violence and sexual content removed. Now Vinegar Syndrome has brought out a fantastic version of the film with a blu-ray print that is as clean as you're going to get. Their version contains plenty of extras as well, something movies like this rarely receive. Included are: A commentary track with Director Adam Rifkin; "Habeas Corpus" - a 43 minute documentary on the making of PSYCHO COP RETURNS, featuring brand new interviews with: Adam Rifkin (Director), Robert R. Shafer (Lead Actor), Dan Povenmire (Screenwriter), Peter Schink (Editor), Miles Dougal (Co-Star), Rod Sweitzer (Co-Star), Nick Vallelonga (Co-Star), Barbara Niven (Co-Star) and Melanie Good (Co-Star); "The Victims of Vickers" - featurette with SFX Artist Mike Tristano; cover artwork by Chris Garofalo; and reversible cover artwork. Not bad for a 20 some year old movie.One interesting thing to note is that the director is a pseudonym for Adam Rifkin, the director of such films as THE DARK BACKWARD, THE CHASE and DETROIT ROCK CITY as well as having written SMALL SOLDIERS, MOUSEHUNT and ZOOM. He made the film as a learning process and to have fun while making the film. The end result is one that while not a fantastic movie is one of those fun slasher pics from the 80s/90s that is a must see for fans of the genre as well as a great drinking film for those who imbibe. Cheers to Vinegar Syndrome for keeping this one from doing little more than collecting dust.

big-gun Bobby Ray Shafer and his wisecracking, satanic alter ego Officer Joe Vickers did their second go around in this almost comedic horror movie. Instead of chasing college kids through the woods, he's invading a clandestine bachelor party in an office building. After overhearing two of the office drones talking about the upcoming festivities (Cop cliché, he's having coffee and a doughnut at the time), he toys with them in his own disturbing way and leaves. Opening credits and a police cruiser full of human body parts with satanic symbols drawn in blood. Now don't you figure a casual passerby would have noticed? Oh well, no point in over-analyzing. Larry (Rod Sweitzer) and his paranoid buddy Brian (Miles Dougal) make their way to their crummy jobs in a depressing office building with a terminally grouchy boss, excited over the possibilities the evening holds.Booze and strippers abound, not to mention two office workers carrying on in the copy room. Enter the uninvited guest with murder on his mind. Laughing and slashing his way through the building, Officer Vickers like the first movie, has a one-liner for every occasion. Sometimes two or three. He also has some pretty creative ways of taking out his victims. The ending was a cliffhanger, but no third movie has materialized.I have to admit, I actually found this one more enjoyable than the first. Though I can't help but be curious where Joe in the three or four years that had passed. Oh well, I'm over-analyzing again. If you want to enjoy a couple of campy slasher flicks, spend an evening with Officer Joe Vickers.

acidburn-10 After viewing the first Psycho Cop and found that a lot of fun, but completely stupid with awful acting and then finding out that there's a part 2, to be honest I wasn't all that thrilled and thought that it would be just a watered down version of the first one. But boy I was wrong, opinions seemed mixed on this one, but honestly I found this one a whole lot better.Okay the production isn't any better nor is the effects and acting, but this does have a certain charm to it. This time the setting is in an office building instead of the old camping teenagers in the woods scenario, which was a bit odd for a movie called Psycho Cop, but this setting makes more sense in a way and Bobby Ray Schafer (the cop himself) seems more fun in this one and has more snappier dialogue. Plus the movie itself moves along at a decent pace and I wasn't bored for a minute and the strange turn it takes during the final act was a total surprise and very different and I didn't want this movie to end.The plot this time we start off with 2 office guys in a coffee shop making plans for a bachelor party at their office building after hours, but they are overheard by officer Joe Vickers himself and he doesn't approve and starts following them and of course when he enters the building all hell breaks loose with several office workers, a security guard and a couple of strippers all lined up ready for his brand of unique justice.The acting of course is pretty bad but I found the characters a lot more memorable than the first one and some were even likable. Barbara Niven as the obvious final girl was pretty likable and was strong willed and proved to be a decent match for the psycho cop. Mile Dougal was annoying as hell and his acting (if you can call it that) was just strange and all over the place. But the two strippers were a riot and of course Psycho cop himself steals the show.All in all Psycho Cop Returns is not by any means a masterpiece, but it is a lot of fun and highly enjoyable and honestly never thought that in a million years that I'd enjoy this but I did and I wish that there was a Psycho Cop 3.

blackxmas Adam Rifkin should not have used his 'Rif Coogan' pseudonym on PSYCHO COP 2. If he thinks a supposed A-list release like the unfortunately boring DETROIT ROCK CITY is something to be proud of, he needs to revert back to the mindset he was in while making this fun fest. After a nifty title sequence, PSYCHO COP 2 settles in to tell the tale of an after hours bachelor party at an office building. Various people die when the PSYCHO COP shows up and Julie Strain runs around in chaps. That's the plot.Now the acting, while amateurish, gains your acceptance because the actors are naturally appealing. The script is fast, funny and never pretends to be something it's not. Sometimes the one liners are groaners but you seem to let it go, because the film's vibe is inviting you to come along, not holding you in contempt for watching this kind of picture. The only problem is all the gore effects have been excised to secure an R rating. The cuts are jumpy and ragged during those deletions and the after effects are too quickly shown. If there could possibly be a director's cut, PSYCHO COP 2 could be a guilty pleasure classic for us horror fans. So listen up, Rifkin! Make it happen. People actually like this film. I'm proud to say I do.