Deranged

My name is Tom Sims.

I'm a newspaper columnist.

Several years ago I covered firsthand

the incredible story you are about to see re-created in this motion picture.

It is a human horror story of ghastly proportions and...

profound reverberations.

But because it is human, perhaps we can learn something from it.

Something of ourselves...

of our own fears and needs.

But please, let me warn you...

The events have been re-created in detail.

Nothing has been left to the imagination.

It is not a story for the squeamish

or the faint-hearted.

Now that you stand warned, we can proceed with our story.

It is the story of Ezra Cobb:

murderer, grave robber,

necrophiliac perhaps,

or, as you may remember him from those stories of long ago,

the Butcher of Woodside.

'When Ez was 10, his father died.

'For the next 15 years,

'Ez and his mother worked the farm by themselves,

'growing more dependent on each other with the passage of time.

'Then Amanda Cobb suffered a paralysing stroke

'which crippled her body from the waist down

'and left her bedridden.

'Ez brought her downstairs,

'sealing off the upstairs room, so he could be closer to her.

'For 12 years, he slept outside her door,

'waiting on her, feeding her, bathing her,

'reading to her, comforting her.

'To his neighbours, he was a devoted son.

'But that devotion masked a growing psychosis

'which came to the surface when his mother died.'

Mama?

Brought you some soup, Mama.

It's good and hot today.

Ez?

Take my hand.

Are you holding my hand?

Yes.

I can't feel you.

Cold. Must be... draughts.

Just got to get the circulation going again, that's all.

So it's to be now, then, is it?

I can't see you too clearly, Ez.

You look blurred.

You're... you're tired, Mama, is all.

- Here, I brought you some soup. - No.

- Good and hot. - No.

I'm not tired, and I don't want no soup.

- I'm dying. - No, Mama.

I'm dying, and that's all there is to it.

No'm. You just need some rest is all.

Now, you be quiet and listen to me.

If I go into a coma, don't take me to no hospital.

I want to die in my own bed, my own room,

with you here.

If you need any help later, after I'm gone,

call Maureen Selby.

Say it now, Ez. Maureen Selby.

Mau...

Maureen... Selby.

Maureen's the only woman I ever did trust.

She's fat, that's why. A big heifer.

But she's the only good-hearted woman I ever knew.

As for the rest of them,

they're a lot of filthy, black-souled sluts

with pus-filled sores that...

Ez?

Ez!

L.-

I... I c-can't br-breathe.

You're gonna be all right.

You just need... something to eat, that's all.

Honest!

I know I'm... I'm leaving you now.

And that's for certain.

I don't want to leave worrying about you.

Oh, you're such a babe in the woods, a child.

I sheltered you too much, I guess.

But I just know some money-stealing bitch

is gonna come along and try to take advantage of you.

Remember what I've always told you.

The wages of sin is gonorrhoea, syphilis and death!

They'll use their bodies to... to steal from you.

They'll steal your life and your soul.

Leave 'em alone.

Most of 'em are filled with diseases that tick.

God will wash them away...

like he did in the time of Noah.

God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt,

for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

Then God said unto Noah,

"The end of all flesh is come before me."

Do you know what God did then, Ez?

Yes'm. The flood.

Yes, sir... the flood.

Oh, I wish I could be here to see it.

You're still a handsome young man, Ez.

You'll have great attraction for the opposite sex.

That's why you gotta be so careful.

Oh, Ez... it hurts.

Hurts.

Eat.

You'll be all right, honest.

No, you won't die, honest.

Please, Mama.

Please, Mama, don't leave me.

Mama, no, please.

No, please. No.

Mama, Mama.

Mama...

How you holding up, Ez?

We're so sorry, Ez.

She was a great lady, Ez.

Real...

Real demure.

Real religious.

The boys wanted to come, Ez, but...

Well, I didn't think they should.

But they do send their condolences, though.

She looks nice, Ez.

Real natural.

You'd think she was just sleeping.

She is.

That's all it is.

Just sleep.

Shh.

A month passed. Six months. A year.

Still Ezra refused to accept the death of his mother.

He visited her grave as often as four or five times a week.

And at home...

'At home he continued as though she were only away on a trip.

'He kept her room neat and clean

'and made sure the stove was always going,

'so it would be warm when she returned to him.

'He dreamed about her,

'and in his despair even wrote letters to her.

'To the outside world, Ez was, oh, a little eccentric maybe,

'but basically a normal, decent guy.

'He quit farming altogether

'and hired on as a general handyman for his neighbours

'and especially his good friend Harlan Kootz.'

Bobby, come on. It's time to go.

OK, Mum. Bye.

'But the loneliness within him had grown to a vast abyss,

'and the pain of his loss at last pushed him over the precipice

'and into madness.'

Mama.

When you comin' home again?

I'm real lonesome, Mama.

There's nothing but snow and snow and snow.

And the wind blowing and blowing and blowing.

And it's so cold.

And I miss you with all my heart.

Amen.

'If you miss me so much, why don't you come and bring me home?'

Mama?

'You should be ashamed of yourself,

'leaving me here more than a year now.

'I'm all alone here in the dark.

'Shame, Ez!'

Mama, I wrote to you.

'Don't get no letters here.

'Now, why don't you come and bring me home?

'Bring me home...

'Bring me home...'

I'm comin', Mama!

'And so he went to bring her home.

'Perhaps, in his twisted mind

'he imagined she would look the way she had in life.'

Mama. Mama.

Oh.

I'm takin' you home, Mama.

Home.

I She's the girl of my dreams

I And her fair face beams

I She's the sweetheart of Sigma Chi I

What in the hell do you think you're doing, Ez?

N-nothin', sir. What do you mean?

Oh, come on. You know what I mean.

Well, she wanted to come home, Sheriff.

- She told me she did. Otherwise I... - Now, look, look, look.

This is a 35-mile-an-hour zone,

and you were going 50 if you were going anything.

Now, let me smell your breath.

Good God! What in the hell is that?

What have you been drinkin', Ez? Goddamn!

Nothin', sir, er... It's just a hog I butchered is all.

Er... I forgot to take it out of the truck. It kind of got to smellin'.

Jesus Christ, you ain't kiddin'!

I'm gonna let you go this time, Ez, but don't let it happen again, you hear?

And for Christ's sake, bury that, will you?

Yes, sir.

I sure will... er, first thing.

No more speeding, you hear?

Yes, sir.

I mean, no, sir.