That was an excellent one.

A different way of telling a story

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This is it! The true essence of bad-taste 70's trash cinema lies here, within the plot and production values of this marvelously grotesque "Criminally Insane". I double-dare you to think of another film that is as crude, provocative, rancid, exploitative and repulsive as this one! Bachelors and other virile young men, meet Ethel Janowski. Ethel is a whole lot of woman – much more than any man could ever handle – with an insatiable murderous appetite. The film starts with images of Ethel in a specialized clinic, where she's being treated for her incontrollable violent outbursts, bad case of schizophrenia and gigantic weight problem. Her caring grandmother brings Ethel back home, but that turns out to be a very bad decision during the first night already. Ethel would do everything for food, even hacking up her one remaining family member that cares with a kitchen knife. The rotting bodies in granny's room start piling up (also delivery boys and obtrusive doctors) when Ethel suddenly receives a visit from her sister and her pimp-boyfriend… "Criminally insane" delivers an immeasurable amount of fun and laughs to horror fanatics with absolutely no moral values or half-decent taste. Everything about this movie is messed up beyond repair, from the offensive dialogs ("all women need a good beating once and a while") over Ethel's nauseating munching habits to the bizarrely pseudo-artistic finale that has our heroine totally going due to the lack of medical attention. The gory murders are outrageous (knives, chandeliers, meat cleavers…) but the special effects are laughably poor and thus never shocking or unsettling. Priscilla Alden's performance as Ethel is pretty brilliant – in a way – but for once in my life I was grateful that the movie didn't contain any nudity. For all you sick puppies out there, "Criminally Insane" is a must-see masterpiece!

Oh my God!! That was awesome!! I thought I had seen all the great ones. I'm not sure if I've ever seen a mess this bad, except maybe in Ray Steckler's Chooper, but wow, I mean wow!! Where have you been all my life? Criminally insane is about an enormous ogre named Ethel, Ethel has just been released from an asylum. Ethel is criminally insane, her grandma takes her in, only for Ethel to eat all her bacon, eggs & nilla wafers. If that wasn't enough, then the ungrateful Ethel kills poor grandma for attempting to set some eating restrictions for financial reasons. Ogres really do make crummy granddaughters. Now, this is Crazy fat Ethels house, one problem, no more food, so now Ethel orders some groceries, problem solved, I'm afraid not, bad movie fans, she's $75.50 short. Solution? Order the food anyway, kill the delivery boy, then inhale groceries as quick as ogrely possible. Now, problem solved :) Money for food will no longer be an issue, since Rosalie, Ethel's sister has offered to pay some rent after inviting herself to stay. In a shocking turn of events, as it would turn out, Rosalie is not an ogre, she is only a hooker, nonetheless, her face still makes me uncomfortable. Problem!! Ethel stuck grandma and delivery boy in grandma's room & their corpses are starting to stink up the whole house, Rosalie & her beau/pimp who also recently moved in are starting to notice. Solution? Kill them both, All they did was snort coke & make out anyway, not a very appealing thing to watch while inhaling yum yums. Now, problem solved :) Ethel has now, really gone off the deep end, the weird mini montage that includes Ethel chopping up a doll, makes that quite obvious. Unfortunately Ethel's problems are still piling up, not only is there some cop breathing down Ethel's neck about a missing delivery boy, but the stink from all the corpses are even getting to her now. Solution? Chop up the corpses, and throw them off a cliff--no, wait!! That's stupid. Why not just eat them? Genius!! Ethel now kills 2 birds with one stone by dining on her victims. Now, problem sol--oh, I forgot the cop :( I have read everyones reviews for part 2 and have a pretty good idea of what I'm in for, oh yeah, I still have every intention of buying it (soon), I mean how bad could it be, right?. I give Criminally insane zero stars, because you don't give movies like this stars, Criminally Insane is beyond the stars. Would you give stars to a horrible train wreck? No, you just stare, and be grateful it's only 61 minutes long.

Let me open up by setting the mood for this one. When "Criminally Insane" was first released in the theaters there was a large, industrial sized scale placed in the lobby of selected theaters where it was shown and any woman weighing over 250lbs was admitted to the film for free! This should help set the mood for this poorly filmed, inept but highly entertaining horror-cheapie. The saving grace of this film is the hysterical Priscilla Alden (the 250lbs actress who plays the role of Ethel Janowski). She plays the lead character so dead pan that you cannot help but be entertained by her as she fries a pound of bacon at a time, cooks a dozen eggs, or toasts an entire loaf of bread! Food is actually a character in this film and it is Ethel's worst enemy. She kills 6 people in between stuffing her face with a half-gallon of ice cream, an entire box of vanilla wafers, or a dozen sweet rolls and when she runs out of ideas about how to conceal the bodies...she eats them! Meanwhile she is also the rudest woman you will ever come across, concerned only with her next meal as she spouts anti-semitic statements about her doctor and calls the grocery boy (whom she had just murdered) a "smart-alec kid". So grab yourself a gallon of ice cream and enjoy this 70's horror gem!

When I first saw this movie I hated it. My girlfriend and I both thought this was just another bit of low budget cinematic stinkweed. Well that was many years ago. We recently found the movie on DVD and wondered "Could it really have been as bad as we remember?" and picked it up.So the answer is yes, it really was as bad as we remember but we developed a new respect for this picture after hearing director Nick Phillips talk about when he went through making it and how the actors really believed in the project. With only $30K to work with they worked for 5 weeks (I guess no one could afford to quite their real jobs so they had to shoot when everybody could get away) to complete the project.Ethel Janowsky (Priscilla Alden) is released from a mental hospital in the custody of he grandmother. Ethel likes to eat, no she LOVES to eat! She starts her day with a dozen eggs, a pound of bacon and half a loaf pf bread and 2 hours later she is ready for a snack! This is not a woman you want to invite over for dinner. When Granny locks up the food and declares that Ethel will have to diet whether she likes it or not Ethel becomes . . . well . . . you saw the title of the movie, right? After skewering Granny with a butcher knife Ethel unlocks the treasure chest . . . er . . . I mean the food cabinet and starts chowing down.Of course life for her does not become idyllic. She has to kill the grocery delivery guy when he demands that she pay her back bill ($80, a hefty amount back in 1975), then her doctor shows up wanting to know why Ethel has not shown up for electro-shock therapy and he gets a shock of his own when she kills him. Then her slutty sister moves in with her sleazy boyfriend/pimp and starts turning tricks in the neighbourhood. As if that weren't bad enough those corpses locked in Grandma's bedroom are beginning to rot and there is only so much that air freshener can cover up. What's a fat, food addict, serial killer to do? Well, she could always . . . oops almost let it slip. Find out for yourself, you might guess the ending but even if you do you will not be disappointed.Gore is plentiful but the killings are unconvincing and, dare I say it, reminded me of Andy Milligan's homemade gore effects. When Ethel bashes in someone's head it's obvious she is barely tapping them while these loud THUMPS are on the soundtrack; ditto when she uses the meat cleaver on her sister and her boyfriend. Still, director Phillips did the best he could (he admitted later that the stage blood they used was a little too red and thick).Ten years later Phillips brought Ms. Alden back to do CRAZY FAT ETHEL, a shot-on-video sequel that probably had an ever lower budget.CRIMINALLY INSANE is on DVD now with its sequel and a bonus film, SATAN'S BLACK WEDDING, also directed by Phillips. Do yourself a favour and skip that one.