Deranged

In the quiet, mist‑shrouded fields of rural Wisconsin, a solitary farm becomes the stage for a deeply unsettling family legacy. Ezra, a middle‑aged caretaker of his aging mother, has spent his life under the stern, religious rule of a woman who taught him that the very presence of women is a sin. Her relentless doctrine has left him isolated, his world shaped by fear, reverence, and an unspoken yearning for connection that he cannot reconcile with the values she instilled.

When the matriarch finally passes, the fragile balance Ezra has maintained begins to crumble. Overcome with grief for both his mother and the tragic loss of a young girl named Sally Mae, he is drawn into a dark, almost ritualistic preoccupation with preserving what he has lost. The farm’s rustic simplicity gives way to an atmosphere thick with quiet dread, as Ezra turns to an unlikely craft—learning taxidermy—and to the morbid practice of searching forgotten places for remnants that might bring his mother back, however imperfectly.

The film unfolds as a study of obsession and the ways a rigid upbringing can warp a mind yearning for love and belonging. Its tone blends stark, naturalistic rural visuals with an ever‑present undercurrent of unease, inviting the audience to contemplate the thin line between mourning and madness. As Ezra navigates his new, unsettling pursuits, the audience is left to wonder whether the quiet of the countryside can ever truly conceal the restless echo of a soul desperate to stitch together the fragments of a broken past.

Last Updated: December 04, 2025 at 18:22