Psychotropic Overload

In the right hands, this story could have made an excellent 90’s studio psychological thriller. But for now, we have Psychotropic Overload, as it is, is a micro-budget, goofily acted mess with a pretty good twist ending. The film follows a disgruntled psychiatrist through his day, meeting patients, having lunch with his mistress, and afterward returning home to his wife, who apparently only hangs out by their pool, which seems to be the only place they meet. The doctor (David Wittman) gets a curious new patient (Joseph F. Alexandre) who reveals his urges to kill. The film mostly takes place in the therapist's office as the patient tells him stories from his past that could cause his newfound urges.

The doctor listens to these stories while, in annoyance, hilariously and constantly lighting matches for his cigar. The doctor sustains an inner monologue constantly distaining his work. He mostly hates having to talk with his new murderous patient; he thinks about whether he wants to turn him in, and he hates the patient’s homosexuality. The cycle of the doctor waking up, going to work, meeting his mistress, and talking to his wife at the pool. The most interesting scenes in the picture are the therapy scenes, because they include flashbacks as the patient talks. They are flashbacks in the truest sense of the term because they are mostly short snippets of his violent upbringing, and interspersed are the doctor failing to strike about 50 matches to light his cigar and bemoaning how he can’t stand this guy.

The film concludes with a twist that reveals that the doctor is a murderer himself, who lost his mind and has been talking to a photograph of his last victim. The twist is pretty good on its own. Once the twist is revealed, the film drags on for a few more scenes, where it would have been more effective to just end with the twist. That’s the major problem with the film: knowing when to end a scene. There’s so much of this movie that has vestigial shots after a scene is pretty much wrapped up. This happens multiple times, but none more egregiously than at the end, when he’s found out by the cops and the film cuts to black, only for the scene to continue without saying anything more.

Psychotropic Overload is a good addition to a bad movie night roster. The film takes swings that rarely make contact. The film does have funny acting throughout; David Wittman plays the therapist with his heart, but also, every delivery is very cheesy, which makes the film funny for the most part.  The repeating sequence of scenes is also funny, but it definitely wears out its welcome when scenes cut to black only to continue for another few minutes.  Despite the poor editing and silly acting, the story itself and especially the ending are the solid bones that make this movie even watchable. Psychotropic Overload is definitely worth checking out if you are into shot on video gems from the 90’s. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone not into low-budget movies; however, this release will definitely hit its niche audience.

Vital Disc Stats: Blu-ray 
Rewound from VHS obscurity, Psychotropic Overload returns to the realm of physical media with a release from VHSHitfest. A single region-free Blu-ray disc housed in a clear case with a very cool reversible cover featuring two different pieces of cover art. If you ordered from Vinegar Syndrome, you can snag an exclusive slipcover. 

While this release is a Blu-ray and in standard 1080p, the picture quality of the film itself being shot on a combination of video, 8mm, and 16mm footage, so the picture quality is comparable to the original release. There was no upselling of the footage as it appears. The low-quality visuals make the film somewhat hard to watch; there is a yellow tint in most indoor scenes, and there’s no lighting at all in the outdoor scenes, making the pool scenes with the wife almost unwatchable. The low quality, however, adds to the charm of the experience. Those who go for low-fi films know what they’re getting into with these releases.

The audio quality matches the video for this release, and is presented in DTS HD-MA 2.0; the audio of the special features is crystal clear. The audio of the film itself comes off quite muffled most of the time; however, it’s still good enough to catch all the dialogue. The most interesting thing about the audio is the schizophrenic soundtrack. It would be interesting if it matched the Psychotropic Overload of the story. The most baffling musical interlude is during a scene where the doctor is ramping up his bloodlust, Ligeti’s Requiem for soprano, famously used in 2001: A Space Odyssey—builds but then hilariously cuts out, not at a crescendo, but the scene simply continues with no climax.  The audio is just as poorly rendered as the video, but again, the low-fi is where the charm lies.

There is over an hour of extra features included with this release. Despite the solid runtime, all of the extras are just Director Joseph F. Alexandre talking to his webcam and, at times, in his car, doing the classic front-facing camera videos. While some of the anecdotes were interesting, and while it is interesting to hear that directly from the director, it would have been a little nicer if they were done in a classical interview style; the videos just feel like someone talking at you.

• Audio commentary with director Joseph F. Alexandre and actor Tracy Reis
• Audio commentary with Joseph F. Alexandre
• Making of a documentary split into three parts:
• Part 1 (10:03)
• Part 2 (17:14)
• Part 3 (5:05)
• A critical response (21:14)
• Fan appreciation (23:15)
• Press gallery

This is a loving release of a not-so-great movie. Like many shots on video boutique Labels, VHSHitfest is giving the fans what they want! That is the chance to have a movie that is likely hard to find and give it the proper Blu-ray release, and include some extras from the filmmaker himself. Psychotropic Overload is a messy but fun lo-fi 90’s film and is worth checking out. The acting is over-the-top, and the scenes don’t make sense or drag on most of the time; however, it does have a pretty fun twist ending that makes it a movie worth adding to a bad-movie night.  I would not recommend this to the average moviegoer; however, this is for the fans of low-fi oddities. Worth A Look