Search - 3D Dementia 13 (2-D & 3-D Versions Included) on DVD

Cutting Edge...

Bindy Sue Frønkünschtein | under the rubble | 01/26/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Louise Haloran (Luana Anders) accompanies her husband John (Peter Read) on a moonlight rowboat ride around the lake. Well, John's heart gives out and he drops dead in the middle of the lake! Devoted wife Louise dumps his carcass overboard and begins scheming immediately how she can worm her way into her mother-in-law's will. Louise pretends that John has gone away on a trip, and shows up at the family castle in Ireland to put her plot into operation. Upon arrival, Louise finds a family in the throes of insanity, as the matriarch, Lady Haloran (Ethne Dunn) has never fully recovered from the drowning death of her young daughter Kathleen. Every year since, the family gathers at Kathleen's grave, and tosses flowers by the tombstone until Lady Haloran collapses to the ground. Louise arrives just in time for the seventh annual observance of this macabre ritual! She realizes that mum is extremely vulnerable, and sets out to gain her confidence. She convinces her that she has heard Kathleen's voice in the castle. Louise places some of Kathleen's dolls at the bottom of the pond (where the drowning occured), weighted down by a wrench. She sees a most terrifying sight down there and re-surfaces, only to be hacked to death by a shadowy figure with an axe! The dolls pop up the next afternoon, sending mother completely over the edge. Her doctor, Dr. Caleb (Patrick Magee) tries to solve the mystery of the dolls, as well as Louise's sudden disappearance. A trespassing rabbit hunter is also dispatched by the axe maniac in grizzly, head-rolling fashion. William Campbell plays Richard Haloran. Bart Patton is his younger brother, Billy. Mary Mitchell is Kane, Richard's bride-to-be, who is the only ray of sunshine in this otherwise dark, gloomy place. Coppola offers some fine direction, and his story is full of nice creepy touches. This film was made for about the cost of the catering service in most modern day productions! It shows again, like in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, CARNIVAL OF SOULS, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, ETC., that money isn't everything in movie-making! Highly recommended..."

The influence of "Psycho" was very strong

Baron Sardonicus | Pennsylvania | 06/05/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"[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."