''Deranged'' is a 1987

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

directed by Chuck Vincent.

Plot

Joyce has been suffering from

schizophrenia Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...

ever since the death of her father. When Joyce is brutally attacked by a home invader, she kills the intruder by stabbing him with a pair of scissors. She later has a miscarriage as a result of the attack. As a result of her mental state, she does not call the police and instead stays isolated in her apartment, living on delivered food from and having visions of her therapist, her mother, and her father.

Cast

Veronica Hart Jane Hamilton (born 1956 or 1957) is an American film director and former pornographic film actress who performed under the stage name Veronica Hart. Described by columnist Frank Rich as "a leading porn star of the late '70s and early '80s", Ha ...

Jamie Gillis Jamie Gillis (born Jamey Ira Gurman; April 20, 1943 – February 19, 2010) was an American pornographic actor, director and member of the AVN Hall of Fame. He was married to the porn actress Serena. Early life Gillis was born Jamey Ira Gurm ...

Jerry Butler Jerry Butler Jr. (December 8, 1939 – February 20, 2025) was an American soul singer-songwriter, producer, musician, and politician. He was the original lead singer of the R&B vocal group the Impressions, who were inducted into the Rock and ...

Production

Chuck Vincent had long developed the idea of doing a single set film with flashbacks and compared it structurally to a

stage play A play is a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for theatrical performance rather than mere reading. The creator of a play is known as a playwright. Plays are staged at various levels, ranging ...

. He also cited the

Pornographic Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolved from cave paintings ...

'' Memories Within Miss Aggie'' by Gerard Damiano as an influence. Vincent shot the film in continuity over the course of five days following a three day rehearsal. In order to avoid an X-rating, the

MPAA The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, the mini-major Amazon MGM Studios, as well as the video streaming services Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. F ...

required Vincent to cut out some violence and eliminate a scene in which an intimate couple in bed was in the same shot as a baby. Vincent acquiesced as he did not feel the cut content was especially important. Vincent was unaware there was previously a 1974 film with the same title, as the MPAA never told him. He was able to keep the title as the producers of the 1974 film never registered the title. Veronica Hart was credited under her real name Jane Hamilton in the film.

Release

''Deranged'' had its premiere at the

1987 Cannes Film Festival The 40th Cannes Film Festival took place from 7 to 19 May 1987. French-Italian actor Yves Montand served as jury president for the main competition. French filmmaker Maurice Pialat won the ''Palme d'Or'', the festival's top prize, for the drama ...

on May 10, 1987. A release in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

followed on October 30, 1987.

Reception

Rob Winning, writing for

Cinefantastique ''Cinefantastique'' is an American horror, fantasy, and science fiction film magazine. History The magazine originally started as a mimeographed fanzine in 1967, then relaunched as a glossy, offset printed quarterly in 1970 by publisher/ ed ...

, praised the direction and ending, but called the acting "abysmal". Caryn James, in a review for

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

, gave the film a negative review, writing that "None of this is very suspenseful or convincing." Michael Weldon's ''The Psychotronic Video Guide'' described the film as "pretty unwatchable" and "one of those pretentious reality-vs-fantasy plots that allow the director to get away with all kinds of nonsense." The film has been compared to the 1980 rape and revenge film ''Demented''.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0092872 1987 horror films American horror films Films about schizophrenia Films about child sexual abuse