Demented (1980)

Never thought I'd see this on blu-ray awesome.

I must say I liked this strange exploitation film. It's kind of like a lifetime original drama with a twisted Horror edge. I enjoyed it despite having a somewhat in satisfying ending. I felt it could have been more, but the film turned out to be an enjoyable little demented treat!

I loved it!

Many disturbing Murder, She Wrote connections. Anyway... Directed by Arthur Jeffries - his first and last. An odd choice for Scream/Shout! Factory bluray treatment. Not much of a cult following, if any. I doubt many were clamoring for a bluray release... If you enjoyed I Spit on Your Grave but felt that we spent too much time getting to know Jennifer and sympathizing with her, here's one for you. Demented begins with a nameless woman walking past a barn. Four youngish thugs jump her and rape her. Then she is released from a sanitarium (a sign reads 'Sanatorium' at the end of a long driveway - no structure visible.) We are three minutes into the movie, gang. It’s okay though, because Demented then gives you about an hour (of bizzare melodrama) to catch your breath as we are finally introduced to our heroine, Linda (Sallie Young, Murder She Wrote). It might have been better to do this before she was raped, but Demented is a bad boy and don’t play by no rules, man. Linda is picked up from the sanitarium by her husband, played by porn actor - who, as far as I know, never passed through Cabot Cove - Harry Reems(!), who gives a pretty good performance, in his only(?) legit film. The same cannot be said of Sallee Young, who plays Linda as a shrill woman-child; more petulant than traumatised. Maybe my dislike of her acting stems from my annoyance of actors playing ‘crazy’ – see Don’t Look in the Basement for a similarly hackneyed example. (Not every film is Repulsion or Let's Scare Jessica to Death in this regard, but still...) She’s not helped by some appalling dialogue courtesy of, Alex Rebar - writer of Alice, Sweet Alice and David Hess' (Krug, ffom Last House on the Left) first - and last, directorial effort, To All a Goodnight and sometime actor (Murder, She Wrote) He's done better. Sample dialog: 'he was a trickster, my father. He always had a good one up his sleeve.’ Later, as Linda is about to be assaulted again, she dully intones, ‘Oh no, this can’t be happening. Not again,’ sounding like she’s just slept in again. It’s like a spoof. Who knows? Sallie Young appeared in the slasher-spoof, Pandemonium (directed by Alfred Sole, best known for the infamous Tanya's Island and Alice, Sweet Alice). There’s also a funny scene where Harry is talking with the doctor, who is explaining how fragile her mental state is after being raped. ‘I suppose sex is out of the question?’ asks Harry, visibly disappointed. The movie chugs along, as we learn that Harry is cheating on Linda with a young woman (her name escapes me, she did guest on Murder, She Wrote as per IMDb) who’s after his money. The scenes between those two are among the best in the film, particularly in a (intentionally?) funny interrogation during sex Meanwhile, Linda fears she may be being stalked by her young neighbor and his friends. They attack her in her home, wearing effectively creepy gargoyle masks, and for a while it’s unclear whether it’s all in Linda’s mind. It’s an interesting idea that is unceremoniously dropped when we discover that no, it’s not her imagination. This leads to the last third of the film, when she finally snaps and murders the four boys, including an eye-watering testicle garrotting. It makes a change to see a woman sexually humiliating men in a film like this, and the violence is savage – the film is relatively entertaining (on several levels). Alas, the film crashes to a halt with an extended dinner table one on one between Linda and one of the boys, in a scene that goes on and on with a limp payoff, before the final moment. I’m surprised this didn't achieve much notoriety (I've just heard of it) as it can be quite nasty and rather dehumanizes its female lead from start to finish. It’s a sicko journey, one worth taking, especially if you dig what the Italians were doing with the rape/revenge format around the same time. Or if you're just into schlocky fare. An odd one, this. Screen Format: 1.85:1 Subtitles: English Language: English Discs: Blu-ray Disc; single disc Region Encoding: Region A Special features: none!

This movie is a thriller in the same vein as "I Spit on your Grave". A cheaply done flick with atrocious acting and despicable characters throughout. A shrewish lady is brutally raped by 4 assailants at the beginning of the film. They are incarcerated but she is having a difficult time recovering, which is understandable. Its rather slow going and most of the movie is so dark that your eyes have a hard time adjusting. The protagonist is hard to sympathize with, she has this whiny, high pitched voice that could break glass. One funny tidbit, the main character is visited by her sister who for some reason has an English accent, why? I guess it really doesn't make a difference in this movie.

Thank you!

Great revenge thriller set to be released by Shout Factory and again Shout Factory is too precious to release a DVD/Blu-Ray combo! Oh, No! DVD is too downmarket for them now! I hope somebody else like Vinegar Syndrome brings out a twin format release like they did with Slaughterhouse, previously on Shout Factory Blu-Ray only release!

I remember this rather fondly from the early days of VHS rental. It has elements of REPULSION, I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, and CLASS OF 1984/ A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. It's also one of a handful of films that I disagreed with Michael Weldon on in his original PSYCHOTRONIC. Fans of the rape/revenge genre might want to give it a look.

Un film rare à trouver.... pour les amateurs du genre thriller, vous serez satisfait..!

Thanks

Sallee Elyse stars as Linda Rodgers who within the first few minutes of the film is gang raped in a horse stable. The attackers are caught and imprisoned but Linda starts to loose her grip on reality just as a new set of tormentors start terrorising her leading to her becoming "Demented". What begins as a decent exploitation film descends into frankly a bit of a mess. The main problems are firstly Elyse' performance, after the rape your sympathy's are focused on her but she becomes so hysterical, irritating and shrill it becomes almost impossible to stay on her side. Having watched Elyse in another (section 3) film Home Sweet Home I was intrigued to see her give a very different performance here, whilst she is not that great an actress I have to wonder weather the irritating high-pitched performance she gives here is what the makers were looking for. Porn star Harry Reems obviously trying to distance himself from his porn days uses the alias of Bruce Gilchrist, his role in the film is really of no interest, he plays Elyse' husband who is having an affair but the subplot really doesn't go anywhere and is used only as padding. The first half is structured much better than the second which is a bit all over the place however some of the death set pieces are done quite well. Overall a watchable and dare I say it sometimes fun little film, you could do a lot worse on the section 3 Nasties list.

I sat through this and came away with the impression that it's nothing more than a boring, watered-down. upper-class suburban version of I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE. The cover art is a still that's taken from the only decent scene in the movie. I love Schlock Cinema but this is definitely one for the re-sell pile.

The copy for this movie is not that good, just like the movie and a couple of cans of your top tipple won't solve the problem either as watching it feels like you have already had some cans as the picture is not good. This is for the desert island classics copy.