Watching Slayer at a festival the other day and seeing them go through the motions playing all their classics I was suddenly reminded by the song ‘Dead Skin Mask’ that I had the pleasure of looking forward to watching Deranged in all its uncut glory on my return to civilisation. The 1974 film is a classic and fits that particular song-title like a favourite pair of gloves. Subtitled by some as ‘Confessions Of A Necrophile’ this is a quirky and slightly odd movie that takes a very serious subject matter and one based on truth (only the names have been changed to … blah blah) and gives it a somewhat irreverent and humorous make-over. The two directors involved had both previously worked on 1973 flick ‘Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things’ another bona-fide cult classic. There are a fair amount of crossover points between the films both in the look of them, the timing and context as well as naturally the grave robbing aspects that are very important to both plots. In fact the two would play brilliantly as a double bill but back to the task in hand.
Deranged is the story of mother’s boy Ezra Cobb played brilliantly by Robert Blossoms who went onto many a much bigger budget production (Home Alone, The Quick And The Dead etc). He is a bit of a loner in a small isolated farming community whose soul pleasure in life seems to be looking after old ma Cobb (Cosette Lee) who is bedbound after a bad stroke. Ezra is a doting son and talks to his mum and listens to her biblical diatribes with admiration. The lady is no feminist and shortly before croaking it (not looking very different alive or dead) she informs her son that “The wages of sin is gonorrhea, syphilis, and death.” Armed with that knowledge it is unlikely that Ezra is going to meet a lady who is a match made in heaven especially as with his mum dead and buried he just has thoughts of her and a year later due to her voice in his head is compelled to dig the old dear up.
In case you had not had a light bulb flash go ping in your head yet, yes Ezra Cobb is modelled on none other than the Butcher Of Plainfield Ed Gein, hell he even looks the part. Sure enough it is not long before he sets up ma with some other companions having learned the art of flesh preservation and dressing up in ladies clothes (as you do) and those that he does not dig up he has no compulsion killing. You are probably aware of the story and Deranged does stick quite closely to the real subject matter right down to the deer like slaying and dressing of hardware store employee Bernice Worden.
The film is partly done in a narrative fashion by a news reporter who has the habit of popping up in scenes and telling you what is going on. It is rather odd at first and certainly adds to the bizarre feel of the movie. The music also adds to the sinister feel by throwing oft repeated hymnal organ music at us (similar to the way that Russ Meyer did) giving a feel of religiosity to the whole community that Ezra, like the graveyard, is defiling. To be fair it is bloody annoying after a while helping to set you right on edge. Obviously the same year another landmark film Tobe Hoopers Texas Chainsaw Massacre arrived and there are again many similarities although the fantastical aspects of the latter detract from the more realistic approach of Deranged. There are scenes in both of a house dressed in the ornaments of the dead and Ezra also gets to have a family dinner scene with the corpses of his mother and her similarly dug up comrades with a bar maid he has lured back in the hope of getting her in the errr family way. All goes well there until she walks in on one of the film’s most memorable and disturbing moments involving Ezra in his dead skin mask and a dress surrounded by the skeletal remains of his mother and friends all in their Sunday best. One thing that I did like is the calmness and almost acceptance of Ezra’s guest here compared to the mass panic fear of Sally Hardesty in TCM.
The film is not actually over the top as far as gore is concerned in fact although available now for the first time uncut the only part otherwise excised is a brief scene of an eyeball being scooped with a spoon out of a decaying skull. Blood on the whole is far too vivid and red and delivered in a very over the top Herschell G Lewis style. Make up is however on the whole excellent and that is really no surprise when you discover that this was the second film that a budding artist named Tom Savini was involved in.
I can’t honestly remember Deranged being around on video in the early days only getting a release on short lived Exploited Video label much later on. Available on MGM video cut in the USA and Universum films uncut in Germany this has always been a film that has proved to be a right pain in the bracket to get on certain internet auction sites so it is great that Arrow have delivered it uncut in the UK and for the first time ever on Blu-Ray in the world. Naturally they back this up with great double sided art work and some interesting new extras.
First of these sees Scott Spiegel (Intruder, Hostel II) talking about the ‘Blossoming Brilliance’ of lead actor Robert Blossoms who he worked with on other features. Spiegel is not just involved in movie making but like Tarantino is a completely enthusiastic horror film geek and he takes us on a rollercoaster trip rattling off info about film after film. Amidst it all he does talk about Blossoms and what a fantastic performance he gives really breathing life into the subject matter. Most interesting is the fact…. No watch it yourself.
Next up is ‘Ed Gein: From Murder to Movies’ a segment discussing the way he has been portrayed from Psycho through to various more recent productions. This is particularly interesting as it is done by the unsettling looking Laurence R. Harvey star of Human Centipede II who points out the similarities to his part in that film and the relationship Ed had with his mother.
Finally there is a brief making of segment with co-director Jeff Gillen and there are some interesting insights and clips of the production here. The film looks wonderful considering it is over 40 years old too. Stick around and watch the Mad Ron Trailer From Hell too as there is a very interesting titbit about a certain actor who originally went for the part of Ezra!
So settle down with dear old ma and her pals after a hard day playing bridge and eating cakes (remember to scrape the mould off them) put on your most comfortable frock and settle down with Deranged. They simply don’t make them like this anymore.
Pete Woods
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