Psycho Killer feels like one of those horror films that takes an abundance of ideas that have worked well individually within the genre, mashes them together as messily as possible, throws them at the wall and sees what sticks. As you can probably imagine, it’s not much, which is extremely disappointing given that this is the directorial debut of Gavin Palone, who would’ve been forgiven for taking a risk or two even if it didn’t fully pay off. Instead, Psycho Killer feels much more like a damp squib.

The premise sounds far more interesting than the film ultimately is. There’s a mass murderer on the loose dubbed the Satanic Slasher who, according to some exposition, mutilates the bodies of dozens of victims across various state lines. In his endless quest for blood he kills a cop who happens to be the husband of fellow police officer Jane Archer (Georgina Campbell) right in front of her. Armed with rage, she vows to hunt him down and bring the spree to an end.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that Psycho Killer would have a vast array of interesting kills given the heinous descriptions of the victims to date, but alas you’d be incredibly let down. Instead, the on screen killings are, for the most part, generic and things we’ve seen a million times before. There’s only one scene, in which the slasher drinks a victim’s blood, that’s even remotely disturbing, which, when the film has marketed itself as more than that, is a huge disappointment.

The screenplay, written by Andrew Kevin Walker, is completely uninspiring. It’s painfully apparent what the killer’s motive is from the start, despite the film trying to present it as purely cult based and mysterious, and the sloppy clues left behind feel like something a child could piece together. It’s also quite insulting how incompetent the police and FBI are when the identity of the killer is solved by a single Google search of the message left in blood at every crime scene. I know that sounds outrageous, but that is the level Psycho Killer sinks to from beginning to end, ticking off every cliché in the book along the way.

As expected with a horror film of this level, the acting is poor across the board. For some reason the killer’s voice has been turned into a bargain bin version of Darth Vader, although that’s bound to get a few laughs. The supporting cast all feel like they are reading directly from the script, with little to no emotion in any line of the admittedly terrible dialogue. Perhaps the most surprising element, however, is how wooden Georgina Campbell is here. Granted she’s not working with much, but I still expected a little better.

There’s truly very little redeeming about Psycho Killer outside one slow motion action sequence that is somewhat fun. There’s no tension, the stakes feel extremely low throughout, it’s poorly paced, and perhaps most criminal of all, it isn’t scary for a single second. Do yourself a favour this weekend and save your money because Psycho Killer really isn’t worth it.