Charles Winkler, son of blockbuster producer Irwin, made his directorial bow in 1987 with YOU TALKIN' TO ME?, a nobly intended feature about an actor involved with neo-nazi religious broadcasters. After the film drew pans during an East Coast trial run, and MGM/UA dropped plans for a wider
release, Newsday quoted the disappointed young Winkler as remarking, "I wonder now if I shouldn't have done 'Horror Killer Invaders From Mars in Search of T&A.'" DISTURBED isn't precisely that film, but they could safely have shared a double bill.
The movie opens with a pretty patient in a mental hospital being drugged and raped by an unidentified assailant. The next day the distraught woman kills herself by leaping off the asylum roof. Ten years later, the same mental hospital admits Sandy Ramirez (Pamela Gidley), a beautiful but erratic
young model. Derek Russell (Malcolm McDowell) is the chief (and seemingly only) psychiatrist, and despite his gentlemanly exterior he's the rapist seen earlier. Russell tries to violate Sandy in the same manner, but unwittingly injects her with deadly medication instead of tranquilizer. Russell
gets an assist from inmate Michael (Geoffrey Lewis) in hiding Sandy's body, but the next day the corpse disappears. Subsequently Russell glimpses the phantom figure of Sandy on the hospital grounds. Is she really dead? Is the too-helpful Michael more than he seems to be? Is Russell losing his
mind, or is someone trying to drive him insane? Is there anyone out there who can't figure out this moldy old plot far in advance? leave a comment