Deranged (1971) Full Review

Film Scene Investigation

Here’s my review of the film, Deranged.   Thanks for watching and please subscribe. New content dropping every week.   For Exclusive Content:  https://www.patreon.com/filmsceneinvestigation   Rumble:  https://www.rumble.com/filmsceneinvestigations   Odysee:  https://odysee.com/@filmsceneinvestigation:e   Daily Motion:  https://www.dailymotion.com/Filmsceneinvestigation   Help Support Me At:  https://www.PayPal.me/beaucarter91

Transcript

00:12hey guys how's it going it's a new week and i'm back here on the film scene investigation

00:18channel hope you're all doing really good today i'm going to be taking a look at the 1974 horror

00:25film deranged this was a film that up until recently i had heard nothing about i had or was

00:37reading some articles online about the most underrated horror films and deranged was listed

00:44so yeah decided to you know check it out do some research and to my surprise in the lead role

00:51was

00:52the late actor robert blossom this intrigued me because i only knew the actor from films like

01:00escape from alcatraz or of course home alone his most famous role so yeah i mean they were like

01:09supporting small parts but here robert blossom was you know in the lead and yeah it intrigued me so

01:16i decided to check it out just before we get into the review guys as always if you haven't already

01:24please do consider subscribing to the channel all the support is greatly appreciated so deranged from

01:341974 was a film that was directed by two filmmakers alan ormsby and jeff gillen now this was very much

01:44a low budget production i think all in all deranged cost around about two hundred thousand dollars to

01:51make chump change in today's standards but yeah i mean watching the film and looking at what these

01:59young filmmakers were able to achieve on such a low budget it's quite impressive as for the plot

02:07the story focused on the character ezra cobb who was played by robert blossom he was a quiet man

02:16a reserved man who was looking after his bedridden mother who was played by actress corset lee

02:23she was a frail old lady who had just suffered a stroke leaving her bedridden and with only her son

02:32to

02:33depend on ezra cooked for her cleaned did everything basically running the house while she just laid

02:41there and i mean this whole thing went on for years years and years as the mother slowly faded away

02:49and eventually she did succumb to her illness dying suddenly in front of ezra this was a real blow

02:57for ezra this well it was devastating i mean he was left in despair and confusion over what to do

03:06next

03:07you see ezra came from a sheltered life he had no girlfriends no friends literally the only person in his

03:17life was his mother and now he was all alone that one significant relationship that ezra had had

03:26in his whole entire life was suddenly over and i will say you know from the very start i think

03:35it

03:35was pretty clear that the ezra cobb character wasn't all there you know he uh i would say he was

03:44completely crazy but he seemed a little off but once his mother died his mental health it really

03:52declined with his mental fragility ezra ended up hearing voices in his head the voice of his mother

04:01telling him what and what not to do this of course was the start of this complete mental breakdown

04:10that ezra was going to have to suffer these voices in his head they didn't stop you know he really

04:18thought that his mother was talking to him from her coffin you know her gravestone and so this actually

04:26led ezra to one night finally decide to go to the cemetery and dig up his mother of course

04:35it's an absolutely crazed idea you know why would anyone do that you know to exhume a body literally is

04:43what you're doing but of course she'll be surprised i mean ezra really had lost the plot and seemed to

04:52be

04:52just in this strange mental state he had completely lost the plot and so subsequently he took his mother

05:03back home back home and just pretended like nothing could happen like she wasn't actually dead

05:12it was almost like ezra's whole life was him looking after his mother that was all that he knew so

05:22to

05:22suddenly not do that for that to be taken away from him he couldn't handle that he wanted things to

05:31go

05:31back to the way back to the way they were and so we saw him once again tending to his

05:37mother his

05:38his mother's dead corpse as if you know she was still alive as you can imagine nature took its course

05:47and the body started to decompose very quickly ezra realized that his mother you know her skin was

05:55literally falling off and uh well he couldn't have that he needed to find some sort of skin replacement

06:04ezra was determined to find a solution to his problem and he tried you know various different

06:12things but nothing seemed to work of course the only thing that really would work would be

06:19actual human skin and that's what he decided to start using all ezra needed to do was to find fresh

06:28bodies and thanks to the obituary pages in the newspaper suddenly ezra could get hold of any body

06:37he wanted from there ezra's life it was uh well it spiraled into madness he started digging up graves in

06:47order to preserve his mother's you know it wasn't practical you know continuously trying to

06:56place skin onto a dead corpse i mean it's just ridiculous but in ezra's head it seemed like the

07:03normal thing to do the whole thing was completely depraved disgusting and sadistic and you see even for

07:12ezra eventually you know long-term digging up body after body it became too tiring for him so then he

07:19decided just to start killing random women so if you didn't know already this film deranged was loosely based

07:30on the real life serial killer ed gein a man who killed i believe he killed at least two people

07:38he was

07:38convicted of killing two but this guy was a complete psycho and uh very much in the same vein as

07:47ezra copp

07:48the ed gein story would actually inspire many different horror films such as the texas chainsaw massacre

07:57and even the character buffalo bill who appeared in silence of the lambs but when it comes to deranged from

08:041974 it's arguable that this is the most accurate and truthful representation now i don't really want to

08:14start discussing ed gein the guy's a complete crazed madman monster deserved everything he got but i will

08:22say is knowing his story and then watching deranged and seeing the grave robbing and yeah the skinning the

08:31body parts i mean um it was pretty faithful to what actually happened i remember as a kid

08:42reading up about ed gein and you know one thing is you know reading what he did and that's kind

08:46of

08:47bad enough but to see some of the photos that i saw on google images as a kid like i

08:54was like oh my god

08:55what am i seeing here you know all these bodies hung up and uh just just i mean it looked

09:00like

09:02a horror film literally so yeah i mean there's no denying that ed gein was indeed a mentally disturbed

09:11man and that actually brings me on to the film's overall themes because definitely mental illness

09:20played a played a played a factor in that if we look at the ezra character it's quite obvious that

09:27this man had a very sheltered life and a very sheltered childhood with his mother basically shielding

09:35him away from the world essentially i mean for me it was a form of child abuse not allowing your

09:44son to

09:44fully develop i mean there's no other way around it it's it's neglectful to say the least and of course

09:53it had a lasting effect on ezra's mental health you know he was unable to meet women unable to form

10:02relationships i mean his whole life was in the confines of that family home and so

10:11once you have that full understanding of the ezra character you know it's hard not to feel a little

10:17bit of sympathy for him yeah i'm not making excuses for the guy i mean the guy was dangerous he

10:23should

10:23have been locked up 100 but underneath it all i mean because ezra wasn't this pure evil force

10:34you know underneath he already was just a guy who had well he'd been failed as a child another aspect

10:43of the film that i noticed was the loss of a loved one something i think we can all relate

10:51to now

10:52obviously ezra had a major significant relationship with his mother and once she was gone he was completely

11:02left to his own devices i mean losing a mother losing a parent you know it's hard enough but to

11:12be in the

11:14same situation as ezra where he never had the mental mental strength to kind of understand and accept that

11:24situation of course it was going to tip him over the edge yes this was a very macabre story that

11:33heavily

11:34leaned into the horror elements yet the film featuring that whole grieving process it certainly uh it

11:43certainly grounded the film for me having all of that play out on screen certainly added some context

11:49to ezra's story and gave us a better understanding of how this guy went from you know one minute

11:57looking after his mother to start killing random women i'm not trying to excuse the guy's actions of

12:04course not but knowing all of that knowing all of the context i think it could be argued that ezra's

12:11crazed behavior was a cry for help now moving on to the technical side of things when it came to

12:19the

12:19gore and effects deranged certainly didn't shy away from showing some disturbing imagery throughout the

12:27entire film from the disgusting eye gouging scene to when ezra literally put on the leather face mask i mean

12:36it was uh yeah it was very very creepy stuff but i will say you know in terms of the

12:43practical effects

12:44and knowing just the kind of limitations that these filmmakers were working within they really impressed

12:51me they really did a great job and with that i wanted to bring up the dinner table scene that

12:58came

12:58towards the end of the film where ezra was sat around with numerous dead corpses ready to

13:06have an evening meal one of ezra's victims a waitress called mary who had been taken hostage

13:14was witness to all of this madness playing out in front of her it was so weird you know so

13:21creepy

13:22and because it was just so random i mean you didn't know whether to laugh or cry

13:28just these dead bodies you know skeletons sitting at the table and ezra just looking on

13:34yeah it was uh just uh just i don't know what to say it was just crazy crazy shit i

13:41really did enjoy

13:41this sequence though because it really encapsulated ezra's mental state i mean a complete psychopath that

13:49needed to be arrested and put in a jail cell it's one of the best scenes i think in the

13:56entire film and

13:58watching it it really did remind me of the dinner table scene in the texas chainsaw massacre of course

14:07deranged and the texas chainsaw massacre both came out the same year in 1974 and were both you know

14:14loosely based on the egg gain story so yeah some very kind of interesting parallels between the two movies

14:22when it comes to the performances i thought the late actor robert blossom was superb playing the sadistic

14:29killer ezra cobb he was so charismatic on screen he did a lot of his acting through his eyes

14:39and his facial expressions and ultimately it made him this reserved force of nature now robert blossom

14:50looks nothing like the real life ed gain but that wasn't necessarily something that the filmmakers were

14:58attempting to do you know trying to come up with this authentic like-for-like you know biography on the

15:05gene story but it also didn't stop robert blossom from kind of channeling that evil energy into his own

15:14performance yes ezra was an unstable man absolutely he was unhinged but i did feel sympathy for the

15:25character and i think that was all down to the abilities of robert blossom as he was able to

15:32convey this innocence you kind of wanted to hate the guy but just from the way he held himself you

15:42know like this kind of frail older man he didn't necessarily seem all that intimidating just a great

15:50performance from blossom and i would also say that this is very much robert blossoms movie in the sense

15:57that he's obviously in the lead he's pretty much in nearly every scene and all of the side

16:04characters you know are pretty much inconsequential i'm not saying that the other actors involved

16:13weren't good i don't think there was any bad performances but there was so much focus on the ezra

16:20cobb character that um yeah everyone else really just seemed kind of irrelevant and so dislikes for

16:29deranged from 1974. my biggest dislike for the film would have to be the subtle criticism of the christian

16:39faith as the film tried to portray ezra's mother as this kind of crazed religious nut who

16:49tormented her son now this was subtle as i said it wasn't something that uh well i mean for a

16:57general

16:57audience you may have missed it but ultimately it's perceived that the mother used this religious dogma

17:10to brainwash to brainwash her son now there's no denying that ezra's mother was batshit crazy i mean

17:19there's no denying that she did neglect her son she shielded him from the world like i've said

17:24she was a bad mother but to try and tie this in to the christian faith

17:32to me it just seemed pretty unnecessary like there were scenes where you know she had the bible in her

17:38hand and she was proclaiming this proclaiming that and it just made her out to be yeah this crazy woman

17:45you know talking this babble about you know god and all this yeah but that's the point you see it's

17:54trying to in a way give this negative outlook on religion specifically christianity the negative

18:02perception i i just didn't care for but you know i'm not surprised because pro-christian values are

18:13or have been continuously mocked throughout american cinema for the last well 80 years it's all part of

18:22hollywood's long-term psychological operation to devalue western values and hey it seemed to have

18:31worked i mean look at the 20s 21st century now what we're dealing with and yeah as i said i'm

18:38not

18:38surprised i mean it's from their playbook and you know who are they you know i gotta be careful here

18:48but uh let's just say the non-christians and the non-christians use you know they created hollywood

18:55they use this system to negatively portray certain things and that's what you get here with deranged

19:04and you know i say all of this because i mean you tell me if i'm wrong but we've seen

19:11it so many

19:12times before you know down you know downplaying the christians okay but wouldn't it have been more

19:18interesting is if the mother was maybe a muslim or maybe even jewish that would have been interesting

19:26because we don't see that very often in american cinema but of course the filmmakers and those in

19:32charge went with the default mode to uh you know criticize the christians right on brother and so

19:41ratings for deranged from 1974 after thinking about it i'm gonna be rating this film a solid 5.5 out

19:54of

19:5410. the movie was an intriguing exploration into the mind the crazed mind of ezra copp now

20:02while this film deranged isn't as flashy as films like the texas chainsaw massacre or silence of the

20:11lambs i still think that this movie has a lot to offer there was a lot more psychological depth going

20:20on in this film and i think a lot of that should be credited to the brilliant performance from the

20:27late

20:27robert blossom a lesser known actor you know or an actor who didn't have the same abilities i don't

20:34think it would have worked and so yeah credit to the casting agents for getting robert blossom

20:40on board with this project if you've seen deranged from 1974 then please let me know your thoughts and

20:48memories in the comment section below it's always good to read your guys opinions for those out there

20:55who have not seen this one yet for me it is a recommendation even if they do have a negative

21:03outlook on the christian faith but uh yeah i mean if you're a fan of the texas chainsaw massacre

21:09specifically the first one then i think you will really enjoy this i mean they would make a great

21:17double feature deranged and the texas chainsaw massacre both as i said have kind of very

21:23loosely parallel stories and both are very gripping to watch and well that is all from me today guys i

21:32do

21:32hope you've enjoyed this video my review of deranged from 1974 i'll be back next week of course with

21:41another cult movie review if you haven't already please do consider subscribing i really do appreciate

21:47it and of course guys take care

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