BY ERNIE MAGNOTTA
The notorious exploits of real-life,
Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein have inspired several horror films over the
years; three of the most well-known being Alfred Hitchcock’s immortal Psycho (1960), Tobe Hooper’s legendary The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and
Jonathon Demme’s Academy Award-winning The
Silence of the Lambs (1991). These three masterpieces took bits and pieces
of Ed Gein’s horrific methods and personality in order to help build their own
iconic cinematic villains. For instance, instead of wearing a female victim’s
skin like Ed did, Psycho’s Norman
Bates dressed as his own mother who the disturbed boy had an unhealthy
attachment to (Gein also had an unhealthy attachment to his mom). The Silence of the Lambs’ Buffalo Bill
planned to dress in the skin of his victims, but was not obsessed with his own
mother and, also, desired a sex change which Gein did not. (That film’s
Hannibal Lecter actually did dress in the skin of one of his victims, although
it seemed to be just a one-time thing for him.) Lastly, Chainsaw’s Leatherface also wore his unfortunate victim’s skin and,
much like Ed, decorated his home with human body parts. However, unlike Gein, Leatherface
used a chain saw, had a demented brother and father and could not function
within normal society. Right now, most of you are thinking that a more accurate
depiction of Gein’s atrocities has never been filmed. Not true. All you need to
do is to take a look at a lesser-known, but very well-made, low-budget thriller
called Deranged.
Written by Alan Ormsby (Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things, My
Bodyguard) and co-directed by Ormsby and Jeff Gillen, Deranged aka Deranged: The
Confessions of a Necrophile tells the gruesome story of middle-aged,
Midwest resident Ezra Cobb (Roberts Blossom from Escape from Alcatraz, Christine and Home Alone) who has lived with his religious and woman-hating
mother, Amanda (The First Time‘s
Cosette Lee), his entire life. When his mother finally passes away, Ezra begins
to slowly lose his mind. One night, he digs up her corpse and convinces himself
that she is still alive. The lonely and disturbed man eventually begins
exhuming more corpses which he uses to decorate his home. It isn’t long before
Ezra completely descends into madness and stalks fresh, young female victims. He
brings them back to his farm, dresses up in his mother’s skin and performs
unspeakable acts upon them.
Horror fans (and cinema buffs in general)
will be delighted to know that, although uncredited, the late, great filmmaker
Bob Clark (Black Christmas, Deathdream,
Murder by Decree, Porky’s, A Christmas Story) helped out quite a bit on
this film. Made for only $200,000.00, Deranged
was released in early 1974 by American International Pictures and grossed
$6 million at the box office. The powerful and disturbing Canadian-American production,
also features several highly recognizable faces from 1970s &80s Canadian
cinema such as Leslie Carlson (Videodrome,
A Christmas Story) and Marian Waldman (Black
Christmas, Phobia). Deranged also
benefits from a wonderful musical score (partly made up of Gospel hymns) by
talented composer Carl Zittrer (Children
Shouldn't Play with Dead Things, Deathdream)
as well as amazingly realistic-looking effects by legendary makeup artist/director/stuntman
Tom Savini (Dawn of the Dead, Friday the
13th, Creepshow) in one of his very first cinematic efforts.
So, how does Deranged stack up against the Ed Gein-inspired movies mentioned
earlier? It may not have the amazing structuring and nail-biting suspense of Psycho, the well-defined
characterizations of The Silence of the
Lambs or the relentless terror of Texas
Chainsaw, but it does contain solid-enough characters (especially Ezra) and
the film builds quite nicely, culminating in an orgy of violent madness. Like
the three aforementioned classics, Deranged
is also filled with quite a bit
of black humor which helps immensely by giving audiences some much-needed
relief from the gruesome subject matter. Speaking of humor, the movie is mostly
carried by Roberts Blossom who gives a wonderfully balanced performance as
Ezra, making the dangerous and scary killer extremely funny in spots as well as
relatable and even likeable. No, the film is not in the same league as the
others, but it’s still an extremely well-made, engaging and creepy little movie
which is not only a much more (although, not completely) accurate depiction of
the life of Ed Gein, but also a film that deserves to be seen.
Deranged has been released
as a special edition Blu-ray by the fine folks at Kino Lorber. The film is
presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio and the high definition transfer
looks absolutely amazing (I’ve owned a copy of this film for 25 years and it
doesn’t look anywhere near as beautiful as this transfer does). The audio is
also excellent and the disc contains the original theatrical trailer as well as
an onscreen interview with Producer Tom Karr who candidly talks about many
interesting subjects such as not being allowed to film in Wisconsin, Christopher
Walken and Harvey Keitel both almost being cast as Ezra, and the possibility of
a Deranged remake. We are also
treated to not one, but two audio commentaries. The first, which is wonderfully
moderated by director Elijah Drenner (American
Grindhouse), features personable writer and co-director Alan Ormsby who
gives us a ton of terrific behind-the-scenes info as well as his recollections
of working alongside Bob Clark, Tom Savini and co-director Jeff Gillen. The
second commentary is by film historian Richard Harland Smith from Turner
Classic Movies. Smith gives a highly absorbing and exhaustive commentary which
not only covers Ed Gein and Deranged,
but every conceivable piece of cinema even remotely related to this subject
matter including Caddyshack! The
poster’s original, effective images and highly memorable tagline, “Pretty Sally
Mae died a very unnatural death!...but the worst hasn’t happened to her yet!â€, are
featured on both the Blu-ray’s sleeve and menu. The often overlooked film is a
real find for retro horror fans/lovers of early 70s cult cinema, and this
impressive Blu-ray collection is an absolute must.
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