Horror Extreme Movie Catalog

[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.

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