Cheap Dementia 13 (DVD) (William Campbell, Luana Anders, Bart Patton) (Francis Ford Coppola) Price

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Customer Reviews of Dementia 13

A nice little low-budget ax murderer in a castle film
"Dementia 13" was the result of producer Roger Corman's infamous "apprentice" program at AIP; Corman was shooting his own film and let Francis Ford Coppolla get his first director's credit by shooting "Dementia 13" on the same location. However, if you are into auteur criticism and are looking for portends of Coppolla's work on "The Godfather" in this first effort, forget about it. "Dementia 13" is just a nice little low-budget horror film for which the biggest complaint is that the pace is a tad slow. The story is set in Ireland and if it bears a strong resemblance to Corman's film adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe, well, what else did you expect? When her husband drops dead, Louise Haloran (Luana Anders) know she will be cut out of the Haloran family inheritance so she pretends he is in New York on business and heads off to the ancestral home in Ireland to try and get in good with the family. But at Castle Haloran the family is engaged in morbid rituals marking the death of John's sister Kathleen, who drowned in the pond six years earlier. The question of inheritance becomes more interesting once family members start being hacked to death by an ax-murderer. Despite this development "Dementia 13" is not a gory film, but more of a character study, which alone makes it somewhat atypical for the time. The most recognizable faces in the film are Patrick Magee, known as the victim of Malcolm McDowell's brutality in "A Clockwork Orange," and William Campbell, who played a pair of memorable roles on the original Star Trek series in "The Squire of Gothos" and "The Trouble with Tribbles." "Dementia 13" is an okay little exercise in terror that is worth at least one look in your life when you are exploring the virtues of low budget black & white horror films from the Sixties.

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Two Corman classics for the price of one! However...
...buyer beware of extremely low quality EP mode video re-production.

The first feature of this 2 tape set is "Dementia 13". Released in 1963, this cult classic is notable for atleast one reason, it was Francis Ford Coppola's directorial debut. The film is centered around a spooky old castle, the accidental drowning of a little girl, and a deranged killer who uses an axe to do his victims in. Semi-enjoyable B-grade "whodunnit" horror flick that is sure to be enjoyed by every fan of the genre. However, viewer beware: "Dementia 13" is a dark and somewhat disturbing film and contains scenes of graphic violence - not recommended for the squeamish or faint of heart.

The second feature, "Creature from the Haunted Sea", on the other hand, is a highly enjoyable B-grade sci-fi monster flick filled with lots of camp humor and several genuine "laugh out loud" moments of corny comedy. This one's about a United States secret agent who is posing as a crew member on board a boat being used by a small group of gangsters in search of undersea treasure. The not too threatening gang is made up of a Humphrey Bogart look-alike, his sexy girlfriend who likes to spend most of her time prancing around in bikinis while singing the film's title song, the girlfriend's younger idiot teenage brother who happens to look a lot like Richie Cunningham, and a mentally challenged, muscle bounded adolescent whose main form of communication is imitating the sounds of nearly every member of the animal kingdom. As if all that weren't enough, there's also a sea monster,complete with Freddy Krueger gloves for hands and diver's fins for feet who looks a lot like something you'd see on an episode of the "Muppet Show", thrown into the mele to mess things up a little more. The animated sequence during the opening credits is also quite enjoyable. There's also quite a bit of truly fascinating underwater footage that rivals similar scenes filmed for the "Creature from the Black Lagoon" films.

The 3 star rating is mainly for "Creature from the Haunted Sea". "Dementia 13", while not really a bad movie, gets 2 & a half stars.

Again, the quality of this Madacy Entertainment two tape edition leaves a lot to be desired. The tapes are [poor] EP copies and come with all the viewing problems that accompany most videos recorded in that mode, the exception being videos produced by Goodtimes Entertainment which usually happen to be quite good. Unless you really want to spend absolutely as little money as possible for these two movies and don't care much about product quality, then this edition is just right for you. However, you'd really be better off spending a little more money and buying these movies separately from better quality video manufacturers.

At any rate, happy viewing, and try not to get too scared or laugh yourself to death!

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Coppola's first--a mixed bag
This is not the best horror movies I've ever seen, but one of the best films in terms of *atmosphere*. The frightening parts about it are less in the film itself than what the film suggests--the really psychotic point to which codependency can build, obsession, and a host of other disturbances, none of which involve the supernatural but suggest it. Along with the Vincent Price films he did, this is the best film you'll see that Roger Corman was involved in.

Luana Anders is, ironically, the strongest presence in this film. Thing is, she doesn't last very long, and the viewer isn't all that devastated when she does disappear. A scheming, money hungry witch, she preys on the co-morbidity of an elderly woman to the point of sadism. A young girl dies tragically at a young age. An Irish family living in Nowheresville idealizes her mysterious death to the point of madness. Someone is responsible, and we eventutally find out who. There are a few 'jump out of your seat scenes', one of them being the untimely (and grisly) death of Anders. It's been awhile since I've seen this film, but much of the imagery (dolls, truly 'demented' childhood memories, and the last exclamation by the ultimate culprit: "DON'T TOUCH THAT!") have remained with me. This is an odd blend, Corman and Coppola. A worthwhile old cinematic antique of misery.