Overview: Real-life Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein inspired many distinguished films, including Psycho, The Silence of the Lambs and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, but none is quite as disturbing as Deranged.
Roberts Blossom gives an alarmingly convincing performance as rural eccentric Ezra Cobb, whose mother’s death unhinges him to the point where he not only lovingly preserves her corpse in the living room but also goes out to find ‘friends’ to keep her company – not all of whom are dead when he finds them! Perversely, Ezra’s more worried about what mother would say about his various activities than he is about the prospect of being found out. Indeed, like Gein, he’s cheerfully open about his activities when visiting friends, but no-one believes him.
Like Carnival of Souls and The Honeymoon Killers, this is one of American horror cinema’s great one-offs, an eerie, genuinely unsettling but also darkly comic experience.
DVD PAL Region 2
Blu-Ray Region B
Special Features:
-High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the unrated version, featuring the infamous ‘brain-scooping scene’, available uncut in the UK for the first time!
-Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
-Audio commentary with special effects artist Tom Savini
-Introduction to the film by Savini
-A Blossoming Brilliance: Scott Spiegel (Intruder, Evil Dead II) speaks about Deranged star Roberts Blossom and the lasting legacy of this gore-soaked gem
-Ed Gein: From Murder to Movies – Laurence R. Harvey (The Human Centipide II) discusses the lurid legacy of the Wisconsin serial killer and the secrets of portraying a cinematic psychopath
-The Wages of Sin – Making of featurette comprising newly transferred 16mm production footage plus an archive interview with director Jeff Gillen
-Original Trailer
-Stills gallery
-Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Nat Marsh
-Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Stephen Thrower, author of Nightmare USA, and an archive interview with producer Bob Clark by Calum Waddell, illustrated with original archive stills and posters
Region B/2
