Movie Review: BASIC PSYCH

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: April 24th, 2026 / 12:16 PM

BASIC PSYCH movie poster | ©2026 FIlm Hub

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Michael Cerveris, David Conrad, Siena Goines, Cotter Smith, Grace Rao, Lucy Hine, Jayla Bashur, Amy B. Marsalis, Tome’ Cousin, Patrick Jordan, Carl Clemons
Writer: James Tucker
Director: Melissa Martin
Distributor: FilmHub
Release Date: April 21, 2026 (streaming)

BASIC PSYCH opens on Halloween night somewhere in suburban Pennsylvania. Good-natured psychiatrist Dr. Eugene Mallo (Tome’ Cousin) is distributing candy to trick-or-treaters on his front porch. When he steps back inside, he is confronted by a hoodie-wearing, gun-wielding intruder he calls “Dan.” Dr. Mallo insists he didn’t tell anyone and talks about Dan’s paranoia. Dan doesn’t believe him and shoots Mallo dead.

The next day, we are introduced to the Prince family. Dad Stuart (Michael Cerveris) is, like Mallo, a psychiatrist. Mom Sisi (Siena Goines) is a glassworks artist with a studio in their home. Daughter Reagan (Jayla Bashur) is a smart middle-schooler working on a journalism project and seeking professional advice from her father on how to make new friends at school.

When Stuart goes into work that day, a new patient calling himself Dan Riviello (David Conrad) arrives. He wants to pay for his sessions in cash and insists that Dr. Prince tear up the few notes he starts to make.

Dan starts out by saying he’s here because his wife kicked him out six months ago. This much of his story is true. Like Stuart, Dan is the loving father of a bright middle-school-age daughter, Carly (Lucy Hine), and joint custody is important to him.

However, Dan is really there to talk about something else – acts of violence he swears are in the past. He confesses, not to the murder of Dr. Mallo, but to the killings of two people in a nearby park. He swears it will never happen again and has come to Dr. Prince for help in being able to live as a peaceable man.

This puts Stuart in a conundrum. The laws regarding when a psychiatrist may break patient confidentiality and contact the police are very strict (this is reality, not just BASIC PSYCH’s interpretation). The patient has to pose a credible and imminent threat to a specific person or persons; it can’t just be that the patient has a history of violence and the doctor has a bad feeling. If the doctor calls the cops otherwise, they will likely lose their license, not to mention any hope of treating the patient. Furthermore, with no other proof, testimony that someone confessed to murder is not necessarily grounds for arrest, much less conviction.

Stuart has in fact successfully treated one killer (Carl Clemons) previously; the man is now a more or less upright citizen and bar owner. Can he do this again with Dan? Or should he put past crimes ahead of his present career?

It’s not long before it’s clear that Dan is lying about all sorts of things, including his name. He also starts to stalk people in Stuart’s orbit, leading Stuart to start his own clandestine investigation into Dan.

Cerveris and Conrad are both excellent in their multi-layered roles. It is meant as a compliment to the material and not a slam at either actor to note that, if only BASIC PSYCH had marquee-name stars, it would very likely have a fanfare-heralded theatrical release.

James Tucker’s screenplay has the kind of twists that make viewers sit bolt upright, as well as a consistent sense of tension, punctuated by father/daughter bonding moments with both Stuart and Reagan and Dan and Carly.

Director Melissa Martin gives impact to the (sometimes sudden) violence and handles the ambiguities with appropriately contained flair. The pace is propulsive throughout.

BASIC PSYCH is well-made, superbly performed and lets the audience play along to see if we can guess the outcome before it arrives. It’s a very satisfying example of its genre.

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