Crazed

Blood Shed/Crazed/slipping Into Darkness was the first movie I ever reviewed on IMDB. Initially I totally bashed the film. After A second viewing I take it back completly!!! The fact that the video art work makes it look like a violent-gore film lead to my negative review. I was expecting a gore fest and instead got a film with low body count and no gore. This film is actually very good. Their are a lot of interesting little things in this movie proving way ahead of the current events of our time. The lead character is constantly having flashbacks of his childhood. Most interesting is the priest flashbacks, the film seems to hint that he was molested by a priest especially of the quick shots of the boy on his knees possibly in a confessional booth. Ironically this issue is currently all over the news. It's almost as if the writer knew of a dirty little secret and was exposing it with this film. The character's army flashbacks are interesting too, especially since real life serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer had a bad experience in the army as well. It seems to me at second look that this film is a realistic look of how a lonley individual with serious past issues can slowly become completly insane and end up murdering people. To top it off there is some funny dialogue by the old ladies in this film to soften the serious tone. A second look at this film reveals a seriously under rated study of insanity. The original title Slipping into Darkness fits the movie better than the Blood Shed tag which will steer you the wrong way!

Filmed on a meager budget sometime during the later 1970s, this is an intriguing forerunner to the glut of psycho/slasher fare which dominated the horror genre for a decade following the release of HALLOWEEN. Unfortunately more-less forgotten, CRAZED is a well handled and out-of-the-ordinary project with exceptional performances, and it deserves a broader fanbase.

Spare on the sensationalism common to films of this variety, emphasis is instead placed on the anguish of a dissociative young man in an emotionally fragile state. Tortured as a child(as seen in flashbacks), years of physical, mental, and sexual abuse have rendered him a socially disconnected and passive adult, trudging through his life with a horrible dead-end job and humble subservience to his hoary, demanding landlady. His awkward amatory anxieties are piqued by a young lady who takes residence in the room next to his, then a tragic card is suddenly dealt by the hand of fate. In this moment of unfortunate circumstance, a contrite and most pitiable killer is born.

Rarely frightening in conventional ways, CRAZED is nonetheless effective in its phlegmatic gravity...the story is thronging with an unrelenting pervasive sadness, straight through to its benumbing closing shot. Impatient viewers may find the methodical slow pacing a chore to endure, but to those with tastes leaning toward a more visceral brand of horror, CRAZED comes highly recommended.

7/10

I avoided this movie--"Bloodshed" at the rental place I go to--until finally picking it up last night. And boy do I wish I just kept avoiding it.

This movie is a bit confusing, and extremely boring. A woman leaves her farm to go stay at some house for no explained reason, and after much boredom, she has a seizure in the bathtub and drowns. This weirdo who lives at the house was watching from behind a one way mirror, and instead of reporting her death, he leaves it in her room. More and more boredom, and then a little bit of murder here and there until the stupid ending. I was so happy it was over. It was a little comical seeing old ladies as some of the cast members that would normally be played by stupid dumb blondes fresh out of high school. They were in the "scariest" parts of the movie.

Avoid this movie. But if you like movies like "3 on a Meathook," check it out. That movie was boring with little to it. So is this. And it's just as odd. So, if you liked that, you'll find this enjoyable. I, personally, thought it was terrible.

Crazed doesn't rewrite the rules of the horror genre or offer anything we haven't seen done to some extent or another, but for a low budget horror film, it accomplishes more than most and the attention to character drama and dynamics instead of offering a predicable slash fest is appreciated.

When I had bought this film for $6.00 at a used book store I didn't know what to expect. I thought this movie was interesting to watch. I do not know why the girl had to leave her apartment and still keep in touch with her boyfriend but my guess would be because of emotional problems in her life. She moves into a house that the people that live in it remind me of the tenants in the movie "The Sentinel". She ends up moving next door to some crazed wacko with alot of mental problems stemming from experiences in his past and the man begins to bother the girl after the old lady that is the landlady of the building tells him to do so and he thinks about it and gives it a try. She begins to push him away and gives him every excuse not to go out with him and he begins to get impatient. I will not give out anything that happens after this but as far as the overall movie goes I found it enjoyable to watch and the characters in the movie were perfect for their parts in this movie.