Artivels
Undescribable Perfection
Tayyab Torres
Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
Roxie
The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
Benedito Dias Rodrigues
Serial Killers always were a subject of studies around the world and this case was one's most famous bringing to screen the Ed Gein's history and according some sources the most accurate ever done...even a low budge movie is remarkable well made, Roberts Blossom incredible portrait of Ezra/Ed's character from this bizarre true facts happened in Wisconsin state and had final chapter when Ed Gein was arrested in 1957....a minor mistake is about Ed's sexuality which wasn't not clear in the movie...maybe l don't appropriately released!!! Resume:First watch: 2017 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.5
Scott LeBrun
"Deranged" is a classic rural shocker that stars the excellent character actor Roberts Blossom as Ezra Cobb - Ez, to his friends. Ez goes off the deep end when his beloved mother (Cosette Lee) dies. He can't bear to be apart from her, so he brings her corpse home from the cemetery. Realizing that her body is in bad shape, he starts robbing other graves to help treat her body the best that it can be treated; he also brings home corpses for the "company".Blossoms' superior performance, which enables one to sympathize, as much as is possible, with this insane person, makes this a must see. It's also noteworthy for being one of the earliest makeup effects credits for a young Tom Savini. Also on the makeup crew is the screenwriter Alan Ormsby. Ormsby and his co-director, Jeff Gillen, were associates of the filmmaker Bob Clark; they'd also done "Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things" and "Dead of Night" together. While the pacing is awfully slow at times, Ormsby and Gillen give "Deranged" wonderful rural atmosphere.The makeup effects on this show are pretty good for low budget fare; fans will be pleased to note that the recent Blu-ray release includes a long excised scene of eye / brain scooping.Ormsby based his screenplay on the real life exploits of the notorious Ed Gein, and apparently this version has been one of the most faithful to the true story for over 40 years now. Buffs, of course, are already aware that Gein also inspired such favourites as "Psycho", "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre", and "The Silence of the Lambs".The supporting cast - Robert Warner, Marcia Diamond, Robert McHeady ("Cannibal Girls"), Marian Waldman (the original "Black Christmas") - are good, but this is almost entirely Blossoms' show.Some people take issue with the presence of the newspaperman / narrator character Tom Sims (Leslie Carlson, "Videodrome"), which admittedly is not really a necessary element.Good stuff overall, but the ending is awfully abrupt.Seven out of 10.
trashgang
This flick came out the same year as Texas Chainsaw Massacre but as TCM became an instant hit this became a creeper that slowly turned into a classic because so far up to this writing, this is the closest story to the real life events of serial killer Ed Gein. There were a lot of flicks about insane Ed, Psycho (1960) maybe also coming close but Deranged even as it isn't that gory after all tells us the story in details. But it's also Robert Blossom (Ezra Cobb) who gave a convincing performance that made this flick watchable. Also this was Tom Savini's second flick were he did special effects. And it shows because it took years before this flick came out full uncut. By this writing it's finally out on Blu Ray worldwide in a stunning version with lots of extra's and also full uncut which means that the brain-scooping scene is here to watch.It doesn't stand up to today's standards which Texas Chainsaw Massacre still does but it do has a few 'deranged' scene's. The blood is so typical of that era, thick red stuff running and it even runs from a nude girl hanging upside down. One of the notorious scene's and even killings of Ed Gein. Pat Orr played the full nude part and was never seen again in another flick. And I must say that she gave an excellent performance as Sally. This flick is only watchable for freaks out there who like stories about serial killers and also for those who liked the old school horrors made just before the gore came in in the slasher era. I can't say that it's slow but the horror lays in the story itself. Worth picking up.Gore 1/5 Nudity 0,5/5 Effects 2/5 Story 4/5 Comedy 0/5
TheExpatriate700
Deranged is a horror comedy with a grim subtext, tracing the activities of Ezra Cobb, a yokel serial killer who likes his ladies nice and dead. The film combines the horror comedy of films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with a much grimmer character study presaging works like Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.Cobb is a man torn between his desire for women and the dictates of his deceased mother, a religious fanatic with an insane distrust of other women. His mother's misogyny combines with a fascination for corpses to produce horrific results.Robert Blossom's performance as Cobb makes this movie a minor classic. He captures both the comic aspects of Cobb, such as his naive statements of what he is doing to neighbors, along with the more disturbing aspects of his personality. Indeed, the last ten minutes of the film show Cobb wrestling with both his perverted desires and his Mother's commandments. In many respects, he turns Cobb into a sympathetic, if not an outright tragic figure haunted by childhood abuse.The film is complemented by some early effects work by Tom Savini. These effects are somewhat uneven, given the limited budget that Savini had to work with. Some of the corpses look better than others, and the blood is clearly red paint. However, Savini definitely shows his talent and early promise.The film's most divisive element is its narrative structure, which makes use of a reporter narrator (played by Videodrome's Les Carlson). On one hand, this device adds to the film's comic value, as Carlson calmly narrates in the same room as Cobb talking with a corpse. However, the narration also takes us out of the film, making it less disturbing than docudramas such as Henry.Overall, the film makes for a fun viewing and should be on the list of every horror fan.
