Dementia 13

Starring: William Campbell; Luana Anders & Patrick Magee Director: Francis Ford Coppola

A series of grisly murders occur on the estate on a once noble Irish family in the early directorial work of Francis Ford Coppola.

DVD Features:

Description by OLDIES.com:

Gruesome axe murders plague the menacing ancestral castle of the Halorans, a family whose heritage includes greed, deception and death. Louise Haloran wants to enjoy a piece of her husband John's fortune, but when he suddenly dies without including her in his will, the scheming wife conceals the death from the family. The castle is haunted by the spirit of John's long dead younger sister Kathleen. When Lady Haloran announces she will give all her money to charity in the name of Kathleen, greedy Louise concocts a plan.

Arranging some of Kathleen's possessions in the pond where the girl drowned, Louise emerges from the dark waters only to be attacked and murdered. The weapon: a razor-sharp axe! A killing spree erupts on the Haloran estate, seemingly motivated by the murderer's obsession with Kathleen. The surviving Halorans must discover the killer's identity before their fate is sealed.

Inspired by the success of Psycho, Dementia 13 is a startling early effort from writer/director Francis Ford Coppola. Reportedly made for less than $45,000 (an astonishingly low budget), Dementia 13 still manages to pack a powerful punch with moody photography, a stirring music score by Ronald Stein and violent scenes that remain effective today.

While Roger Corman was in Europe shooting The Young Racers, crew member Coppola presented him with a screenplay and offered to direct Dementia 13 on-the-fly, borrowing The Young Racers acting principals and piecing together a technical crew from available talent, Coppola created a triumph of art over budget. As if the already ultra-sensational demise of Luana Anders was not strong enough, an additional murder sequence, directed in a cavalier manner by Jack Hill, was later inserted by Corman who insisted on more over-the-top violence.

Product Description:

Francis Ford Coppola's directorial debut, produced by horror king Roger Corman, is a terror-filled tale of family ties chopped to pieces. DEMENTIA 13's opening scene of Louise and John Haloran alone on a boat drifting nowhere (as an Elvis Presley song plays hauntingly) is reminiscent of many Hitchcock films. Its 1963 release was just the beginning of what, for Coppola, would be a long career of helming chillingly powerful masterworks such as APOCALYPSE NOW and THE GODFATHER.

Set in a spooky Irish castle, DEMENTIA 13 begins as the Haloran family gathers to memorialize the death of the youngest sister, Kathleen. While various family members plot and connive, an ax murderer is roaming the grounds, and Kathleen's body shows up at just the wrong time. Slowly, the family members become increasingly suspicious of each other--as well as of the ghosts that haunt the castle. But when the sinister family doctor is called in to help with the mystery, the expertly contrived Coppola chills really take hold.

Plot Keywords:

Death | Essential Cinema | Family Interaction | Horror | Ireland | Murder | Suspense | Theatrical Release

Production Notes:

• Theatrical Release: September 25, 1963.
• The film was released as THE HAUNTED AND THE HUNTED in Great Britain.
• After toiling for several years as an assistant to Roger Corman, this was the first film that independent producer Roger Corman let Francis Ford Coppola direct.
• Francis Ford Coppola's only complete film prior to this as a director was the 1961 nudie TONITE FOR SURE.
• DEMENTIA 13 was shot on location in Ireland during the summer of 1963.
• Patrick Magee (Justin Caleb) later became famous for his role as Mr. Alexander, one of Malcolm McDowell's victims, in A CLOCKWORK ORANGE.

Cast and Crew: