I lived in San Francisco until I was twelve years old. The only thing that really scared me was the thought of ever ending up in Alcatraz. Now the thought of a psycho walking the streets could scare anyone anywhere. I thought the title was catchy but had a really bad feeling about the actual movie. Never really seen any movies with Joe Estevez, but I'll get to him later. When you watch a low end budget/quality type of film you pretty much know what your getting. I'm not one to get into what other reviewers think or say but I don't know what movie they were watching. I've loved watching horror films since I was a kid and all I have to say is how many horribly made garbage can you see? And no, this isn't a horror film, it's a thriller and a very well made one. I really liked the fact that they went that extra mile to make a "movie" which was more of a motion picture attempt, rather than some recycled crap that keeps getting made over and over and over. San Franpsycho introduces two detectives on the trail of a man killing people for his own sick pleasure. A news reporter finds herself being at the top of his list as far as someone he goes out of his way for, risking getting caught. Joe Estevez really played his role well for me seeing him for the first time. He has that old school charisma going for him. He really stood out as should your lead character. The rest of the cast I have mixed feeling about. The psycho himself really needed to be on the screen more. I really liked the performance but there wasn't enough of him. I think the insight in that was to tease the audience with him but not over do it with him. But one of my complaints of the film was to have this guy more involved and produce more of a back story. I see him looking at pictures from other cities but the audience doesn't see them? I don't understand that. I think that would have added a little more gore, even if it's just coming from a picture. The smaller roles seemed to be throw ins. The other cop complimented Estevez very well. You have an older/younger thing going as well as them being different races. The reporter is the actual lead role in the story. The priest character was one of the better moves in this story. They have a priest get involved knowing no one will expect him to get killed. And that's one of the more disturbing parts of the film. But believe me when I tell you that this film has it's share of problems. Like I said, the smaller roles didn't do it for me. The one thing I think most horror/thriller filmmakers don't get is that your victims need to be where your better performances need to come from. If those actors are weak, the performances are weak and it ruins those moments of excitement that these kinds of movies strive on. The killings good enough but you need the actors in these roles to come through a lot more. Some time could have been taken off of this movie. I really liked the fact that someone took the chance and made a dialogue/character driven story but you can only have so much explaining and talking period. If you want a good thriller to watch, watch San Franpsycho. Good movie.
Review of San Franpsycho
