Deranged

This is partly inspired by the real life murderer Ed Gein. Ezra is a middle aged momma's boy. He's also a pet moron.Mommy is a raving twisty herself as she is a zealot and always preaching about "dirty women"(finest kind).So when mom drops dead old Ez starts to get lonely.

Well Ezra starts hearing mom's voice after a year. She's lonely & so is he. He digs her up and brings her back home where everybody is happy.His neighbors try and set him up with a woman.This is a really funny scene as his date tries to seduce him. She's kind of crazy herself and tells Ez that her dead husband wants them to play beneath the sheets. Well, she winds up under the sheets permanently.

Ez starts digging up the graveyard and bringing mom some company.He also starts semi stalking a waitress.Finally he sandbags her, brings her back to his place and it gets wild from there.She finds herself trussed to a chair with a table full of rotting corpses.Ez is dressed in the skin of a dead woman.There is no way out of this house of hell.

Ez really goes off the deep end on a trip to town. It involves a rifle, a young girl and a harrowing chase through the woods.This is another gripping scene that spirals into complete madness.

There are a few drawbacks. This movie could have done without the narrator.When he popped up it seemed like we were in a different movie.Old Ezra is the most sympathetic person in the movie.Everyone else is cruel, stupid or as nutty as he is.

On the upside Roberts Blossom gives a great portrayal of Ezra. You feel for Ezra and can really understand his madness.There are many shocking and disturbing scenes in this movie. But it uses suggestion rather than out and out gore.It looks rather tame compared to slasher flicks but that's why this is better. I had to wait 25 years to see this film and all in all it was worth the wait.

I picked up the DVD for "Motel Hell," and -- after getting a few good laughs out of it -- decided to watch the double-feature as well. I expected a cheap, gratuitous exploitation film with no redeeming features. What I got was a surprisingly subdued, well-made, and well-acted film that -- strangely -- had a lot of heart and compassion in it. And it's funny too, but in a down-to-earth manner. You could almost view this as an homage to Ed Gein, as opposed to an expose.

I also got a kick out of the crime reporter who kept on popping up in the scenes, waxing eloquent about "Ezra's" horrible habits, while Ezra himself sits next to the reporter, going about his business.

"Deranged" is a very strange movie, but not in an over-the-top way. It's strange with everyday life: the family who tells Ezra to stop kidding around when he repeatedly talks about committing the well-publicized crimes in the area, the old guy in the bar who talks trash about the state of his withered sex organs, and -- best of all -- the woman who uses her dead husband to seduce Ezra. Speaking of which, this lead to my favourite line in the film, as Ezra describes this woman to his mummified mother: "You were right, momma, she sure is fat! And I like that. But it would be scary to get stuck in all that fat. Real scary. I'd better take something along to protect myself."

As uneven as this movie is, it's got a strange oddball charm, as though the people involved felt they were creating a cross between an enduring work of art and a true-life crime story, but threw in a healthy dose of gore in order to make it more interesting. I'm glad I watched it, and would gladly see it again.

FINALLY got to see 'Deranged' recently after wanting to for years, and what a surprise it is. Low budget yes, but takes its subject matter much more seriously than you would expect. There are some touches of black comedy in places, but overall this is no "funny" gorefest ala the 'Evil Dead' flicks. Roberts Blossom puts in an excellent performance as Ezra Cobb, the Ed Gein inspired protagonist. You may not totally understand why he ends up doing what he does, but Blossom successfully conveys Cobb's loneliness and isolation, which explodes into full blown delusional behaviour.

The only negative comment I have about 'Deranged' is the clumsy and unnecessary intrusions of the narrator into the plot. Without that we'd be looking at a complete classic. Even so, 'Deranged' is much more than a "video nasty" and deserves a much larger audience.

Based on the diabolical doings of psycho-mama's boy Ed Gein, this film is guaranteed to leave you feeling uneasy for days after viewing. Some images are so horrific that they are fairly certain to haunt your dreams. Character actor Roberts Blossom in his best role ever is chillingly good as the overly devoted son who, not quite all there to begin with, goes completely round the bend when his beloved mother dies. He digs the old lady up, brings her back to the family farm, restores her corpse, and kills an occasional female passerby to keep her company. It's every bit as strange as it sounds. But when it's over, you can't simply shrug it off and say to yourself, "Oh well, it's only a movie", because it's based on the truth. Viewers familiar with the Ed Gein case will note that the filmmakers have, for the most part, stuck close to the facts. It leaves a strong impression, and, to put it mildly, a rather disturbing one. What's truly amazing is that the filmmakers have brought a sense of humor to these gruesome events and it ISN'T offensive. DERANGED is one of the best scary/funny movies I have ever seen. It is most definitely not for children. As for the adults, you"ll just have to take your chances.

Ezra Cobb (Roberts Blossom) loves his mother and is intimated by women. When his mother dies, he still hears her voice and decides to keep her around the house. But he does not want his mother to get lonely and has to get her some new friends...

Blossom is amazing as Ezra Cobb. You can say what you want about this film, but one thing you cannot say is that Blossom is a horrible actor -- he made Cobb come to life and seem as believable as such a character could be. Cobb, being the movie version of Ed Gein, is more or less exactly the way I picture Gein being. Blossom's facial expressions make this whole picture worthwhile.

I would like to commend them for the faithful version of this story. So many people take the Ed Gein story and add all these elements to it or just take a grain of it and run wild (as in "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" or "Silence of the Lambs"). While not all of this movie is factually what happened in Gein's life, the similarities are quite striking -- right down to the death of the hardware store clerk and the gutting of the woman like a deer.

Although this film is now almost forty years old, almost nothing is lost from the passage of time. In some ways, the film quality really adds to the setting (the story could only take place in the past). Another great feature is the narrator, who enters the story at random intervals to do an overview of the situation. Not only is he great, but watch the camera -- in one scene, the camera leaves Ezra in one room, goes to the narrator, and returns to Ezra in another room, in a seamless fashion (no cuts or edits) and visually showing the passage of time. It is quite well put together.

For a great Gein film, check this out. Whether Tobe Hooper admits to it or not, I do not know, but he owes a debt to this film (much as John Carpenter owes a debt to the late Bob Clark -- who coincidentally produced this). This film is plotted wonderfully, acted wonderfully, and flows wonderfully. With one small detail changed (the plastic looking blood) this would probably be considered a lost classic. Heck, maybe it already should be. (Okay, and maybe we should not be able to read the license plate saying Ontario.)

For a bonus: not only is the legendary Bob Clark an uncredited producer, but Tom Savini worked as a makeup artist for the film's corpses. This was Savini's first film, and the undisputed horror effects master is still going stronger today.