Demented (1980)

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 sexMeanwhile, 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: 1.85:1Subtitles: EnglishLanguage: EnglishDiscs: Blu-ray Disc; single discRegion Encoding: Region ASpecial features: none!

Demented involves a woman who is gang raped. Those involved are arrested and put away. Our main actress comes back home to a cheating husband. She has trouble adjusting to her new life. The neighbor kids pull mean pranks on her (really mean). Eventually, she snaps and goes DEMENTED.Very lackluster until the last ten minutes. Even then, you endure a lot of boring scenes, bad acting, and me just wondering why this movie was made. Not very gory. Slasher collectors of that time period will love it. Not a great movie, though.It's not like I Spit on you Grave or Thriller where the revenge is well-plotted out and built up. Demented is a very wimpy version of those other rape revenge flicks.The blu-ray looks fantastic. Great picture quality. No extras. Boo.

Thank you!

Bootleg from a VHS source. This is a bootleg taken from a VHS source. The film has no official DVD release. If you buy, the quality will be awful.

I loved it!

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

It's shocking to me that some people don't realize that this is a satire of the rape/revenge genre of the period, and is intended as a black comedy. The fact that EVERY character is a wildly exaggerated caricature of a horror movie cliche SHOULD have clued in even the dullest of viewers. Maybe it's because people are watching this in a current mindset, and not how it was perceived in 1980. Back then it was possible to make a "rape comedy," unlike today where the mere thought would land a filmmaker in court. Sallee Elyse (an actress talented enough to get gang raped without her sunglasses falling off) is the ultimate victim, who shrieks and literally talks like a baby while wearing her skimpy outfits, while she is being abused by none other than Harry Reems(!) who plays her hysterically unfaithful husband, who sneaks out literally every night to be with his cartoonish bimbo. She's a gold digger who asks Reems how much money he makes as a doctor, 5 seconds after he ejaculates inside of her. As her husband spends every night out of the house, the door is open for all kinds of abuse to be inflicted on his unstable wife, who seems to be on the receiving end of sexual harassment every time she turns around. The first half of this film plays out much like a suburban soap opera, complete with hysterically inane conversations that always culminate in our rape heroine squawking that she just wants to be alone, while Reems smugly breezes in and out of the house with lame excuses to explain his absences. Fans of John Waters "Polyester" will notice many similarities here. The casual pace is designed to lull the viewer into a false sense of security, so when the finale comes it is quite jarring, and not that funny anymore, (unless you are one who possesses a dark sense of humor.) It's also great to see Harry Reems in a non-hardcore role; Reems was a fascinating personality who never lacked a sense of humor, and was good in everything he appeared in. "Demented" is such a fun movie, and a great example of a time when movies could really try anything without being judged or criticized by a dull audience that really has no business watching stuff like this. Those viewers should stick to the current rot being churned out by Hollywood, and leave this vintage stuff alone. This is GOLD.

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.

Thanks

Excellent

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.

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