Delirium (1979) User Reviews

A Snoozefest Not A Bloodfest

[P3n-E-W1s3 · 4/10 · 3 July 2017]

There's not much to recommend about this Video Nasty except for the storyline, the premise of which should have resulted in a much better movie, and the acting, though they are wasted in this travesty.

This is the story of a secret society sick with the depravity on the streets of their neighbourhood so they hire a Vietnam Veteran to help clean up their streets... the trouble is he's suffering from shell-shock and starts to any and everyone.

This in itself could have given the audience a bloodfest to remember. However, the director, Peter Maris, opts for a slow pace. Which might have worked well to build tension if there had been a torture scene, which there isn't (another missed opportunity), but hinders the film since it's used throughout its runtime. The slowness of the film is made up of boring and pointless scenes that, though, well acted (compared to everything else), are badly directed. There needed to be more action sequences especially concerning the Vet's breakdown.

There're too many flashbacks to Vietnam. The director is so lazy he just cut in loads of stock footage; this adds to the lackadaisical feel of the direction and hinders the film and frustrates the viewer.

I would only recommend this to anyone who is watching the video nasty list to see why some of the listed films were banned (this one was banned because they thought some people may be prone to copy the actions of the Vet). However, be prepared to keep hitting the rewind button every time you wake up because this film has the power to induce sleep.

Psycho slasher and cop thriller.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 6/10 · 2 April 2010]

"Delirium" is a strange hybrid of slasher flick,political conspiracy,right-wing revenge film,cop thriller and post-Vietnam trauma.There is a serial killer on the loose named Charlie.He stabs to death or drowns attractive young women until he's surprised in a house by a returning husband and is shot by the wife.His Vietnam flashbacks ala "Combat Shock" are gloriously cheap.There is also an underground right-wing group who employ old army guys as vigilantes to kill various rapists and murderers."Delirium" was classified as an infamous video nasty in UK.There is a bit of sleaze and violence,but the film is relatively tame and bloodless.If you liked "Maniac" or "Lady Stay Dead" give it a try.6 out of 10.

Video Nasty Crossbreed that is remarkably strange

[LuisitoJoaquinGonzalez · 5/10 · 22 March 2008]

At the end of the day, movie producers are just people with an eye for business. There is very little that separates a great producer from a great sales manager. Both are looking to make money and both will examine the market to see the best way of exploiting their ambitions to a profitable return. The surprising success of Halloween and Friday the 13th meant that market researchers were quick to realise that cinema audiences had an urge to see psychopathic killers. There were many slashers released from 1980 to 1985 and the reason that the quality of most of them was so poor is because market trends change quickly and production teams had to move rapidly, which eliminated the chance of a decent pre and post-production.

Delirium or Psycho Puppet as it's known in Europe reminds me of the movies from Hong-Kong based martial arts hack Godfrey Ho. Ho was famous for his 'cut and paste' technique, which saw him take half-finished oriental films and paste in western actors sporting hilariously outlandish ninja suits for scenes that rarely, if ever, connected with the cohesiveness of the plot. He would then release the movies worldwide with titles such as Ninja Terminator, Zombie vs. Ninja or Ninja Dragon and despite the fact that they had two plots running simultaneously that rarely interlinked with one another, the global interest in Ninjitsu meant that they often made a considerable profit.

Although Delirium is not a combination of two different movies, it looks almost as if the director threw in a maniac killer just for the sake of having a maniac killer in his feature. This is not an out and out slasher film, but it does at least incorporate many of the clichés that were popular following the success of Halloween.

The opening scene sees two unidentified guys in suits throw a corpse into the Mississippi River. They get back into their car and speed off into the night. Next up we cut to a seventies disco bunny returning back to her apartment late in the evening. On entering her accommodation, she is shocked to discover her flatmate's corpse nailed to the door. We soon learn that the girl was the first victim of Charlie, a demented Vietnam vet that has gone completely insane and is travelling across the country murdering anyone that gets in his way. The Police are baffled as to who could be behind the killings, but soon we learn that Charlie is just a cog in a complex wheel of murder, blind-justice and mayhem…

Friday the 13th is often credited as the first slasher movie to incorporate bloody special-effects into its killings and it started a trend that would see entries blowing huge portions of their budgets on gratuitous gore. Well Delirium pre-dated the camp Crystal Lake murders by at least a year and therefore was the first psycho killer movie post-Halloween to exploit the graphic nature of its murders. Make no mistake about it; Delirium is a bizarre beast of a movie and it was one of the first additions to the video nasty list in the United Kingdom.

The film doesn't seem to know where to hang its hat and attempts to mix parts from numerous cinematic styles. It plays like a crossbreed between a splatter film and a cop flick, but never appears content to align itself to any one genre. It's an oddity of a feature for sure, which references everything from Vietnam flicks to cop thrillers that were popular during the seventies. The flagrant amateurism of its production prevents the movie from being a total success, but the plot just about manages to keep you watching to the finish. Admittedly, the filmmaker's decision to kill the psycho slasher on the hour-mark was a poor one and it subtracted the best part of the story. But there's just about enough interest in the rest of the story to keep you watching and it manages to refrain from becoming tedious.

Technically Delirium is barely mediocre and the various Vietnam flashback sequences are visibly poor and look like they were filmed in a local park as apposed to a battlefield. The main problem with the feature is that it reveals the crux of its synopsis far too early, which is a shame, because the plot is fairly ambitious and it feels almost as if a decent puzzle could have been created. It plays like a mass of ideas that lack the shine to link together and create a decent movie experience and an uninspired script and average performances certainly didn't help. It's also worth noting that Delirium has a theme tune remarkably similar to that from the British quiz Mastermind. It's fairly amusing for those that recognise the common theme from British television and it's certainly a bizarre decision from the production team to incorporate it into their feature.

It's quite gory in places and it's staggeringly misogynistic. Women are slaughtered it seems just for being women, and there's a certain gruesomeness in the randomness of the killer's victims. Despite the lack of any credible suspense, Charlie does manage to come across as quite a convincingly nasty psychopath and his lack of any genuine motive adds to his fear-factor.

Delirium is by no means a great or even good movie, but it's a fairly strange effort that interests mainly because it's genuinely obscure. It can't help but feel amateur, almost if it was a student project, but in a way that adds to its charm. If there's absolutely nothing else left in the video-shop, then give it a go. However be warned, you need to be extra forgiving.

"Nasty" but really pretty forgettable psycho-on-the-loose movie

[lazarillo · 2 September 2009]

Man, you gotta love the swinging 70's! The villain of this movie goes to a "job interview" and manages (despite being very creepy-looking and apparently mute) to pick up a secretary, who takes him back to her place for sex, but after he proves impotent he stabs her to death. He then steals a car and picks up a leggy, hot-pants clad female hitch-hiker, but even after he nearly kills them both driving like a maniac, they still end up going skinny-dipping together and he strangles her in the surf. He next meets a young farm girl, but even though he is trespassing on her property, she is more interested in flirting with him than calling the police, and she gets a pitchfork in the neck for her troubles. Then he actually goes into a house where a woman is taking a bath, and he probably would have done great with her too, but he kind of blows it by taking a butcher knife to her delivery boy. The investigating officer meanwhile seems far more interested in making dates with the pretty roommate of the first victim than he is in solving the case. Fortunately, the girl whose case he IS trying to crack is still working as a secretary at the office where the killer had his "interview" and she stumbles upon a connection between this out-of-control "psycho puppet", her boss, and shadowy organization of Vietnam vet vigilantes who may be behind the mysterious "suicides" of a number of criminals who had gotten off on technicalities--at which point this movies turns from a cheap "Halloween" knock-off to something that anticipates the later (and much better) Michael Douglas film "The Star Chamber".

This is one of the movies that was banned in Britain in the 1980's as a "video nasty", but was so unremarkable in its native America that it is virtually forgotten today (and not even available on DVD). I'm not sure exactly sure what about this upset the Brits. There's some gore effects, but they're not that impressive. There is a lot of nudity, and the mixture of nudity and violence often got the hackles of the British censors up. This movie is also kind of misogynistic in that ALL the women are pretty much brain-dead and about as sexually discriminating as rabid alley cats in heat. (I especially like the first victim who is "going to tell everybody" that a guy she just met hours earlier and doesn't know from Adam "can't get it up"). But frankly its notoriety on the other side of the pond really gives this movie a lot more credit than it probably deserves.

More than the earlier "Halloween" or the later "The Star Chamber" this really reminded me of another late 70's film called "Killer's Delight" (aka "The Dark Ride"). That, however, is a much better movie, and it IS available on DVD, so if you're thinking about watching this, see that one instead. This is kind of "nasty" I guess, but mostly it's pretty forgettable.

Two lousy exploitations for the price of one.

[Coventry · 4/10 · 24 December 2008]

This is one of the strangest and definitely one of the most atypical titles to be found in the whole list of infamous Video Nasties. Judging by the stills on the back of the VHS-cover and based on the narrative during the first half of the film, I would unhesitatingly describe "Delirium" as a crude and misogynistic slasher reminiscent of "Maniac" and "Don't Go in the House". You know; the type of sick film that doesn't bother keeping the identity of the killer secret but depicts the violence against female victims extra vile and repellent. There's a maniac at large who slaughters his women relentlessly and grotesque. One of the poor girls even has a pitchfork stuck in her throat! Whilst the roommate of his first victim teams up with the incompetent police force, the maniac – Charlie – gets killed after a failed attempt to make another victim. Then suddenly and completely unexpected, "Delirium" becomes a post-Vietnam war drama. It is revealed that Charlie was a member of a secret network of vigilantes that exists entirely out of bloodthirsty Vietnam veterans and they are hired by a board of eminent & businessmen in order to keep the streets crime-free. Charlie just went a little berserk and started killing women randomly, that's all! The "leader" of the vigilantes is a fairly short-sized yet menacing guy with a shiny bald head that would make even Telly Savalas jealous and, during the climax of the film, he goes totally bonkers as well. The concept of "Delirium" undoubtedly shows potential, but the elaboration is overly confusion and dull and reverts all too easily to dreadful clichés (like Vietnam flashbacks and power mad army officers). The first slasher half is rather exciting, with a couple of truly nasty murder sequences and the most laughably inept police investigation ever, but the second half is painfully tedious and derivative of much better films. I can't really bring myself to recommend "Delirium" to anyone, but I suppose it holds some interest if you're a cult movie freak.

Didn't do anything for me.

[b_kite · 2/10 · 10 January 2019]

This just didn't do anything for me. The print I watched was crap so that didn't help, but, its mostly just scenes of police talking, with some fairly brutal murders thrown in between. It takes a turn at about the hour mark, but, by then I was so zoned out I didn't give a crap. There's also some attempts at nudity, but, it's not gratuitous in any way. Just goes to show you why in many ways the whole UK video nasties scare was ridiculous.

PTSD

[mmthos · 4/10 · 9 July 2020]

Cops vs ex-military vigilantes who enlist the services of a Viet Nam vet who runs amok. Very pedestrian all around. Minimal blood, and the violent encounters are filmed as clumsily and distactingly unconvincing as anything I've seen in such cheapos. Least nasty of the infamous Video Nasties I've seen. That it ended up banned in Britain is a testament to overwrought censorship run amok.

They shall have murder wherever they go

[Red-Barracuda · 7/10 · 12 November 2012]

For many, many years I had a certain fascination with this movie. I saw its video cover reproduced in a magazine called 'Halls of Horror' way back in the early 80's. The artwork showed a bald man in sun glasses firing a pistol, a woman screaming and a disembodied hand clutching a bloodied hatchet; the tag-line said 'they shall have murder wherever they go…'. I don't know, it may not sound like much now but at the time this strange and slightly lurid poster fascinated me. When I soon after discovered that this film had made it on to the notorious video nasty list my interest just grew even stronger. Looking back on it now and having finally seen Delirium I think I can better understand the pull of that video cover and it's actually reflected in the film itself. The poster is really somewhat odd in that it mixes genre iconography – its part horror, part action-thriller. And in essence that's what the movie itself is too. It combines genres in a somewhat unusual way. It's kind of a slasher mixed in with a vigilante flick, with a dash of post-Vietnam exploitation thrown in for good measure. This crazy mish-mash of styles is one of the things that makes Delirium interesting.

The story revolves around a secret group of Vietnam vets who are hired by businessmen to administer extreme justice to criminals who escape the law. One of the group goes on a serial killing rampage murdering a series of young women.

It isn't really very surprising that this one made the video nasty list. It's not exactly overly graphically violent but it has a pretty clear streak of misogyny running through it. The killer essentially goes around killing young hot women in some scenes that are pretty lurid. It does have to be said though that the psychopath is killed off a little too early, seeing as he is probably the most interesting part of the story. The vigilante side of the narrative makes up the rest of the movie. The head honcho turns out to be that bald man from the video cover I saw all those years ago. Quite bizarrely, the most disturbing moment from the scenes involving this underground group is scored by the soundtrack to the quiz show Mastermind. You can't help but expect Magnus Magnusson to pop around the corner and say 'your specialist subject is vigilante justice and misogynistic violence'. But of course he does not and it remains a deeply strange viewing experience for audiences from the UK to witness.

This isn't a movie with a very good reputation. Admittedly it's technically raw and clunky. But it's also kind of unusual and agreeably sleazy. It's pretty entertaining all things considered.

Fascinatingly Bad

[Steve_Nyland · 5/10 · 17 September 2010]

PSYCHO PUPPET is certainly trying to be something though just what that is remains unclear. Today the film is best known for something other than any of its attributes -- It was infamously included on the list of "Video Nasty" films banned in the UK in the early 1980s. Looking at it now one wonders what all the fuss was about, or if the people who issued the verdict against it even watched the damn movie.

The premise is not without interest: Vietnam vets pre-programmed to kill are recruited as part of a Star Chamber like urban vigilante squad passing judgment on the criminals slipping through the cracks of the criminal justice system. The murdered criminals are passed off as suicides with nobody any the wiser, until one of the vets flips out and goes on a general killing spree.

Its here that the Brits found their problem as the Psycho Puppet of question takes off after exclusively buxom blond bombshells who obediently strip right down for the camera. The film is sleazy, voyeuristic, tacky, cheaply made, with dialog that makes a Sears catalog sound smooth. The sexualized nature of the killing scenes is completely out of proportion to anything else in the film, and exist only to provide a lurid thrill. There is nothing to be learned from the story and no profound thought is advanced by its telling.

And yet there is something compelling about this inept, nasty little movie. Mostly offbeat locations & some bizarre casting choices, showing us an underside of St. Louis that is highly unflattering. The film exists in an uneasy juxtaposition between a tacky disco culture and a run down dilapidated post-industrial urban ruin that has no aspiration to glamor or sophistication. Its late 1970s polyesterized look makes the film look unhealthy, like it needs to get some sunlight & start eating more fresh vegetables. It looks scuzzy.

Standout role is the weird bald guy, a twisted Vietnam vet with a mad hatter's view of American justice. He's a great villain while the film allows him to be one but sadly everything falls apart in the last fifteen minutes leading to a protracted gunfight that undoes any originality that came before it. The film I kept thinking about while watching it was the first Dirty Harry sequel MAGNUM FORCE, which also featured a post-industrial urban wasteland in its climax with nihilistic violence mixed with lurid exploitation.

The main difference being that PSYCHO PUPPET wasn't made with any artfulness or sense of craft and exists only as a bleak reminder of how stupid people can be when they get into positions of power. Whoever banned this movie from Britain obviously never saw it since there's very little to get worked up about in it. Those seeking it out for a joyride of vicarious thrills will be disappointed and anyone looking for a message will come up empty. It's a curious, cold, cruel little movie, existing as a footnote. Which may sound pretty dismal, but its a pretty dismal movie and at least it'll remembered for something.

5/10

a truly off-kilter exploitation movie, for good and ill

[Quinoa1984 · 6/10 · 2 March 2023]

If only you all could see me smile so wide during those PTSD flashback set pieces for this movie's damaged/tortured Weirdo killer who sees Vietnam fresh as day where all one can see in the movie is that variety of Vietnam locale that looks an awful lot like it was shot in the producer's backyard/alley off by the toolshed. It's that delight in seeing semi-professional filmmakers playing like they're kids making their first movie(s). Delirium is held together by the battered and ugly Scotch tape that is its killing scenes, which director Peter Marais stages with vigor and intensity. The movie needs those set pieces to work because you otherwise have this strange narrative about this clandestine group of messeded-up ex Vietnam vets who have been using one or two damaged people to be vigilantes (and of course as bad luck would have it one has just decided to go off and kill anyone in his path, mostly women who take their tops off and at one point all nude in a lake). Why are they doing this? Dastardly reasons I guess? It's a good joint to throw on late at night to just unwind with actors you probably haven't heard of engaging in nasty business on the streets and local areas of St Louis.

Low budget film that can't decide what it wants to be.

[poolandrews · 4/10 · 28 November 2004]

A dark night somewhere in St. Louis, Susan Narcross (Debi Chaney) arrives home to find her roommate Jenny Thompson (Pat Knapko) murdered, impaled on a door with a spear. Detective Sergeant Paul Dollinger (Nick Panouzis) and his partner Detective Larry Mead (Terry Ten Broeck) are put on the case. They interview Susan who tells them of a date Jenny had been on that night with a man named Charlie (Turk Chekovsky) who had been in the office where they work earlier in the day looking for a job, and that they should question her boss Donald Andrews (Bob Winters). The following day the two Detectives visit Andrews but he is unhelpful and evasive and seems to be hiding something. Meanwhile, Charlie steals a car and picks a hitchhiker (Letty Garris) up. He drives her to a beach, she decides to take all her clothes off and have a swim in the sea. Charlie follows her in and strangles her. Charlie's real name is Charles Gunther an ex Vietnam vet who recently escaped from the Illinois state mental hospital. The guy has gone psycho because of the violence he witnessed in Vietnam, and the fact that a Vietnamese prostitute (Charlotte Littrel) taunted and laughed at him when he couldn't get an erection! Charlie has been hired by Stern (Barron Winchester) who runs a kangaroo court to correct injustices by the legal system and real courts, but Charlie has flipped his lid and is killing everyone he runs into, most of them being attractive young girls. After listening in on one of her bosses conversations and becomes suspicious, Susan herself becomes a target. Dollinger and Mead are baffled, all of their leads produce nothing but dead ends. Their Captain (Harry Gorsuch) is piling on the pressure, and they also have to deal with a sudden spate of suicides among criminals. Will they be able to save Susan and put an end to Stern's self righteous campaign of murder?

Directed by Peter Marris this is a bit of an odd film. It unsuccessfully blends various genres, little bits of horror with Charlie sticking pitchforks through girls throats and killing people with meat cleavers. War, there are various incredibly poorly done flashbacks of Charlie and Stern plus their fellow soldiers having gun fights in what looks like a football field and some local woods. Action, there's a small car chase with a few explosions and a shootout at the end. Romance as Mead and Susan become involved with each other, and crime with Stern trying to sort out St. Louis's injustices. It doesn't quite work, though. It's certainly different but just not very exciting or interesting. The script by Richard Yalem, who has a cameo as Peter Sykes who is thrown into the Mississippi in the opening sequence, is a little talky and reveals too much too soon, it might have helped if all these sub plots remained mystery's and were tied up at the end but instead the script reveals all very early on. Technically the film is poor, special effects, photography, acting, editing and music are all well below par. Talking of the music this film either borrows or more likely steals the theme tune to the British quiz show Mastermind, as someone who lives in the UK and has heard this music several times on Mastermind it sounds ridiculous to hear it on the soundtrack to this. I would probably describe this film as an interesting misfire. At least the makers tried to do something a little different, it's just a shame it doesn't quite work and the film lacks any kind of polish.

hmmm...

[ferien_uk · 10/10 · 4 September 2003]

My friend bought this film as 'Psycho Puppet', as we thought the film sounded quite interesting...alas, it wasn't.

***POSSIBLE SPOILER*** (not that it matters as I wouldn't watch this film if I were you) Not only were there no actual puppets in it, but also no psychos!!!

The most baffling thing about this film is the usage of the 'Mastermind' theme tune halfway through and the bloke with porn star hair (can't remember what role he played - wasn't interested enough)

Vigilante Video Nastiness.

[BA_Harrison · 5/10 · 10 January 2011]

A secret society of vigilante businessmen hire ex-military man Eric Stem (Barron Winchester) to bring justice to criminals who have been set free thanks to loopholes in the law. When one of Stern's men, an impotent Vietnam veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress, flips out and begins to murder innocent people (primarily attractive, semi-naked or completely naked young women), the group's illicit activities attract the unwanted attention of the police.

Boasting a volatile combination of vigilantism and misogynistic violence, it's not surprising that director Peter Maris's Delirium (AKA Psycho Puppet) was given a hard time during the Video Nasty era; in these more tolerant, less Draconian days, however, the film's insalubrious content—some graphic gore and gratuitous female nudity—is unlikely to be an issue with any but the most joyless of fascist zealots, people who thankfully no longer wield the social clout that they used to.

If anything, the one element that is most likely to raise an eyebrow (in the UK, at least) is the film's strange use of BBC's 'Mastermind' theme music during its most dramatic moments; it's hard to take matters seriously when it sounds as though Magnus Magnusson might pop up at any moment to put the film's characters through a gruelling two minutes of quick-fire questions on their specialist subject.

5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for the brief but impressive spear through the chest, all the unnecessary but very welcome nekkidness, and the juicy war wounds in the Vietnam flashbacks.

Interesting cross genre film

[MADMANMARZ · 20 September 2000]

Delirium is quite an interesting mix of genres. Part slasher, part action and part police flick! The murder sequences are excellent, pretty graphic, while the other elements and sub plots, hold the film back. The last half hour totally weakens the film, that starts out about a Vietnam vet turned serial killer and ends up being about a group of right wingers who take the law into their own hands by using vigilantes on the streets. The leader of the right-wing group happens to be friends with Charlie( the killer). The main problem is Charlie is killed off before the movie ends, leaving us with a predictable showdown with the cops and the vigilantes. It's kind of like 2 movies in one!! I like the film alone for the 70's nostalgia feel to it. Man, do I miss low budget REAL independent films. This is one of them. Interesting and well made but overall eneven.

A strange blend of film

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 15 May 2023]

Delirium is kind of about Vietnam vet Charlie Gunther (Nick Panouzis).

It's also kind of about a secret society of vets bringing together other vets - kind of like my VFW, but with less drinking and amazing barbecue on Fridays and Saturdays, shout out to Terry and his amazing chops - to murder those that they think deserve it. Led by Eric Stern (Barron Winchester), they're remaking St. Louis in the image of cleanliness and order, one gory murder at a time.

Those two stories come together as Stern hires Charlie, trying to bond with him. They're both Vietnam vets, right? Well, where Stern gets rid of his trauma through doing what the cops can't, Charlie gets rid of his PTSD by killing women.

Sterns's group feels a lot like the people that hired The Punisher in his first mini-series. Or The Star Chamber. Both of those came long after this.

You know what didn't? Magnum Force.

While Charlie is murdering young ladies and Stern and his men kill anyone who could turn them in, cops Paul Dollinger (Turk Cekovsky) and Larry Mead (Terry TenBroek) are on the case, wondering who could have killed so many people on the streets of St. Louis.

This movie was stitched together, starting with an "an unfinished urban conspiracy thriller" and then adding on slasher story beats, because, well, John Carpenter happened to make a movie in 1978 that a lot of people seemed to enjoy.

What emerges is a movie that honestly makes no sense and every time you're about to point out a lapse in logic, the movie responds to you by showing bare breasts or having someone get violently chopped up with a meatcleaver or shot, stabbed or impaled in the most messy way possible. That's how you make movies: throw everything at the wall and what doesn't stick, well, cover it with squibs and spray everyone with red food coloring and Karo syrup.

Director Peter Maris also made Alien Species and Land of Doom, two movies that did not end up as memorable as this. Nor did they end up on the Section 2 Video Nasty list. This movie has an alternate title that makes no sense - which makes it great. That title? Psycho Puppet.

It also has a conspiracy group of Vietnam vets who kidnap criminals who got away with it, kill them and then stage suicide scenes. That's planning. You have to respect that level of thought.

Not A Lot Going On

[amandagellar-31077 · 4/10 · 8 February 2022]

A disturbed former soldier named Charlie is used as a tool to take care of corruption and he snaps and ends up killing anyone in sight, especially pretty women who threaten him.

Even with a shorter runtime, it's hard to recommend Delirium to anyone besides those with a morbid curiosity for bad movies. Everything about it feels amateur which could be forgiven if the script were any better, but there's no one to pull for and the attack/kill scenes are more unpleasant than scary or suspenseful.

Slasher/vigilante nasty with a touch of Mastermind!

[Stevieboy666 · 5/10 · 5 March 2022]

Delirium starts off with an impotent Vietnam veteran called Charlie going on a murder spree, killing mainly young women. Just to keep the viewer interested two victims happen to be naked. But then the plot goes from horror/slasher to a thriller about a secret group of businessmen who carry out vigilante murders. Charlie had been part of this group but has gone off the rails. The police investigation takes up much of the running time and it does slow the movie down quite a lot, not helped by having a cast of mainly bad actors. The movie features a number of Vietnam flashbacks, they are ether obviously not filmed in Asia or stock footage is used. Combat Shock (1984) meets a gone wrong The Exterminator (1980). The body count is sufficient, some of the kills are fairly brutal but none are exceptionally gory. Delirium found itself banned in the UK as a Video Nasty, thankfully it is now available uncut and on Blu-ray. I would have rated it 5/10 but have scored it an extra point due to the inclusion of a track called Approaching Menace on the soundtrack, viewers in the UK should instantly recognise it as the theme tune to BBC's quiz show "Mastermind". I found this rather amusing. Shot on 16mm but blown up to 35mm Delirium is a low budget trash movie, if that's your thing or if you are interested in Video Nasties then I would recommend it, otherwise give it a miss.

A Waste of Celluloid.

[mhorg2018 · 1/10 · 23 August 2023]

Know how so many films either crumbled into dust, or exploded in the warehouse as their stock broke down? We can only wish that would happen to every print of this repulsive, trashy, badly written, directed, acted trash. Using one of the worst and overused tropes of all cinema; that of the shell-shocked, battle fatigue or PTSD, whichever you choose, Viet Nam vet, which does a grave disservice to those who fought in that unnecessary, brought about by a fear of communism war, this film is nearly unwatchable. If I didn't know better, i would have thought this was another bad Italian film from the 1970's. I wish I didn't have to write six hundred words, because that's getting tougher. And Why doesn't IMDB have a ZERO rating? Everywhere someone can review should have that.

"Well, I'm Going For A Swim!"...

[azathothpwiggins · 12 July 2023]

In DELIRIUM, Charlie Gunther (Nick Panouzis) roams the countryside in search of emptyheaded women to murder. Lucky for him, such females are readily available. Within minutes, Charlie kills three nubile numbskulls, which is made easier by the fact that they seem to mystically come to him wherever he is.

Meanwhile, a secret group of vigilantes is busy cleaning up the streets, led by their fearless, bullet-headed leader, Eric Stern (Barron Winchester).

Meanwhile-meanwhile, the police, led by the least charismatic cops ever filmed, are on the case. Their vast array of sports jackets is impressive.

All this, while Charlie continues his rampage, and watches his pitifully-realized-but-hilarious military flashback sequences. It's hard to tell if he was stationed in Vietnam or New Jersey. The "jungle" scenes look suspiciously like they were filmed on some farmer's wooded lot. The clearly-visible telephone poles don't help.

The acting and dialogue are suitably abysmal, as should be expected for a movie if this caliber.

This is a real treat for the true connoisseur of crud...