Before ‘Monster: The Ed Gein Story,’ Stream This Underrated Gein-Inspired 70s Shocker
Ed Gein is viewed by many true crime fanatics as the first serial killer of the modern era, and his infamy has led to a number of films and TV series inspired by his crimes. From Psycho to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and beyond, Gein is impacting pop culture in a major way.
On October 3, that impact will widen even more with the release of Monster: The Ed Gein Story, the latest true crime Netflix series from Ryan Murphy. The Monster series might be the biggest project to ever tackle Gein’s story directly, but it’s far from the first. In fact, if you’re looking for more Gein-inspired terror, you should absolutely seek out a 50-year-old cult classic based on his crimes.
One of just three films to feature direction from writer and visual effects legend Alan Ormsby, Deranged was released in 1974, and at the time, it was arguably the most direct exploration of Gein’s crimes in fiction to that point. Gein had already inspired things like Psycho, of course, but Deranged, co-directed by Ormsby and Jeff Gillen, took things to an even more direct place.
Like Gein’s real life, Deranged is the story of a simple Midwestern farmer, named Ezra Cobb in the film and played with remarkable humanity by Roberts Blossom. Like Gein, Cobb is a single man with serious mother issues, and his mother’s (Cosettle Lee) death rattles him to the point of near-total isolation. Deranged explores the impact of this on Cobb’s life, and what happens when the voices in his head urge him to dig up his mother, then begin populating his home with more corpses.
There’s no doubt that the film comes from an exploitation cinema place—its full title upon release was Deranged: Confessions of a Necrophile—but there’s a lot of meat here beyond the shock value. Rather than a straightforward dramatization, Deranged frames Cobb’s life and crimes through the lens of a journalist (Leslie Carlson) who is essentially retelling the killer’s life, hitting all the key beats in his evolution from lonely, disturbed man to a killer who’s…well, deranged. It was an interesting device even in 1974, providing breaks for context in between Cobb’s crimes, but now, in the age of true crime dissection, when everyone is trying to play with the formula for these stories, it feels almost revolutionary.
But the real draw for all of this is Blossom, who is remarkable as Ezra Cobb. He’s frightening, yes, but there’s an intense vulnerability to his work, in the way his eyes shift from childlike to frightened, lonely man to cold-blooded killer in seconds. It’s one of the great horror performances of the 1970s, and it deserves more admirers.
Deranged was basically lost in the late 20th century, but in the age of physical media preservation, it’s found a new audience thanks to a 2015 Blu-ray release and frequent streaming service appearances. Right now it’s streaming on Prime Video, and if you’re ready to get dark and weird with some ’70s horror, it’s a great addition to your Halloween watchlist.
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