Cast:
Roberts Blossom (Ezra Cobb), Cosette Lee (Amanda Cobb), Leslie Carlson (Tom Simms), Robert Warner (Harlon Kootz), Marcia Diamond (Jenny Kootz), Brian Smeagle (Brad Kootz), Arlene Gillen (Miss Johnson), Robert McHeady (Sheriff), and Marian Waldman (Maureen Selby) Directed by Jeff Gillen and Alan Ormsby.
Review:
"One of the things that I was fascinated in the making of this film and the process was the parts that Alfred Hitchcock totally chose to ignore or overlook and only used a very minimal part and that was the amount of dress-up and disguise. The actual Ed Gein's actual putting on bits and pieces of skin and flesh and making musical instruments and useful tools. He was extremely fascinated by the bits and pieces of bones and flesh that he put together and I thought this part was fairly interesting. We made a point out of trying to make this scene as frightening as possible and in the process, there is a very fine line between what is funny and what is horrible. I think we were able to cross that line back and forth a few different times in the film when you were absolutely at the height of your laughter and then all suddenly, we would hit you some horrible image and that was the sort of the thing we were hoping to do." - Jeff Gillen
Sure, you've heard of a film based on the serial killings of Ed Gein. The Psycho novel (and ensuing film) was inspired by the situation that arose of a small-town seeing murders without anyone suspected...which happened to be the discovery of just what Gein had been doing that had rocked the nation in the late 1950s (even hearing the words "skin keepsakes" is an understatement) in Wisconsin. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (released in October of 1974) took loose inspiration in the same year Deranged came out. This film actually was made on a higher budget than the aforementioned Chainsaw film, one that was funded by a concert promoter (Tom Karr) that was made with Canadian crew members in Ontario. There was also a Ukranian film studio used for filming. Somehow, Deranged (sometimes referred to with a subtitle of "Confessions of a Necrophile", which is better than the original working title of "Necromania"), a film distributed by American International Pictures in March 1974, was just a mild hit that languished away with mild curiosity. Ormsby had gotten his start in movies by working with Bob Clark on Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (1972), which he wrote and provided the effects for. Clark was an uncredited producer on the film. Ormsby would direct just two further films: The Great Masquerade (1974) and Popcorn (1991). He was mostly known as a writer for a variety of films, such as My Bodyguard (1980), the 1982 remake of Cat People and Porky's II: The Next Day (1983). This was the only film directed by Jeff Gillen, who actually was an actor in a handful of films prior to his death in 1995, most notably as Santa in A Christmas Story (1983); coincidence or not, Gillen also wrote one film in She-Man (1967), which as with Story, were directed by Clark. Footage was deleted from the film in order to avoid an X-rating (such as scooping around a head with a spoon), which only came out on home video nearly two decades later. Evidently, Karr was later found to have committed fraud against AIP and a partner when he didn't disclose a partner prior to making a deal with AIP; Karr would produce just one further film.
This actually is a pretty grim movie when you get down to it, one where the madman really can live among us in a small town. The framing device of the reporter gets a bit old after a while, mostly because it seems almost amusing to see him in the shot as if he was about to be hit himself. This was actually the first major role for Blossom, who actually had made his feature debut with The Hospital (1971) after doing a handful of stage and TV work since the late 1950s; there is a certain Christmas-related feature he is likely best known for in films, but this was basically his one main role all for himself, having been cast by Karr over guys like Harvey Keitel and Christopher Walken. I would say he did a tremendous job in this unnerving portrait that dominates the film in crisp form. His loneliness and methods to try and cope with his broken nature makes for such a strange creature to watch for a whole film (82 minutes) because of his cadence. The trouble that affects someone who sees all women besides his mother as part of the wages of sin ("gonorrhea, syphilis, and death!”) is handled with gusto in the second half more than anything. Ormsby wrote the film, albeit with a suggestion by Karr, who suggested that the main character brought the corpse of his mother home to feed and talk with her, which deviated from Gein. Ormsby was the head of the makeup department, with Tom Savini serving as his assistant for his first film credit (which had a bunch of effects created through chicken wire and model kits); he worked for Clark and Ormsby with Deathdream, also released in 1974. They do pretty well in such grisly detail that reminds one just how death really can look one in the face. Lee is mostly present in voice to remind Blossom of the lessons that are unnerving enough when one remembers the others are mostly there to serve as set pieces for the ordinary,...except for Waldman, who is amusing in the sequence where she tries to maneuver Blossom with tales of her dead husband and her needs. In that sense, this is a worthwhile feature in the horrors that arise from a town that doesn't think too much about the oblivious man with seemingly polite silence. The deep horrors that lie beneath the ordinary is a strange one to watch play out for a movie that deserves to be acknowledged in its 50th anniversary year.
Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.
