Dementia13

Dementia 13 (1963)

This movie opens with a married couple rowing across the lake in a small boat. They are having an argument over the man’s family and the money they stand to inherit. The husband, John, taunts his wife that if anything happens to him she won’t get a penny of the inheritance. Sure enough he promptly drops dead of a heart attack. So as to not lose out on the money the wife sinks the body in the pond and make it seem the husband is off on business. She then immediately tries to cozy up to her mother in law, Lady Haloran, who is still morning the loss of her only daughter 7 years earlier. But the wife is soon done away by an axe-wielding killer, who takes her body away. Only the family’s doctor knows that there is a big skeleton in the closet that might relieve all the Haloran’s troubles if he can find out what it is and reveal it.

This is a cool little movie that I’ve always found to be lots of fun. The story is very basic and involves insanity, murder, and marriage! Does it get any better than that? In spite of it’s miniscule budget and very basic who done it script Dementia 13 is well paced, never boring, and a good time. But then when your director and writer is Francis Ford Coppola and your second unit director is Jack Hill (Spider Baby) that shouldn’t surprise anyone. I love the setting of the creepy old castle and the location that they found to shoot the movie in was perfect. The cast is solid, if not spectacular. The best cast members have to be Luana Anders as the wife doomed to join her husband in death, and William Campbell as one of the Haloran brothers. Both do very good jobs in their roles and show why they worked regularly for years in TV and low budget movies.

The movie was made in the early 60s and on a very low budget so don’t expect any gore or special effects. There is a bit with a dummy that is sort of creepy, but that is about it. The lighting and camera work does create some atmosphere and as I’ve already said the locations work nicely with the script. There are a few particular shots, especially with the toys of the deceased girl that are a bit creepy. Also the movie has a few jump scares that are nicely done and will get the most jaded of horror fan. Still for the budget and the early 60s Dementia 13 is way better than it has any right to be.

I know I’m inclined to like this movie because I’m a big Roger Corman fan, as well as being a big fan of Coppola. But the truth is I’ve seen a lot of low budget old school drive-in movies and this is one of the better ones. There is a lot of talent behind this movie and I think it really shows in the final product.

When I found out that they were putting out Dementia 13 on Blu-Ray I was really surprised. I mean the movie is pretty cool (as you can probably tell from my review) but it is in the public domain. So really I couldn’t see a company spending too much time or money on re-mastering it. Buy I have to say that this disc looks incredible. I’ve only ever seen it on late night T.V. or on budget releases over the years and the prints have always been beat up and rough. Here the movie looks incredible, so I really want to give HD Cinema Classics credit for the incredible job they did and I’m so glad to have this one in my collection.

This really is the best way to check out Dementia 13. Trust me you haven’t seen this movie until you check out the Blu-Ray from HD Cinema Classics. Please head over to their website at http://www.hdcinemaclassics.com/ for more information.

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer