Well, I didn't see this coming. But I got to hand it to it. It was surprisingly entertaining and easily surpasses the original "Psycho Cop". Think of "Die Hard", but sleazier and done like a slasher outing with a touch of soft-core as Officer Joe Vickers gatecrashes a late- night stag party. Probably even more on the cheap. While the first felt serious with unintentional humour, "Returns" seems to play-up the concept with tongue-in-cheek and self-knowing quips. It's outrageous, sexed-up and totally ups the ante, nasty and gory deaths with Officer Vickers chipping with a witty response nearly every time. Robert R Shaffer returns to the deranged role and he gives an even better performance, which doesn't feel as amateurish and his delivery of the dialogue is less painful. Everything moves at a fast pace, the setting keeps the horror confined, as the body count piles up and the story's developments go over-the-top. The plot is pulpy, but a little creative and the performances are fairly animated with the ravishing Barbara Niven leading the way.

There is a large group of movies made that are considered so bad they're good. I know, it doesn't make sense when you read that does it? But the fact is they are enjoyable on some level even though there are mistakes, bad acting, bad lighting, bad cinematography and more wrong with them. Some are intentional, others are not. In the case of PSYCHO COP RETURNS I'm not quite sure which that is.

Having not seen PSCHO COP I had no idea what to expect here. It doesn't matter as far as I can see. The movie kicks off with a group of office workers planning a bachelor party after hours in their workplace. As two of them walk down the street discussing plans they make the mistake of doing so in front of Officer Joe Vickers. Hearing them discussing drugs he gives them the once over and lets them go. But the truth is he only let them go to get a better idea of where they were heading and with plans on making sure they paid for breaking the law.

Night falls, the office closes and the party begins. Strippers are brought in and quickly disrobe while the guys hoot and holler. Drugs are off the menu as the guy carrying them dumped them before Vickers approached them but alcohol is pouring freely. As all of this goes on there are more people left in the office building. One is a female exec working on a project, the other is a couple working on each other. Yes, believe it or not, they're fooling around in the office.

Vickers enters the building and confronts the security guard and then kills him. Doors locked, elevators in his control, he heads upstairs to take care of the lawbreakers he overheard earlier. What they didn't realize in their fear of a law enforcement officer is that he isn't a standard issue policeman. The truth he is an undead Satanist with psychotic tendencies. In other words, he's evil and like to kill people. This is what he does for the next hour or so.

The movie is a flashback to the films of the time with the body count rising and the gruesome methods of their demise being as creative as the ratings code would allow at the time. The gore is there, the screams are there and the chase sequences are there. And so is what was probably intended to be another franchise in the form of Office Vickers. Poor puns and bright red blood flow freely here but weren't enough to make movie fans embrace the two films. At least at the time.

Instead the films developed a cult type following with fans running VHS copies of the movie until they wore out. A DVD release of the film in 2005 came out but had much of the violence and sexual content removed. Now Vinegar Syndrome has brought out a fantastic version of the film with a blu-ray print that is as clean as you're going to get.

Their version contains plenty of extras as well, something movies like this rarely receive. Included are: A commentary track with Director Adam Rifkin; "Habeas Corpus" - a 43 minute documentary on the making of PSYCHO COP RETURNS, featuring brand new interviews with: Adam Rifkin (Director),Robert R. Shafer (Lead Actor),Dan Povenmire (Screenwriter),Peter Schink (Editor),Miles Dougal (Co-Star),Rod Sweitzer (Co-Star),Nick Vallelonga (Co-Star),Barbara Niven (Co-Star) and Melanie Good (Co-Star); "The Victims of Vickers" - featurette with SFX Artist Mike Tristano; cover artwork by Chris Garofalo; and reversible cover artwork. Not bad for a 20 some year old movie.

One interesting thing to note is that the director is a pseudonym for Adam Rifkin, the director of such films as THE DARK BACKWARD, THE CHASE and DETROIT ROCK CITY as well as having written SMALL SOLDIERS, MOUSEHUNT and ZOOM. He made the film as a learning process and to have fun while making the film. The end result is one that while not a fantastic movie is one of those fun slasher pics from the 80s/90s that is a must see for fans of the genre as well as a great drinking film for those who imbibe. Cheers to Vinegar Syndrome for keeping this one from doing little more than collecting dust.

After viewing the first Psycho Cop and found that a lot of fun, but completely stupid with awful acting and then finding out that there's a part 2, to be honest I wasn't all that thrilled and thought that it would be just a watered down version of the first one. But boy I was wrong, opinions seemed mixed on this one, but honestly I found this one a whole lot better.

Okay the production isn't any better nor is the effects and acting, but this does have a certain charm to it. This time the setting is in an office building instead of the old camping teenagers in the woods scenario, which was a bit odd for a movie called Psycho Cop, but this setting makes more sense in a way and Bobby Ray Schafer (the cop himself) seems more fun in this one and has more snappier dialogue. Plus the movie itself moves along at a decent pace and I wasn't bored for a minute and the strange turn it takes during the final act was a total surprise and very different and I didn't want this movie to end.

The plot this time we start off with 2 office guys in a coffee shop making plans for a bachelor party at their office building after hours, but they are overheard by officer Joe Vickers himself and he doesn't approve and starts following them and of course when he enters the building all hell breaks loose with several office workers, a security guard and a couple of strippers all lined up ready for his brand of unique justice.

The acting of course is pretty bad but I found the characters a lot more memorable than the first one and some were even likable. Barbara Niven as the obvious final girl was pretty likable and was strong willed and proved to be a decent match for the psycho cop. Mile Dougal was annoying as hell and his acting (if you can call it that) was just strange and all over the place. But the two strippers were a riot and of course Psycho cop himself steals the show.

All in all Psycho Cop Returns is not by any means a masterpiece, but it is a lot of fun and highly enjoyable and honestly never thought that in a million years that I'd enjoy this but I did and I wish that there was a Psycho Cop 3.