Delirio

Cops vs ex-military vigilantes who enlist the services of a Viet Nam vet who runs amok. Very pedestrian all around. Minimal blood, and the violent encounters are filmed as clumsily and distactingly unconvincing as anything I've seen in such cheapos. Least nasty of the infamous Video Nasties I've seen. That it ended up banned in Britain is a testament to overwrought censorship run amok.

This is one of the strangest and definitely one of the most atypical titles to be found in the whole list of infamous Video Nasties. Judging by the stills on the back of the VHS-cover and based on the narrative during the first half of the film, I would unhesitatingly describe "Delirium" as a crude and misogynistic slasher reminiscent of "Maniac" and "Don't Go in the House". You know; the type of sick film that doesn't bother keeping the identity of the killer secret but depicts the violence against female victims extra vile and repellent. There's a maniac at large who slaughters his women relentlessly and grotesque. One of the poor girls even has a pitchfork stuck in her throat! Whilst the roommate of his first victim teams up with the incompetent police force, the maniac – Charlie – gets killed after a failed attempt to make another victim. Then suddenly and completely unexpected, "Delirium" becomes a post-Vietnam war drama. It is revealed that Charlie was a member of a secret network of vigilantes that exists entirely out of bloodthirsty Vietnam veterans and they are hired by a board of eminent & businessmen in order to keep the streets crime-free. Charlie just went a little berserk and started killing women randomly, that's all! The "leader" of the vigilantes is a fairly short-sized yet menacing guy with a shiny bald head that would make even Telly Savalas jealous and, during the climax of the film, he goes totally bonkers as well. The concept of "Delirium" undoubtedly shows potential, but the elaboration is overly confusion and dull and reverts all too easily to dreadful clichés (like Vietnam flashbacks and power mad army officers). The first slasher half is rather exciting, with a couple of truly nasty murder sequences and the most laughably inept police investigation ever, but the second half is painfully tedious and derivative of much better films. I can't really bring myself to recommend "Delirium" to anyone, but I suppose it holds some interest if you're a cult movie freak.

A secret society of vigilante businessmen hire ex-military man Eric Stem (Barron Winchester) to bring justice to criminals who have been set free thanks to loopholes in the law. When one of Stern's men, an impotent Vietnam veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress, flips out and begins to murder innocent people (primarily attractive, semi-naked or completely naked young women), the group's illicit activities attract the unwanted attention of the police.

Boasting a volatile combination of vigilantism and misogynistic violence, it's not surprising that director Peter Maris's Delirium (AKA Psycho Puppet) was given a hard time during the Video Nasty era; in these more tolerant, less Draconian days, however, the film's insalubrious content—some graphic gore and gratuitous female nudity—is unlikely to be an issue with any but the most joyless of fascist zealots, people who thankfully no longer wield the social clout that they used to.

If anything, the one element that is most likely to raise an eyebrow (in the UK, at least) is the film's strange use of BBC's 'Mastermind' theme music during its most dramatic moments; it's hard to take matters seriously when it sounds as though Magnus Magnusson might pop up at any moment to put the film's characters through a gruelling two minutes of quick-fire questions on their specialist subject.

5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for the brief but impressive spear through the chest, all the unnecessary but very welcome nekkidness, and the juicy war wounds in the Vietnam flashbacks.

For many, many years I had a certain fascination with this movie. I saw its video cover reproduced in a magazine called 'Halls of Horror' way back in the early 80's. The artwork showed a bald man in sun glasses firing a pistol, a woman screaming and a disembodied hand clutching a bloodied hatchet; the tag-line said 'they shall have murder wherever they go…'. I don't know, it may not sound like much now but at the time this strange and slightly lurid poster fascinated me. When I soon after discovered that this film had made it on to the notorious video nasty list my interest just grew even stronger. Looking back on it now and having finally seen Delirium I think I can better understand the pull of that video cover and it's actually reflected in the film itself. The poster is really somewhat odd in that it mixes genre iconography – its part horror, part action-thriller. And in essence that's what the movie itself is too. It combines genres in a somewhat unusual way. It's kind of a slasher mixed in with a vigilante flick, with a dash of post-Vietnam exploitation thrown in for good measure. This crazy mish-mash of styles is one of the things that makes Delirium interesting.

The story revolves around a secret group of Vietnam vets who are hired by businessmen to administer extreme justice to criminals who escape the law. One of the group goes on a serial killing rampage murdering a series of young women.

It isn't really very surprising that this one made the video nasty list. It's not exactly overly graphically violent but it has a pretty clear streak of misogyny running through it. The killer essentially goes around killing young hot women in some scenes that are pretty lurid. It does have to be said though that the psychopath is killed off a little too early, seeing as he is probably the most interesting part of the story. The vigilante side of the narrative makes up the rest of the movie. The head honcho turns out to be that bald man from the video cover I saw all those years ago. Quite bizarrely, the most disturbing moment from the scenes involving this underground group is scored by the soundtrack to the quiz show Mastermind. You can't help but expect Magnus Magnusson to pop around the corner and say 'your specialist subject is vigilante justice and misogynistic violence'. But of course he does not and it remains a deeply strange viewing experience for audiences from the UK to witness.

This isn't a movie with a very good reputation. Admittedly it's technically raw and clunky. But it's also kind of unusual and agreeably sleazy. It's pretty entertaining all things considered.

There's not much to recommend about this Video Nasty except for the storyline, the premise of which should have resulted in a much better movie, and the acting, though they are wasted in this travesty.

This is the story of a secret society sick with the depravity on the streets of their neighbourhood so they hire a Vietnam Veteran to help clean up their streets... the trouble is he's suffering from shell-shock and starts to any and everyone.

This in itself could have given the audience a bloodfest to remember. However, the director, Peter Maris, opts for a slow pace. Which might have worked well to build tension if there had been a torture scene, which there isn't (another missed opportunity), but hinders the film since it's used throughout its runtime. The slowness of the film is made up of boring and pointless scenes that, though, well acted (compared to everything else), are badly directed. There needed to be more action sequences especially concerning the Vet's breakdown.

There're too many flashbacks to Vietnam. The director is so lazy he just cut in loads of stock footage; this adds to the lackadaisical feel of the direction and hinders the film and frustrates the viewer.

I would only recommend this to anyone who is watching the video nasty list to see why some of the listed films were banned (this one was banned because they thought some people may be prone to copy the actions of the Vet). However, be prepared to keep hitting the rewind button every time you wake up because this film has the power to induce sleep.