Horror On A Porn Budget

Sometimes miracles really do happen. I have proof. “Deranged” is a little movie made in in 1987. It was directed by Chuck Vincent. The cast and crew were primarily from the porn industry. The film was shot on a single set. (I’d bet good money that the same set was probably used in at least one other film, and it was probably a porno.) The budget pretty much had to be as low if not lower than a fast porn flick. You can see camera shadows and boom mics and the unfinished edge of the upper part of the set.

With all of these problems, you’d expect the worst. I mean, Chuck Vincent (I’ll explain later for those who don’t know the name.), for the love of peanut butter!!

Sure, you get a cheap-looking film, but there is so much going on in this film that, even if you don’t ultimately like it, at least one scene or element of the film should connect with you in some way. It might be the acting or interesting use of the single set. You might be impressed with the blocking of the scenes. Possibly you could be fascinated by the shifting realities of the plot.

Confused? Well, I won’t make promises, but let’s see what we can sort out when it comes to “Deranged”.

Joyce is a pregnant woman whose husband Frank is leaving for a month abroad on business. Before the movie is five minutes in, we know that Joyce has a history of mental illness, that Frank is a bit of an ass, and that Frank and Mary Ann, Joyce’s half-sister, may be having an affair.

Joyce is hesitant to have lunch with her mother and Mary Ann once Frank has left, so it is obvious that she isn’t thrilled with her family. Ultimately, to avoid any conflict, Joyce submits to lunch. Lunch was really just a pretense to throw a baby shower for the first-time mother. After she opens a baby blanket given as a gift, Joyce starts slipping into her own little world, seeing and hearing people who aren’t there. The rest of the people are too caught up in their own business to notice.

Joyce is dropped at her and Frank’s apartment by Mary Ann. Once inside the apartment, Joyce is attacked by a man in a ski mask. He beats her and stomps on her swollen belly. In spite of the pain and fear, she manages to grab a pair of scissors and kills the man before suffering a miscarriage due to the beating.

At this point, all logic steps out for a long walk on a short pier. Joyce’s savagely untethered mind floats from paranoid fantasies to flashbacks of her childhood to interactions with people both real and imagined. These fragments of Joyce’s shattered mind allow the audience to slowly piece together what caused Joyce’s original breakdown as well as her unstable marriage and contempt for both her mother and her half-sister. You may find yourself sympathetic to the main character one moment and wondering how much of her “remembered” trauma might have completely different explanations in the next. She is the model of an unreliable witness, and, during this movie, you are trapped in her head.

Let’s talk Chuck Vincent for a few minutes. The bulk of his output as a film director tended to be porn or material that wanted to be porn but was crafted for drive-in theaters. A lot of his films are poorly structured wrecks. That doesn’t mean that you can’t find some of his film entertaining; just don’t pop in a movie of his with the expectation of watching a master craftsman. Ain’t happening. You will often find yourself swinging from tedium to giggling at the ineptitude in his movies.

What you don’t expect from Chuck Vincent is a fairly mature handling of some pretty uncomfortable issues. Oh, I don’t think he deserves a lifetime achievement award just for this film. I do find it notable that he curbed his occasional urge to be sleazy to give this film a bit more gravitas.

Also worth noting is the blocking done in this movie. Blocking is establishing where actors need to be in a given scene and how they move within that scene so that the camera can focus as needed. This film, in using a single set, has to orchestrate moving actors into and out of the shots so that Joyce’s mental breakdown can be properly populated with her constantly shifting memories. If nothing else, herding groups of actors through the set without chaos should impress even the most casual film fan.

The biggest take away with “Deranged” is the lead actress, Veronica Hart (listed as Jane Hamilton in the credits). She was a major fixture in the porn industry and also managed to end up in a large number of Chuck Vincent films. After hearing she is a porn actress, you might be prone to discount her acting ability. You couldn’t make a bigger mistake. She is on camera for nearly every second of this film. A good number of scenes are actually done with cuts, so she is called upon to change location, clothes, period in her character’s life, and mental states all within a single, non-stop scene. She nails it. You believe it when she reverts back to childhood before turning into sexy wife of a tennis pro and then cowering in fear as her past returns to haunt her again and again. Ms. Hart makes Joyce a believable and sympathetic lead, even when she ends up doing things you can’t condone.

 
Not really a horror movie as much as it is a simulation of a complete mental breakdown. Definitely worth watching just to see something a little different from people who normally don’t attempt something on the level of “Repulsion” of which “Deranged” is a fairly close copy.