Movies - Dementia 13

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	Movies - Dementia 13

Dementia 13 is a horror thriller released in 1963 by American International Pictures, starring William Campbell, Patrick Magee, and Luana Anders. The film was written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Roger Corman.

Plot

One night, while out row boating in the middle of a lake, John Haloran (Peter Read) and his young wife Louise (Luana Anders) argue about his rich mother's will. Louise is upset that everything is currently designated to go to charity in the name of "a mysterious Kathleen." John tells Louis that if he dies before his mother does, she will be entitled to none of the inheritance. He then promptly drops dead from a massive heart attack. Thinking quickly, the scheming Louise throws the fresh corpse over the side of the boat, where it comes to rest at the bottom of the lake. Her plan is to pretend that he is still alive, in order to ingratiate her way back into the will. She types up a letter to Lady Haloran (Eithne Dunne), inviting herself to the family's Irish castle while her husband is "away on business".

Upon arrival, she immediately notices that things are a little strange in the castle. She observes John's two brothers, Billy (Bart Patton) and Richard (William Campbell) taking part in a bizarre ceremony with their mother as part of a yearly ritualistic tribute to their youngest sister, Kathleen, who died many years before in a freak drowning accident. Lady Haloran still mourns for her, and during this year's ceremony, she faints dead away. Louise tries to help, but is rebuffed and informed that the reason the woman fainted is because she noticed that the flowers on Kathleen's grave had suddenly died.

Louise, realizing that Lady Halloran is emotionally overwrought and superstitious, devises a plan intended to convince the old woman that Kathleen is trying to communicate with her from beyond the grave. This plan involves stealing some of the dead girl's old toys and placing them at the bottom of the estate's pond where they will float to the surface in the middle of the day in an ostensibly ghostly way. At night, Louise swims into the pond and begins placing the toys as planned. However, she is shocked to see what appears to be Kathleen's perfectly preserved corpse at the bottom of the pond. Horrified, she swims to the surface...and is abruptly axed to death by an unknown assailant.

Concerned family doctor Justin Caleb (Patrick Magee) arrives and becomes determined to solve the mystery. He questions the family in an intense, almost insane manner. Meanwhile, the murderer strikes again, decapitating a man who is poaching on the estate.

Finally, Dr. Caleb figures everything out with the aid of an obscure nursery rhyme, and manages to confront and stop the madman before he can kill again...

Production

Coppola worked as a soundman on Corman's The Young Racers (1963), a racing film which starred Campbell and Magee. That movie was shot in several different countries, and after production was completed Coppola talked Corman into allowing him to remain in Ireland with a small crew and direct a low-budget horror film, to be produced by Corman. Coppola wrote the screenplay in only a few days to help convince Corman that he'd be able to handle the responsibilities. Corman was impressed enough by the script to provide Coppola with a fairly measly $20,000, and the young director was able to arrange an additional $22,000 in financing himself. Although Coppola had been involved in a few nudie films previously, Dementia 13 served as his first mainstream, "legitimate" directorial effort.

Response

Despite a rushed production and a somewhat incomprehensible screenplay, Dementia 13 has managed to receive a considerable amount of positive critical reviews over the years. Michael Weldon, in The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film, noted it had " great trick ending, some truly shocking gory axe murders, and lots of inventive photography." Tom Raynes, in the Time Out Film Guide, said "The location (an Irish castle) is used imaginatively, the Gothic atmosphere is suitably potent, and there's a wonderfully sharp cameo from Patrick Magee..." Danny Peary, in his Guide for the Film Fanatic, stated that despite the "hopelessly confusing" storyline, "...the horror sequences are very exciting."

When the Roan Group released a laserdisc and DVD of the film, it included an amusing and informative audio commentary by Campbell.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Dementia 13 ]

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