(Spoilers.) A.k.a. The Haunted and the Hunted. What do you do when you make a tidy little horror film titled Dementia and then find out that there is already a movie out there — see our not-so-short Short Film of the Month for July 2020 — with that title? In the case of this typically low-budget Roger Corman production, the not-quite directorial debut of the movie's screenwriter and director Francis Ford Coppola,* the solution was to simply, randomly, add the "unlucky" number 13. And while the resulting title is rather catchy, it really has nothing to do with the film, for while there are surely some less than sound minds in the movie, not one (much less some 13) actually suffers dementia — at least not the kind induced by disease, be it Alzheimer's or Parkinson's.
* Prior to Dementia 13, Coppola had already "directed" three films that he apparently would prefer to forget: the nudie-cutie Tonight for Sure (1962 / full film), which at least included scenes he truly directed (from his short film The Peeper), and two other projects that were less directed than re-edited: the nudie-cutie The Bellboy and the Playgirls (1962 / full film), a revision of the German film Mit Eva find die sünde an (1958 / German trailer), and the science fiction flick Battle Beyond the Sun (1962 / full US version), a revision of the Russian film Nebo Zovyot (1958 / full film). (Some footage of the Russian film are also found in Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet [1965].) Coppola was also one of the half dozen or so that participated in that infamous but entertaining joint-directorial project The Terror (1963), but so many cooks took part in that project that it can hardly count as a directorial project. According to the AFI Catalog, Dementia 13 received opened in Los Angeles as a double feature with The Terror, only to subsequently be released nationally on a double feature X: The Man with X-Ray Eyes (1963 / trailer).
Original trailer to
Dementia 13:
Coppola was in Ireland working as a sound technician on the Roger Corman-directed The Young Racers (1963 / trailer), which came in under budget, and he was able to convince Corman to let him use the remaining funds to make a film of his own; Corman agreed, stating that he wanted a cheap Psycho (1960 / trailer) imitation. And so Coppola came up with this B&W, Ireland-set, semi-Gothic film featuring an ax-wielding maniac — a film that has, by now, long become yet another one of Corman's early productions to enter the public domain due to Corman's penchant for saving the copyrighting fees.*
* Supposedly Corman recut Coppola's version of Dementia 13 prior to its release, which is one of the reasons why Coppola released a new and refurbished "director's cut" in 2017 (trailer).
Personally, while we would indeed one day like to watch Coppola's "director's cut", the "original" version out in the public domain might be typically scratchy and slightly damaged, but it still makes for some pretty damn good viewing — here at a wasted life, we have watched it multiple times. Cheap and rushed the movie might be, and yes, the sound microphone does slip into the picture frame occasionally, but Dementia 13 is a tight and well-made movie which, despite some WTF moments, sinks its hooks into the viewer from the start and keeps you watching until the end. And, as inferred, it easily withstands repeat viewings.
Ronald Stein —
main title to Dementia 13:
Dementia 13 actually opens with one such WTF moments. The obviously less than happily married couple John Haloran (Peter Read of The Outcast [1990 / trailer], Freakshow [1989 / trailer], The Brain [1988 / Spanish trailer] and The Dark Side [1987 / trailer], if the imdb can be believed*) and Louise Haloran (Luana Anders [12 May 1938 – 21 July 1996] of The Pit and the Pendulum [1961 / trailer], The Killing Kind [1973 / trailer], and American Strays [1996]) take a rowboat out onto the lake of Haloran Castle** late one night. As they argue about the will of Lady Haloran (Eithne Dunne [30 Oct 1919 – 21 Dec 1988] of The Mutations [1974 / trailer]), which leaves everything to charity, John dies of a heart attack. Louise, knowing that with him dead she no longer has any chance of inheriting, promptly dumps John's anchor-weighted body into the lake, along with the portable radio he had been listening to. Coppola gets a good laugh from the audience even as he shows that he has a truly creative sense of cinema by having the sound of the rockabilly tune on the radio "bubble" through the water as it sinks down to and settles on the body of John, only to then segue into the movie's credit sequence*** and main theme.
* We have our doubts here.
** Otherwise known as Howth Castle.
*** Like many of Corman's title sequences utilizing background art, the surreally horrific painted images that float and fade in and out behind the credits were supplied by the underappreciated American artist Paul Hull Julian (25 June 1914 – 5 Sept 1995). Highly active in the field of animation, his short masterpiece The Hangman (1964) was our Short Film of the Month for February 2011. Julian also painted the portrait of the dead Kathleen seen in the movie.
** Otherwise known as Howth Castle.
*** Like many of Corman's title sequences utilizing background art, the surreally horrific painted images that float and fade in and out behind the credits were supplied by the underappreciated American artist Paul Hull Julian (25 June 1914 – 5 Sept 1995). Highly active in the field of animation, his short masterpiece The Hangman (1964) was our Short Film of the Month for February 2011. Julian also painted the portrait of the dead Kathleen seen in the movie.
He's Caught by Buddy & the Fabs:
Louise's intention, of course, is to keep John's death a secret and somehow work here way into Lady Haloran's graces and get that will changed. It is, of course, a harebrained WTF idea, for even if the will were changed, John's total disappearance would probably come out before any inheritance could be had. But the opening also solidly establishes her as a conniving, cold-hearted gold-digger who will stop at nothing to get what she wants — providing something, or someone, doesn't stop her first. Maybe with an ax?
No one may suffer from dementia at Haloran Castle, but more than one person there appears to have some screws seriously loose. Lady Haloran, for example, a mother from hell who in no way is willing to hide her disdain of Kane (Mary Mitchell of The Girls on the Beach [1965 / trailer, see Dick Miller Part II], Panic in Year Zero! [1962 / trailer] and the WTF masterpiece that is Spider-Baby [1967 / trailer]), the American fiancée of Lady Haloran's manly and somewhat choleric artist son, Richard (William Campbell [30 Oct 1926 – 28 Apr 2011]), whose upbringing has obviously given him some anger issues. Since the death of her beloved daughter Kathleen (Barbara Dowling*), Lady Haloran has held an annual memorial service at her grave to which all sons must come, and it is obvious that the youngest son, the pleasant but pushover Billy (Mary Mitchell's then real-life husband Bart Patton, of Gidget Goes Hawaii [1961 / trailer]), doesn't exactly seem to be flourishing under her overbearing nature.
* The Barbara Dowling [1925 – 26 Apr 2011] currently listed at imdb would have been around 35 years old at the time Dementia 13 was filmed, a bit too old to play the 12-year-old in the film.
If one is unfamiliar with the movie — Spoiler time! — up until the first ax murder, a good half-hour into the movie, the calculating Louise comes very much across as the focus of the narrative, but then Coppola pulls his Psycho-inspired sudden death and switch of focus. While setting up a trick to make Lady Haloran believe that she can talk with the dead Kathleen, Louise supplies the film's prurient scene by stripping down to her undergarments (note how her panties suddenly change color) and going for a midnight swim that she does not survive. First confronted deep underwater by the frightening sight of Kathleen's lying at a tombstone, Louise is promptly dispatched by an ax as she attempts to leave the pond. The ax attack is brutal and shocking, and even today can still make one flinch.
Of course, the viewer does not see who the killer is, but before the film is over he kills again — Simon, the poacher with a terribly fake accent (Karl Schanzer [25 Nov 1932 – 25 May 2014] of Blood Bath [1966 / trailer] and the WTF masterpiece that is Spider-Baby [1967 / trailer]) — and almost does away with Lady Haloran when she takes a midnight stroll to Kathleen's old playhouse.
But who is the killer? And why does the lifelike body of Kathleen keep showing up and disappearing? Into this turmoil comes Dr. Justin Caleb (Patrick Magee [31 Mar 1922 – 14 Aug 1982], of The Masque of Red Death [1964] and so much more), the house doctor, who seems to have a somewhat contentious relationship with his former patient, Richard. He, like everyone else, might not know that a killer is on the loose, but he knows something is terribly wrong in the state of Denmark.
One cannot fault the acting of the main characters of Dementia 13, though Magee does have an arch style and tone that clashes somewhat with that of the American cast. More than once, it is the castle and location that is the true star of the film, upstaging the events occurring. Coppola's direction is excellent, if somewhat raw and hampered by the budget: nevertheless, more than once the framing, the setup, or the progression and buildup of a scene reveals that even in 1962, in his first "real" directorial job, he had an inventive eye and already had the makings of a talented filmmaker.
Dementia 13 might not come anywhere close to being "good" in the way that Coppola's much bigger budgeted The Godfather II (1974 / trailer) or Dracula (1992 / trailer) are, but for a low-budget exploiter made as quickly and on the fly as it was, Coppola's movie is an atmospheric and scary tale of horror that keeps you riveted to the end. It also has a narrative that pretty much holds water, and cinematically it shows a true love of the medium — unlike, for example, the lazy turd that is The Godfather III (1990 / trailer). No matter what the lowly roots of Dementia 13 are, it remains one of Coppola's better films and is well worth watching.
A color indie remake (a.k.a. Haloran Manor), directed by Richard LeMay, was released in 2017 and made absolutely no waves before sinking into oblivion.
Trailer to Richard LeMay's
Dementia 13 (2017):
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