Deranged(1974)- Amanda

This movie is a little obscure so a lot of people might never have heard of it. I hadn't until I found it a while back. It is called Deranged and it is based on the life of the murderer Ed Gein. Anyone who has read up about him knows that he was from Wisconsin and he killed 2 people even though people seem to think that he was a serial killer. He was a grave robber and he kept human bones etc in his house as trophies. He lived with his mother and they had each other for years before she died too. That seemed to send him over the edge. He was caught eventually with a woman hanging upside down in his barn and disemboweled like a deer. The police found skulls, clothes made from human flesh(Silence of the Lambs, anyone?) and they found exhumed corpses. Many movies have been inspired by his story- Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Psycho, Silence of the Lambs and more.



This film was directed like a documentary with Roberts Blossom in the lead role as Ezra Cobb. He is a loner who is lost without his mother who made him think that women are evil and that he doesn't need anyone else only her. He robs her body from the cemetery and he brings mother home with him (Psycho plot). He keeps her for company, but it isn't long before he needs more 'friends' to keep in his house. He keeps taking bodies until he meets a young woman who works in the local bar and takes her home to meet 'mother'. He kills her and keeps her too. He kills two other women too which is not really what happened, but this is a movie so we can forgive that.



This movie is realistic and gritty. It isn't for the faint hearted either. Roberts Blossom is very like the real Ed Gein and he plays the part to perfection. It is interesting and while it isn't the best movie I have ever seen, it is one to watch if you are fascinated by what makes someone turn from mild-mannered mummy's boy into raving lunatic. By the way, the real Ed Gein lived to the ripe old age of 77. He died in a mental institution in Wisconsin...