Psycho Beach Party
Robert Lee King directs this wacky, campy fusion of teenaged surfer flicks and slasher sagas. Impossibly perky Florence (Lauren Ambrose) doesn't quite fit in at her thoroughly square high school in her seaside Southern California town -- that is, until she happens upon a band of ultra-hip surfer dudes. Renaming herself "Chicklet," she tries her gosh-darnedest to be the sole girl riding the waves with the group led by suave Kanaka (Thomas Gibson). While adopting her surfer alter ego, Florence soon discovers that other less pleasant personalities emerge when confronted with the sight of polka dots. One called Anne Bowman is a tough, "experienced" older lady, while the other, Tylene, is a stereotypical sassy black woman. Blacking out whenever these other personalities take over, Florence becomes increasingly worried that she is responsible for a series of grizzly murders. Of course, she is far from the only suspicious character in her oceanside community -- there's B-movie star Bettina Barnes (Kimberly Davies), Swedish exchange student Lars (Matt Keeslar), and Florence's own unnervingly-perfect mom (Beth Broderick). This film was adapted from a popular off-Broadway play written by Charles Busch. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi