Psycho Girls

Psycho Girls is a 1986 Canadian slasher film directed and co-written by Jerry Ciccoritti and starring John Haslett Cuff, Darlene Mignacco, and Rose Graham. It was shot in Toronto and is Ciccoritti's first feature film.

Psycho Girls
Directed by	Jerry Ciccoritti
Written by	Michael Bockner Jerry Ciccoritti
Produced by	Robert Bergman Michael Bockner Jerry Ciccoritti
Starring	John Haslett Cuff Darlene Mignacco Rose Graham Agi Gallus Michael A. Miranda Pier Giorgio DiCicco
Cinematography	Robert Bergman
Edited by	Robert Bergman
Music by	Joel Rosenbaum
Distributed by	United Entertainment Pictures
Release date	1986 (1986)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	Canada
Language	English

Plot

A woman escapes from an insane asylum along with two of her fellow inmates, to revenge herself upon her sister.

Production

Psycho Girls was shot over a period of eleven days in 1984 in Toronto. Locations included the Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital. The budget was $18,000. Of the completed film, the director stated, "It was strictly a means to an end, to establish a name for ourselves. In many ways it's just another run of the mill horror film, made by the numbers." ^[1]

Release

The film was picked up for distribution by The Cannon Group, Inc. and was part of a large slate of projects written off as a massive loss for the company. The film was released on MGM Home Video in 1986.^[2]

A Region A Blu-ray was released in 2023 by Vinegar Syndrome, newly scanned and restored. The disc featured a commentary track with co-writer/director Jerry Ciccoritti and director of photography/editor Robert Bergman, as well as several interview features.^[3]

Reception

Writing in Psychotronic Video, Michael J. Waldon noted that the film had "a surprising, bizarre edge," adding "PSYCHO GIRLS is the most warped. It's narrated by a would be scriptwriter, typing lines like "What is money anyway, but paper with germs on it?". His story is about a woman in an asylum since she was a child, for killing her parents by putting rat poison in pancakes(!). She escapes to terrorize her sister, and in a shocking sequence, she and two sadistic, laughing maniacs kill people during a dinner party. The sex and violence is off screen, but still intense. The director shows up as a pizza delivery boy. A character is shown reading The Gore Gazette."^[4]