Delirium

Man, you gotta love the swinging 70's! The villain of this movie goes to a "job interview" and manages (despite being very creepy-looking and apparently mute) to pick up a secretary, who takes him back to her place for sex, but after he proves impotent he stabs her to death. He then steals a car and picks up a leggy, hot-pants clad female hitch-hiker, but even after he nearly kills them both driving like a maniac, they still end up going skinny-dipping together and he strangles her in the surf. He next meets a young farm girl, but even though he is trespassing on her property, she is more interested in flirting with him than calling the police, and she gets a pitchfork in the neck for her troubles. Then he actually goes into a house where a woman is taking a bath, and he probably would have done great with her too, but he kind of blows it by taking a butcher knife to her delivery boy. The investigating officer meanwhile seems far more interested in making dates with the pretty roommate of the first victim than he is in solving the case. Fortunately, the girl whose case he IS trying to crack is still working as a secretary at the office where the killer had his "interview" and she stumbles upon a connection between this out-of-control "psycho puppet", her boss, and shadowy organization of Vietnam vet vigilantes who may be behind the mysterious "suicides" of a number of criminals who had gotten off on technicalities--at which point this movies turns from a cheap "Halloween" knock-off to something that anticipates the later (and much better) Michael Douglas film "The Star Chamber".

This is one of the movies that was banned in Britain in the 1980's as a "video nasty", but was so unremarkable in its native America that it is virtually forgotten today (and not even available on DVD). I'm not sure exactly sure what about this upset the Brits. There's some gore effects, but they're not that impressive. There is a lot of nudity, and the mixture of nudity and violence often got the hackles of the British censors up. This movie is also kind of misogynistic in that ALL the women are pretty much brain-dead and about as sexually discriminating as rabid alley cats in heat. (I especially like the first victim who is "going to tell everybody" that a guy she just met hours earlier and doesn't know from Adam "can't get it up"). But frankly its notoriety on the other side of the pond really gives this movie a lot more credit than it probably deserves.

More than the earlier "Halloween" or the later "The Star Chamber" this really reminded me of another late 70's film called "Killer's Delight" (aka "The Dark Ride"). That, however, is a much better movie, and it IS available on DVD, so if you're thinking about watching this, see that one instead. This is kind of "nasty" I guess, but mostly it's pretty forgettable.

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.

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.

PSYCHO PUPPET is certainly trying to be something though just what that is remains unclear. Today the film is best known for something other than any of its attributes -- It was infamously included on the list of "Video Nasty" films banned in the UK in the early 1980s. Looking at it now one wonders what all the fuss was about, or if the people who issued the verdict against it even watched the damn movie.

The premise is not without interest: Vietnam vets pre-programmed to kill are recruited as part of a Star Chamber like urban vigilante squad passing judgment on the criminals slipping through the cracks of the criminal justice system. The murdered criminals are passed off as suicides with nobody any the wiser, until one of the vets flips out and goes on a general killing spree.

Its here that the Brits found their problem as the Psycho Puppet of question takes off after exclusively buxom blond bombshells who obediently strip right down for the camera. The film is sleazy, voyeuristic, tacky, cheaply made, with dialog that makes a Sears catalog sound smooth. The sexualized nature of the killing scenes is completely out of proportion to anything else in the film, and exist only to provide a lurid thrill. There is nothing to be learned from the story and no profound thought is advanced by its telling.

And yet there is something compelling about this inept, nasty little movie. Mostly offbeat locations & some bizarre casting choices, showing us an underside of St. Louis that is highly unflattering. The film exists in an uneasy juxtaposition between a tacky disco culture and a run down dilapidated post-industrial urban ruin that has no aspiration to glamor or sophistication. Its late 1970s polyesterized look makes the film look unhealthy, like it needs to get some sunlight & start eating more fresh vegetables. It looks scuzzy.

Standout role is the weird bald guy, a twisted Vietnam vet with a mad hatter's view of American justice. He's a great villain while the film allows him to be one but sadly everything falls apart in the last fifteen minutes leading to a protracted gunfight that undoes any originality that came before it. The film I kept thinking about while watching it was the first Dirty Harry sequel MAGNUM FORCE, which also featured a post-industrial urban wasteland in its climax with nihilistic violence mixed with lurid exploitation.

The main difference being that PSYCHO PUPPET wasn't made with any artfulness or sense of craft and exists only as a bleak reminder of how stupid people can be when they get into positions of power. Whoever banned this movie from Britain obviously never saw it since there's very little to get worked up about in it. Those seeking it out for a joyride of vicarious thrills will be disappointed and anyone looking for a message will come up empty. It's a curious, cold, cruel little movie, existing as a footnote. Which may sound pretty dismal, but its a pretty dismal movie and at least it'll remembered for something.

5/10

"Delirium" is a strange hybrid of slasher flick,political conspiracy,right-wing revenge film,cop thriller and post-Vietnam trauma.There is a serial killer on the loose named Charlie.He stabs to death or drowns attractive young women until he's surprised in a house by a returning husband and is shot by the wife.His Vietnam flashbacks ala "Combat Shock" are gloriously cheap.There is also an underground right-wing group who employ old army guys as vigilantes to kill various rapists and murderers."Delirium" was classified as an infamous video nasty in UK.There is a bit of sleaze and violence,but the film is relatively tame and bloodless.If you liked "Maniac" or "Lady Stay Dead" give it a try.6 out of 10.