Dementia 13 | William Campbell, Luana Anders | Even great directors have to be born

Dementia 13 | William Campbell, Luana Anders | If A Body Meet A Body: Coppola's Big Screen Debut

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Dementia 13

	Dementia 13 William Campbell, Luana Anders Good Times Video, 2005 average customer review:based on 32 reviews view larger image
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Francis Ford Coppola was working as an assistant to Roger Corman when he made this, his feature debut. The story goes that Corman let Coppola make the film so long as he could work around the shooting schedule of the film they were working on together, and the results are impressive given the budget constraints. Or maybe because of the budget constraints. The story concerns the family at Castle Haloran, the secrets surrounding the death of young Kathleen, and an axe murderer who seems to be picking away at all present. Coppola's deft direction keeps this from being a routine ghost story, using light and dark in his compositions to create tension and suspense. The film has an interesting way of spanning the traditional ghost story and the more modern gore-fests that we're used to. I have one bone to pick with the manufacturer of this disc: the transfer to DVD was made from tape. This is evident from the way the frames roll repeatedly during the last 15 minutes of the film, and the tape bunches a few times leaving video artifacts. DVD consumers want all the benefits of this medium, and not to have the degraded quality of tape preserved on it. If this is the only way you can get this film, at least the price is reasonable. It's also packaged as a Fright Night Horror Classic along with Night of the Living Dead and Revolt of the Zombies. --Jim Gay

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Even great directors have to be born

A rather simple and short film by a young director. In black and white of course because it is cheaper, but also because it is very classic in that kind of psychological thriller. Hitchcock did it with Psycho, why not Coppola then? Basically it is the guilt that develops and is cultivated in a family when some unacknowledged, unrecognized and unknown children's game turns sour, that is to say ends up with a dead child. The point is that the situation lacks originality and what's more the cause of the death is even trite, drowning. The most interesting part is the study of the mother as a family tyrant that imposes some kind of eternal remembering of the dead sister. That puts everyone on edge, on the defensive, hence on the side of hiding what should not be hidden because it creates a sick atmosphere that leads everyone to some kind of psychosis if not schizophrenia. Then the film has some shortcomings, such as the inheritance and the mother's will, or whatever that disavows the daughters in law who are treated as so many strangers. Then what is the deal with the first son, the one who has a heart condition? How long can it be hidden that he is not in New York but at the bottom of a lake? But it is worth watching because we can witness the birth of a great film director in these black and white frames.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine & University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne

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If A Body Meet A Body: Coppola's Big Screen Debut

Seven years ago Kathleen, youngest child and only daughter of Lady Haloran, drowned in a pond on the family estate. On each anniversary of her death, Lady Haloran (Eithne Dunne) demands the return of her three sons for a morbid memorial. This year one of her sons has married, and wife Louise (Luana Anders) is determined to get her hands on the family fortune. When her husband dies of a sudden heart attack, Louise hides his body and designs a plan to worm her way into Lady Haloran's good graces--but the plan uncovers a secret relating to the dead Kathleen, and before you can say Whist, Faith, or Begorrah there is an ax murderer lurking the castle's shadows.

Today DEMENTIA 13 is best recalled as the directorial debut of Francis Ford Coppola, who was then employed as an assistant to producer and director Roger Corman. Corman has been associated with the occasional "quality" film over the years, but then as now he is best recalled for such low-budget flicks as ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS, WASP WOMAN, and CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA. While on location with Corman on another film in Ireland, Coppola wrote a script that could be filmed on the same sets and with the same crew and cast--and since the movie would be so cheap it couldn't loose money, Corman said okay.

There are no two ways about it: DEMENTIA 13 was and is a movie designed for an audience of uncritical teenagers and drive-in moviegoers; it is not a lost masterpiece and there is nothing in it to herald Coppola's future fame. Still, and in spite of the fact that it borrows rather liberally from such films as DIABOLIQUE and PSYCHO, the plot does have a certain originality, and even critics of 1963 commented on the film's memorable atmosphere.

1963 audiences screamed over the film's ax attacks; audiences of today, however, are likely to find them thin stuff. All the same, it remains an entertaining film of its type. Assuming, of course, you can actually find a version on DVD or VHS that is actually viewable: the film quality was probably not great to begin with, and I've yet to encounter any reproduction that can be called better than mediocre. But fans of the 1950s and 1960s B flicks will consider it a minor classic of its kind--and every one else will get a kick out of seeing Coppola's first film of note. Worth seeking out.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

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The influence of "Psycho" was very strong

[Note: possible Spoilers to follow. Fair warning, dear reader.]

It can't be sheer coincidence that Francis Ford Coppola made a film in 1963 (his first film where he was at the helm) that involves a fairly ordinary girl who does a bad thing involving greed and then half an hour into the film is hacked up.
In "Psycho", the character of Marion Crane was murdered suddenly in the motel shower; in "Dementia 13", Louise is killed unexpectedly in the pond on the grounds of the cavernous family estate, Castle Haloran. The murder scenes are actually rather alike in certain ways if you compare them: a lone blonde woman in water is surprised by an obscured maniac seen only in shadow. It should be noted that there's more blood when Louise is done in, compared to Hitchcock's carefully orchestrated shower scene where it only seems bloody when Marion is stabbed.

Even the musical score is in some ways a copy of "Psycho"; although "Dementia 13" features a harpsichord along with its ominous strings.

The plot basically involves a strange family in Ireland and the lunatic amongst them with a penchant for ax wielding. In America, Louise has conveniently watched John, her surly oaf of a husband, die... and then she covers up the incident in order to still inherit from his sickly mother's estate when the woman passes away. There are several suspects in this slightly gory whodunit: is it the sullen older brother, or the icy mother who seems slightly cuckoo, or maybe the smarmy and obnoxious doctor, or could it be the poacher?

The movie has a few decent touches peppered throughout which make it ever so slightly better than other similiar fare of that period. For example, Coppola is often careful and dramatic with lighting. A child's toy bear or monkey takes on an eerily ominous presence when lit from beneath. And the underwater shots are nicely handled. Also I must admit that some of the camera angles are unexpectedly unique.

What makes "Dementia 13" just a cut above the rest (pardon the pun, hee hee), you might ask? Perhaps the saving grace of the film was Luanna Anders, who plays Louise. She is a very capable actress who made a few B-pictures during this time, including Roger Corman's "The Pit and the Pendulum". In "Dementia 13" you both like her and loathe her; you understand her but you hate what she does. And Anders is great with expressions, and vocal cadences. Other actresses wouldn't make this role quite so believable and natural. She is just as good as Janet Leigh, as far as I'm concerned. If it weren't for Anders' solid performance here, I'd have dismissed this film hastily and never returned.

So my take on Dementia 13 is basically this: a more graphic variation of Hitchcock's Psycho, but much more a whodunit, set in a castle in the countryside. It's a decent spookfest. But it doesn't offer very much that's dramatically different or refreshing when compared to other horror movies of the early 1960's. It's not quite as fun or involving as other similiar mood pieces, such as "Paranoiac". But it's not bad for a first film by a young director.

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a Spine Chilling Moment.

Its starts with John Haloran(Peter Read) and his wife Louise Haloran(Luana Anders) are on a rowboat ride during the night. John Haloran dies from a heart attack. This leaves Louise with a bit of a problem. Louise will not get to inherit any of the Haloran family money if her husband is dead. So she writes a letter from John trying to convince the family that John has been called away on business to New York while she journeys to the home in Ireland, where her plot eventually doesnt go as planned. The story leads to the secrets behind the death of a young girl named Kathleen, a member of the Holoran family, with an axe murderer involved, taking people out one by one.

The film is slightly slow paced but rewards us with the story as it picks up with the first axe murdering scene as he hacks away at the helpless victim that lies below his feet. It isnt exactly a gory bloodshed scene but does give us a great sense of macabre and butchery. You can see the axe hacking away at the victim and the victim struggling while covered in blood but you never see each of them in actual contact.(Looks like a great inspiration from Alfred Hitchcocks 'Psycho'.) Its gives us a great deal of an intense spine chilling moment with the axe murder dragging the body along the field by the hair. The great thing about this is how Coppola captures an example of identifying the personality of the psychopath without even seeing his face.

The story goes further presenting us with a mystery of who is the axe murderer. Each of them lead to different events and clues trying to convince us that everyone is a suspect. But it seems they presented us with one clue to many.

..."a ghostly murder mystery with a chilling twist"... The twist is actually predictable and not actually chilling. But let me remind you this is just the ending. Everything else before this gives us a decent amount of entertainment to keep you watching. And even though it doesnt live up to the standards of Alfred Hitchcocks 'Psycho', Dementia 13 truly has its inspirations. A great deal of it, no doubt.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

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