| Based on the real life of notorious serial killer Ed Gein, Deranged more closely resembles the real life events than the two other more famous variations: Hitchcock's PSYCHO and Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Roberts Blossoms plays Ezra Cobb, a guy who is very emotionally and psychologically attached to his mother. Indeed, when she dies, he mummifies her body, and keeps it around the house for good company.
When that doesn't prove enough to satisfy Ezra's deranged mind, he kills a few other unsuspecting women, and keeps them around his digs as well. It'll be a house party with Momma!
Dare we say it? Blossoms delivers a beautifully nuanced performance as Ezra - even coming off at times as a shy, sympathetic (!) character. The role of narrarator proves to be occasionally awkward, as he casually walks into a few of the scenes moving the action forward. But it's a trivial criticism that shouldn't detract you from watching this superior '70s grindhouse effort.
With special effects by Tom Savini.
Written and directed by Alan Ormsby, who would also go on to scribe such genre entries as Bob Clark's Deathdream in 1974, and Paul Schrader's Cat People in 1982.
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