Single White Female 2: The Psycho is yet another entry into one of the more unfortunate genres of modern filmmaking - The Fraudulent Sequel. When you're in the video store and you find a movie on the shelf that proclaims itself as the sequel to a movie you have heard of but you say to yourself "I never knew they made another one of these"
odds are you're looking at a Fraudulent Sequel. These sort of movies are almost invariably horrible and this one is NOT an exception to that rule.
If you've seen the original Single White Female then you know what this story is about because it's exactly the same, just a very crappy version of it. Two women move in together and one of them turns out to be violently insane. I'm not going to bother going into the plot any more than that because I'm not joking, this is virtually a carbon copy of the first film, so if you've already seen it there's no need for me to repeat what you already know. If you haven't seen Single White Female, I don't want to ruin it for you by putting any of this movie's stink on it. Single White Female is a decent flick that's worth seeing. Single White Female 2: The Psycho is not.
I suppose I could heap abuse on the pitiful acting, writing and direction that went into this cinematic sinkhole, but I think there is something good that can come out of film this bad. Let's take this as an opportunity to examine the two distinct varieties of the fraudulent sequel.
One variety is the "bait-and-switch" sequel. That's where a studio finds an original script, makes a few very minor changes to it and then slaps a another movie's title on it. American Psycho 2 and White Noise 2 are examples of the "bait-and-switch" sequel. When watching those films it is nakedly apparent that they were not created to be sequels, but someone thought they could make a little more money by pretending otherwise. The "bait-and-switch" sequel usually makes a few references to the first film at the start, then goes on to tell a tale that has essentially nothing in common with the original. While these movies will be disappointing to viewers expecting an actual sequel, beyond that it's a crap shoot. Sometimes the "bait-and-switch" movie is actually okay and would have been better standing on its own. White Noise 2 is like that. But sometimes the "bait-and-switch" flick is awful and desperately needs to exploit the name of another movie or no one would ever watch it. American Psycho 2 is like that.
Single White Female 2: The Psycho is the other variety of fraudulent sequel. You could call it a "forced remake". That's when a studio takes an original screenplay, or at least the essential structure of an original screenplay, cuts out 90% of it and then splices whatever is left into a nearly point-by-point duplicate of another story. It's the same characters doing the same things in the same situations as the first film, they just have different names and there are one or two new wrinkles left over from the initial script. "Forced remakes" uniformly suck because people with talent and skill won't make them. Just like in school, only gigantic losers blatantly copy other people's work. That means you end up watching the same story you've seen before, just told poorly.
The only marginally entertaining thing about "forced remakes" is that, because there's usually multiple writers involved, you can try and pick out where one writer's work ends and another begins. For example, the first half of this film starts out by obviously trying to keep us guessing as to which of the female roommates is the crazy one. The second half of the film totally abandons that approach for no particular reason at all. It's clear that the person who wrote the first half was trying to be clever and the person who wrote the second half wasn't. Then there's a moment when the crazy woman is suddenly revealed to be one of those "angel of mercy" serial killers that murder sick old people. It's a revelation straight out of the blue that doesn't fit in with anything else in the story. That's clearly a remnant of the original script that survived when it was gutted and turned into a "forced remake".
Single White Female 2: The Psycho is lamely written, acted and directed. It's level of violence is corny and the only women who get naked in it are generic extras. Don't be defrauded by this movie.
If you've seen the original Single White Female then you know what this story is about because it's exactly the same, just a very crappy version of it. Two women move in together and one of them turns out to be violently insane. I'm not going to bother going into the plot any more than that because I'm not joking, this is virtually a carbon copy of the first film, so if you've already seen it there's no need for me to repeat what you already know. If you haven't seen Single White Female, I don't want to ruin it for you by putting any of this movie's stink on it. Single White Female is a decent flick that's worth seeing. Single White Female 2: The Psycho is not.
I suppose I could heap abuse on the pitiful acting, writing and direction that went into this cinematic sinkhole, but I think there is something good that can come out of film this bad. Let's take this as an opportunity to examine the two distinct varieties of the fraudulent sequel.
One variety is the "bait-and-switch" sequel. That's where a studio finds an original script, makes a few very minor changes to it and then slaps a another movie's title on it. American Psycho 2 and White Noise 2 are examples of the "bait-and-switch" sequel. When watching those films it is nakedly apparent that they were not created to be sequels, but someone thought they could make a little more money by pretending otherwise. The "bait-and-switch" sequel usually makes a few references to the first film at the start, then goes on to tell a tale that has essentially nothing in common with the original. While these movies will be disappointing to viewers expecting an actual sequel, beyond that it's a crap shoot. Sometimes the "bait-and-switch" movie is actually okay and would have been better standing on its own. White Noise 2 is like that. But sometimes the "bait-and-switch" flick is awful and desperately needs to exploit the name of another movie or no one would ever watch it. American Psycho 2 is like that.
Single White Female 2: The Psycho is the other variety of fraudulent sequel. You could call it a "forced remake". That's when a studio takes an original screenplay, or at least the essential structure of an original screenplay, cuts out 90% of it and then splices whatever is left into a nearly point-by-point duplicate of another story. It's the same characters doing the same things in the same situations as the first film, they just have different names and there are one or two new wrinkles left over from the initial script. "Forced remakes" uniformly suck because people with talent and skill won't make them. Just like in school, only gigantic losers blatantly copy other people's work. That means you end up watching the same story you've seen before, just told poorly.
The only marginally entertaining thing about "forced remakes" is that, because there's usually multiple writers involved, you can try and pick out where one writer's work ends and another begins. For example, the first half of this film starts out by obviously trying to keep us guessing as to which of the female roommates is the crazy one. The second half of the film totally abandons that approach for no particular reason at all. It's clear that the person who wrote the first half was trying to be clever and the person who wrote the second half wasn't. Then there's a moment when the crazy woman is suddenly revealed to be one of those "angel of mercy" serial killers that murder sick old people. It's a revelation straight out of the blue that doesn't fit in with anything else in the story. That's clearly a remnant of the original script that survived when it was gutted and turned into a "forced remake".
Single White Female 2: The Psycho is lamely written, acted and directed. It's level of violence is corny and the only women who get naked in it are generic extras. Don't be defrauded by this movie.