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Deranged
US theatrical poster
Directed by	Jeff Gillen Alan Ormsby
Produced by	Tom Karr,
Written by	Alan Ormsby
Starring	Roberts Blossom, Cosette Lee, Leslie Carlson, Robert Warner
Music by	Carl Zittrer
Cinematography	Jack McGowan
Distributed by	American International Pictures
Release date(s)	1974
Running time	82 min
Country	Canada/USA
Language	English

Deranged is a Canadian/American horror movie made in 1974 and directed by Alan Ormsby and Jeff Gillen. It is also known by the title Deranged: The Confessions of a Necrophile in the USA. It is a low-budget movie that has since become something of a cult film and is based on life of Ed Gein.

Plot

The movie stars Roberts Blossom as Ezra Cobb, a seriously disturbed man in his fifties who is dominated by his bed-ridden mother. After his mother dies Cobb loses all grip of sanity. Lonely, Cobb begins digging up bodies of women from a local cemetery to keep his mother 'company'. Ultimately he progresses to even more horrific crimes.

At various points, a narrator (played by Leslie Carlson) walks into a scene and delivers an update on what is going on and suggesting to the viewers what horrors will lie ahead.

Cast

Roberts Blossom ... Ezra Cobb

Cosette Lee ... Amanda Cobb

Leslie Carlson ... Tom Simms

Robert Warner ... Harlon Kootz

Marcia Diamond ... Jenny Kootz

Brian Smeagle ... Brad Kootz

Arlene Gillen ... Miss Johnson

Robert McHeady ... Sheriff

Marian Waldman ... Maureen Selby

Jack Mather ... Drunk

Micki Moore ... Mary Ransum

Pat Orr ... Sally

Trivia

• The film's make-up effects were handled by a team headed by Tom Savini

• Producer Tom Karr raised the $200,000 for Deranged as a concert promoter for acts such as Led Zeppelin, Three Dog Night, The Temptations and Rod Stewart.

• Writer/co-director Alan Ormsby cameos as the picture of Maureen Selby's late husband.

• Tom Savini said in an interview that the corpses in the film were made using plastic skull kits which were glued to bodies built of chicken wire and painted cotton. The faces were created by taking plaster castings of various relatives of the crew, including producer Tom Karr's wife.

• Cosette Lee, who played Blossom's elderly mother in the film, in actuality was only 14 years older than Blossom.

• The films theme music is an instrumental version of an old religious hymn called "The Old Rugged Cross".

• Bob Clark, who previously made Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (1972) and Deathdream (1974) with Alan Ormsby and Jeff Gillen, was originally approached to direct this film. However, Clark felt the script was too disturbing for his taste so he opted to produce the film, although he used a pseudonym.

• A young Harvey Keitel auditioned for the role of Ezra Cobb.

DVD release

In 2002, MGM released Deranged as part of its "Midnite Movies" collection of double feature DVDs. It was released along with the 1980 feature film Motel Hell.

External links

• Derangedl at the Internet Movie Database
• Deranged at Allmovie