Rugged, but sullen U. S. soldier, Robert Arden, seeks assistance from the occupants of a remote house, after his vehicle runs out of petrol, only to discover beautiful, but emotionally battered Anne Heywood cobbling together a miserable existence with irrational, unstable husband, Basil Dignam.
A repeat visit finds Arden soon swooning over used, abused and bruised Heywood, from whom the deranged Dignam has flatly reused a divorce. The couple quickly conclude that the only way to be rid of him..... is to get rid of him.
Dignam's death results in an initially routine visit from police detective, Denis Shaw, on a high from winning a Robbie Coltrane look-alike contest. Suspicions arise, however, when Arden shoots himself in the foot by vociferously bad mouthing a potential witness.
The trendy jazz score, by turns suspenseful and sensual cannot mask this morass of mediocrity. 'The Depraved' is sadly deprived of substance, originality and personality, simply coming off as no more than a half-hearted, ham-fisted retread of 'Double Indemnity'.
If you are desperate for an excuse to procrastinate over mowing the lawn, creosoting the fence or clearing a gutter, then 'The Depraved' will allow you to delay the inevitable by 71 minutes. There are more rewarding ways of passing the aforementioned time, than focusing on a movie so largely devoid of aesthetic value.