Delirium
A disturbed Vietnam veteran is recruited by a vigilante organisation that believes it can clean up the streets by eliminating people it considers undesirable. When the unstable killer turns on innocent victims, detectives uncover the conspiracy behind his escalating violence.
Film details
| Original / alt title | Delirium; Psycho Puppet (alternate release title) |
| Year | 1979 |
| Director | Peter Maris |
| Country | USA |
| Runtime | Approx. 95 min |
| Main cast | Turk Cekovsky, Debi Chaney, Terry TenBroek, Barron Winchester |
UK status
The 1979 Peter Maris thriller appeared on the DPP list but was later dropped.
Today it is mainly a cult collector title, especially interesting to fans exploring early Lamberto Bava work and nasty-era obscurities.
Why it caused controversy
UK censorship / Video Nasties history
A quick status check first, followed by the film’s censorship timeline. A DPP prosecution was an obscenity case against a particular video publication — it was not automatically the same thing as a permanent nationwide “ban”.
Detailed censorship timeline & facts
FACTS & TRIVIA
- The film is often associated with alternate titles in different territories, including Psycho Puppet.
- Lamberto Bava would later become a much more widely recognised horror director.
- Its visual identity as a VHS object is a big part of its cult appeal.
- The supplied VTC sleeve has especially strong period character.
- It sits halfway between slasher-style violence and Italian exploitation-thriller excess.
- Collectors often value it for rarity and obscurity as much as for the film itself.
- This kind of title helps show how broad the VHS controversy became.
Distributor / VHS label
Archive cover shown is the user-supplied scan. UK distributor / VHS-label attribution varies by edition and is not asserted here without a verified sleeve imprint.
Trailer
Open a search for the original theatrical / VHS-era trailer. This keeps the archive linking to publicly available trailer sources rather than hosting copyrighted film footage.
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