Norman Bates. Leatherface. Buffalo Bill. They all trace back to Plainfield, Wisconsin’s Ed Gein who got himself caught with a farmhouse full of mutilated corpses back in ’57. And this flick is pretty much Ed’s story, but with foxier victims and told in a pseudo-documentary style with a “journalist” (Leslie Carlson) who periodically steps into frame to prod the gruesome tale along.
When his Bible-clutchin’ mother croaks before his eyes, dim-bulb’d Ezra Cobb (Roberts Blossom) snaps immediately into total denial. The middle-aged bachelor keeps her room exactly as she left it, but after a year, he’s so distraught that he decides he’ll just head on down to the cemetary and bring mama home. Only she don’t look (or smell) so good, so he takes to scavenging replacement parts. Along the way, his repressed sexual urges commingle with his human arts ‘n’ crafts projects into full blown necrophilia. But he’s such a NICE guy otherwise! Blossom’s performance is both amusingly quirky and — in an instant — astonishingly chilling. Especially in the final reel, given that comely Pat Orr‘s slaughterhouse fate is straight from Gein’s real-life atrocities.
CineSchlockers will revel in the grim sight of some of FX guru Tom Savini‘s earliest work. Incidently, just months BEFORE the immortal Texas Chainsaw Massacre hit drive-ins.
Notables: Two breasts. Eight corpses. Forced feeding. Erotic seance. Corpse flinging. Gratuitous slow mo. Peanut-buttered chicken. Fondling. Drunken serenade. The ol’ leg caught in a steel trap gag. Bloody cleavage. Tummy tom-tom drum.
Quotables: Mama loves her boy, “I just know some money-stealing bitch is gonna come along and try and take advantage of you!” This rummy knows how to sweet-talk a lady, “Look at them t@#s. Both of ’em. I seen t@#s and I’ve seen t@#s from Portugal to Yokohama. Let me tell ya. Those are t@#s with a capital T!!!”
Time codes: Ezra does Norman Bates’ schtick of talking like his mother (12:22). Wacky photo of the dear-departed Herbert (29:32). Lusty bar babe meets Ezra’s gal pals (51:44). Sally’s shift at the hardware store ends EARLIER than expected (1:09:55).