Review
Dive headfirst into the twisted, grim world of Ed Gein—resurrected here as the unhinged Ezra Cobb—in a low-budget shocker that tries to bridge the chilling subtlety of Psycho with the raw, savage terror of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It’s like watching a deadly dance between quiet menace and gruesome chaos, but caught awkwardly between the two, never quite landing the full punch. Our man Cobb snarls and grimaces in a performance that’s equal parts stage-play hysteria and unsettling madness, but the constant, wide-eyed frenzy sometimes feels like it’s shouting at the screen rather than whispering into your nightmares. And oh, that honking organ funeral music! Instead of creeping you out, it grates like a foghorn in a graveyard, totally killing the vibe. Lighting? A nightmare. Harsh, clinical beams that throw giant shadows and expose every crack on the set, reminding you it’s all just a stage. Which is a shame, because the creepy, Resident Evil-level madness of Cobb’s lair screams atmosphere, and with some moody shadows, it could’ve been pure cinematic poison. The echoey sound doesn’t help either, yanking you out of the terror and into the cheapness of the setup. Still, beneath the flaws lies a fascinating freakshow with enough dark ideas to fuel a killer remake. With bigger bucks, sharper direction, and a cast that knows how to creep instead of convulse, Deranged could morph into a gritty, spine-tingling masterpiece of psycho horror. Until then, it’s a bizarre cult beast you’ll want to revisit—if only to stare into the madness and wonder how close to the edge it really came.