Psycho Cop, You Have the Right to Die

Community Oriented Policing (COP) took flight in the 1990s. COP was due to be the savior of inner city neighborhoods beset by violent drug gangs. Its success? Debatable at best. Still around today, COP is largely a tool for local police departments to drain money from the U.S Treasury to start basketball leagues, move officers into grimy apartment buildings, and visit elementary schools. As a 25 year veteran of federal law enforcement, I can tell you any criticism of COP would fall on deaf and hostile ears as it has become a cash cow for local municipalities.. One may argue that COP is an improvement from Satanic Oriented Policing, which brings us to 1989's "Psycho Cop."

Psycho cop sacrifices a babe

Satanist/serial killer Joe Vickers (Robert R. Shafer) manages to pass a background check and become a police officer. As the film begins he has just sacrificed some babe (Julia Araskog) to the Prince of Darkness as a bickering, but good looking couple (David L. Zeisler and Denise Hartman) happen upon the scene. Witnesses are so inconvenient so Vickers murders them too. Enter three great looking couples on their way to an isolated but luxurious vacation home.  The couples seek to drink a lot of beer and have plenty of sex. Vickers follows them. Laura (Palmer Lee Todd) is the smartest of the sextet and she is suspicious of everything...unfortunately no one ever listens to her. The sultry Julie (Cindy Guyer) however, is adept at getting all her buddies to drop everything and look for her hairbrush.

Psycho cop swings an angry ax

The big menacing cop begins terrorizing these very shallow idiots who obsess about some caretaker who is only in the film for thirty seconds...don't ask.  The women look great sunbathing at the pool and spend most of the film either in swimsuits, looking for more beer, or looking for a hairbrush.  The guys spend their time trying to have sex with these ladies, looking for more beer, or looking for the aforementioned caretaker. Enter Joe the satanic cop...he begins picking them off one by one. He'll shove his billy club down some guy's throat, run his cruiser over one, and electrocute another guy. The deaths of the ladies will be just as good.  Oh yes...not to be outdone...Joe the satanist also continuously steals the sextet's beer...Fiend!

The unfortunate Julie

Will any of the hunks or babes survive this satanic arm of the law?  Will Julie's quest for her hairbrush spell doom for more than just her? As federal assistance dries up for the states, will Satanic Oriented Policing replace Community Oriented Policing?  Directed by Wallace Potts, "Psycho Cop" is a fine slasher film in which the death of its main characters brings us lots of smiles. Don't lose your beer while watching this one.