First released in 1974, Deranged tells the story of Ezra Cobb (Roberts Blossom).

In the 1950s, Ezra is a shy and withdrawn farmer who lives in Wisconsin with his elderly mother (Cosette Lee).  Ezra’s mother has raised Ezra to view all other women as being evil and to view sex as being sinful.  The end result is that the middle-aged Ezra is absolutely devoted to his mother but he also has no idea what to do with himself after she dies and is buried in the nearby cemetery.  After a year of being alone in the farm house, Ezra starts to hear voices telling him to dig up his mother.  Ezra does so but, disappointed to see how much her body has decayed over the past few months, he decides that he should start digging up fresher bodies so that he can “rebuild” his mother.

Eeeek!

Yes, it’s a creepy story and it’s all the more creepy for being true.  Ezra Cobb is based on Ed Gein, the farmer, grave robber, and serial killer whose actions not only shocked the town of Plainfield but which also inspired Robert Bloch to create the character of Norman Bates.  Psycho was based on Ed Gein’s crimes.  So was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, with the bone-strewn home and Leatherface’s habit of wearing other people’s faces lifted directly from some of the more sordid details of what was found at Gein’s home.  By the time the police discovered what had been happening at the farm, Ed Gein had moved on from grave robbing to committing murders.  It’s known that Ed Gein killed at least three people.  It’s suspected that he was responsible for more.  Interestingly enough, Ed Gein was described as being very friendly and helpful after he was captured.  He spent the rest of his life in various mental hospitals, where he was described as being a model patient.

A low-budget Canadian production, Deranged plays out in a documentary fashion, featuring enough gore that the film was actually banned in some countries.  That said, as bloody as certain scenes are, there’s a strong strain of dark humor running through Deranged.  As played by character actor Roberts Blossom, the dazed but always polite Ezra never makes much of an attempt to hide his activities.  When Ezra’s friend, Harlan (Robert Warner), reads aloud an article about a missing barmaid, Ezra replies that the barmaid is over at his place.  Harlan has a good laugh at the idea and Ezra responds with a somewhat shy smile.  No one in town suspects Ezra, largely because he doesn’t hunt and he always seem to be so quiet and mild-mannered.  Even when Ezra points a rifle at a store clerk, she laughs and asks, “What are you doing, Ez?” and, given that Ezra looks so harmless, it’s easy to understand why.  Ezra?  Why, he wouldn’t hurt a fly!  Interestingly enough, everyone around Ezra is far more openly violent and misogynistic than Ezra.  Harlan brags about his ability as a hunter.  A man in a bar makes misogynistic comments about the bar maid who has become Ezra’s latest obsession.  Though Ezra is the one who acts on his impulses, the film suggests that Ezra isn’t that different from the other men in town.

In a rare starring role, Roberts Blossom gives a strong performance as Ezra, playing him as someone who is so far divorced from reality that he actually seems to be genuinely offended when one of his victims tries to escape from the barn.  Blossom plays Ezra as someone who alternates between being a violent madman and someone who has an almost childlike need for approval.

Ed Gein was one of the first serial killers to become national news and Deranged acknowledges this by featuring a newsman (Leslie Carlson) who not only serves as the film’s narrator but who also occasionally shows up in Gein’s farmhouse, speaking directly to the camera and explaining what was going on in Gein’s life at the time.  It’s actually an effective technique, one that acknowledges the media obsession with the crimes of men like Ed Gein.  That obsession, of course, led to movies, including Deranged.  In many ways, Deranged’s use of the newsman is prophetic.  It predicted a future in which the media would play their part into turning serial killers into almost mythological figures, sneaking their way through the more shadowy parts of American history.

Deranged is an effective film.  For a long time, it was also believed to be a lost film.  After the film’s 1974 run, all prints of the film disappeared.  Fortunately, in the mid-90s, a copy was found in Florida and both the film and Roberts Blossoms’s performances got the reevaluation and appreciation that they deserved.