My first exposure to Ethel Janowski (Priscilla Alden) was with the atrociously bad Crazy Fat Ethel II, and while I hated that movie to no end I did my research and found out it was a sequel to Criminally Insane. Figuring it couldn't be nearly as bad as the second one, I went on a fruitless search for the original film at all the local video stores but now, thanks to EI Cinema, it's easy to find on DVD as part of the recently released, "Nick Philips Horror Trilogy Collection" (which includes the aforementioned sequel and Satan's Black Wedding).

Filled with low-quality filmmaking and oodles of amusingly fake bloodshed (we're talking red paint), Criminally Insane is certainly not quality filmmaking but somehow it manages to be oddly compelling viewing that works as a sleazy drive-in flick while having a odd charm you just can't put your finger on.

Writer-director Nick Millard (using the name Nick Philips) crams his sixty-two-minute movie with as much nuttiness as he can as we're introduced to overweight Ethel who has just been released from the local asylum into the care of her Grandmother. It seems though that all the drugs and electroshock therapy in the world can't cure Ethel of her eating problem, and she's perfectly happy with that. But Granny has other plans, which Ethel learns of when she wakes up in the middle of the night craving a snack only to find the refrigerator empty and all the food locked-up in a cupboard.

Soon enough Ethel has offered her own grandmother (when she's refused the key) and has even found time to hack up the teenage grocery store delivery boy. But her killing doesn't stop there as her slutty sister drops by for a visit and proclaims that she's staying there for a while - little knowing that her grandmother is lying dead in a locked bedroom slowly stinking-up the place. Things get even more off-kilter when sis's abusive boyfriend starts to stay there too (and they proceed to snort lines of cocaine off the coffee table as Ethel munches away on an entire cake while watching television). This all leads to a handful of cleaver slayings, Ethel being questioned by a police detective during one groanably awful moment, and an out-of-the-blue dream sequence that has Alden repeatedly booting it down a hallway and chopping a mannequin to death.

Criminally Insane is not a good movie, far from it, but it's a completely watchable bit of camp that contains some bizarre dialogue (such as when the boyfriend proclaims, "you need a good beating every once and a while, all women do..." after slapping Ethel's sister), a whole slew of crappy deaths where paint is tosses across camera, and one abrupt finish. But it's a Hell of a lot better than its sequel and Alden somehow pulls off a suitably nutty performance in the lead.

Followed by Crazy Fat Ethel II (which has been retitled by EI to Criminally Insane II) and, according to some sources, 1987's Death Nurse and its sequel - movies which, I'm assuming, have been linked together because they have the same director and star (and happen to be slasher movies).

Visit Shock-O-Rama for more info. (Chris Hartley, 12/11/05)

Directed By: Nick Philips (Nick Millard).
Written By: Nick Philips (Nick Millard).

Starring: Priscilla Alden, Michael Flood, Jane Lambert, Robert Copple.

Picture Ratio: Full Frame.

Picture Quality: This was a cheaply made movie to begin with so I wasn't expecting much. And I didn't get much from EI's transfer as it's littered with bunches of grain and print damage. But compared to the transfer of the sequel (from the same disc) this actually could've been a lot worse.

Extras: As mentioned this comes as part of a triple feature disc (and is completely worth purchasing for bad movie fans) and the extras contained on the DVD are trailers (plus a trailer for Slime City), 2 interviews with Millard, a "Look Back" featurette with Millard and Alden about Criminally Insane, and commentaries by Millard that are moderated by "42nd Street Pete".