deranged [1974]

the title above might sound like a critique of the mccain campaign it is rather an effective exploitation/horror movie based on the serial killer ed gein. gein was the first serial killer that captured the public imagination. a serious momma's boy with a strong hatred of women gein appeared to be a nice enough old coot until the police found pieces of his victims used as furniture in his house. gein's story been mined by films as diverse as rob zombie's house of a 1000 corpses and tobe hooper's texas chainsaw massacre, but none have captured the strangeness of the man like the movie deranged managed to do.

the venerable actor roberts blossom portrays ezra cobb who's tenuous grasp of reality slips after his over-bearing, sex-hating, women-bashing, psychotic and plain-old weirdo of a mother passes away. suddenly the women placed out of reach by his mother become a tantalizing possibility for old ezra. but mother even in death still has her way with her son. ezra's oedipal guilt is too strong so he snaps one night and digs up his mother from her grave to place her back into her room. from her vantage point she is still calling women harlots and warning ezra to stay away from them.

women are too tempting for ezra to resist. he dates a few local women his own age but feeling tremendous guilt by his own desires he kills them. what he does with the bodies is straight up gein. what makes this such an effective film is the near-documentary style of filmmaking and editing. the grittiness of the photography gives the movie the appearance of a news report. and blossom is such a good actor that ezra's mad urges are portrayed in a subdued yet stylized manner so that even his walk, dress and speech pattern are very believable. the only drawback to this film is that the filmmakers felt the need to insert a tv news reporter sending dispatches on scene as the story enfolds. it is irksome to watch the reporter act as the chorus to the proceedings. the movie would be just fine without the reporter's presence.

that is a minor quibble tho. the film is a rather understated gem of exploitation. redolent of the 1970s style of drive-in filmmaking yet still retaining the distinction of the first-rate independent feature it may not be a masterpiece but it is a damn good movie for halloween.