Demência 13

In Ireland, the greedy American Louise (Luana Anders) is disappointed with the will of her mother-in-law Lady Haloran (Ethne Dunne) on the eve of Kathleen's seventh memorial ceremony. While rowing a small boat during the night in the pond of the Haloran Castle with Louise, John Haloran (Peter Read) has a fatal heart attack. Louise is aware that she will not receive the share of the inheritance if the death of John is discovered, so she dumps his body in the pond. Then she forges a farewell letter from John to his mother telling that he needs to go back to New York, and she separates some clothes in John's suitcase to simulate his travel. Louise succeeds to convince Lady Haloran and her sons Richard (William Campbell) and Billy (Bart Patton) about John's urgent business trip. Later she talks to Billy about the spooky old castle and Billy tells that the place is haunted by his sister Kathleen, who drowned in the pond many years ago driving his mother to the edge. On the next morning, Richard's American fiancée Kane (Mary Mitchel) arrives for the family's reunion and the Machiavellian Louise approaches to Lady Haloran showing sympathy for her feelings for Kathleen. During the night, Louise goes to Kathleen's bedroom and gets some toys; then she dives in the pond to prepare a prank to lure Lady Haloran. When she returns, she is attacked by a man with a machete and dies; when she is not found in the castle, the family believes she has traveled without saying goodbye. Later, Lady Haloran's doctor Justin Caleb (Patrick Magee) decides to investigate the small lake and the mystery about the Haloran Castle, disclosing a hidden secret in the dysfunctional family.

It is curious to see "Dementia 13" in 2009, and the greatest attraction is the name of the director and writer Francis Coppola (without the Ford) in one of his earliest works. Produced by Roger Corman, the King of the B-Movies (especially in the 60's), this black-and-white feature has an abrupt beginning without any previous development of characters or situation. Then the flawed and predictable story of dementia and family curse visibly follows the style of Alfred Hitchcock. I found in IMDb that the original title would be "Dementia"; however, it was added a "13" since there is a 1955 movie with the same title. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Demência 13" ("Dementia 13")

Back in the early 60s, filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola was taking his first steps as a director, and after directing two "Nudie Cuties" (his very first two works), he began working with legendary producer Roger Corman as an assistant in several tasks such as dialog director, actor and finally working in the sound department of Corman's 1963 film, "The Young Racers". It was while filming this movie in Ireland when Coppola finally convinced Corman to allow him to make his first "legitimate" film: "Dementia 13", a low-budget horror film using the same locations and most of the cast of Corman's movie. Impressed by the script that Coppola and writer Jack Hill devised, gave Coppola free reign over the film and went back to the America, leaving all set for the debut of a man who would become one of the most important directors of the 70s and 80s.

Louise Haloran (Luana Anders) has a problem, her husband John (Peter Read) has died and therefore legally she is unable to claim any inheritance if John's mother dies. In order to retain her part in the testament, Louise decides to make everyone believe that John is still alive and pretending he was sent to New york to work, making him unable to accompany her to the family annual Memorial service they do for John's younger sister Kathleen in Ireland. at her arrival, everything seems to work out fine at first, but John's older brother Richard (WIlliam Campbell) begins to suspect that something is wrong. However, soon this becomes Louise' lesser problem, as something bigger and morbid seems to be going on inside the dark corridors of Harlan's Castle.

"Dementia 13" was written mostly by Coppola in a few days, but after Corman allowed them to continue with the project, Jack Hill helped Coppola to finish the script. The story is basically a mixture of traditional Gothic horror with elements of the slasher sub-genre that was in its early stages during those years ("Dementia 13" shows a lot of influence from Hitchcock's "Psycho"), and while it is indeed a bit messy and contrived at first sight, it does deliver an interesting mystery and good doses of suspense. It's not the most original movie ever (not even for its time), but it's very noticeable that Coppola was not going for the easy route of showing shocks ("lots of sex and violence" as he supposedly promised to Corman) and actually attempts to built a thrilling story of intrigues and madness.

While the plot may not be the film greatest strength, the direction by Coppola is surprisingly very good for a debut as he shows a raw display of the talent that would take him to the top in the future years. Giving a great use to the Irish castle that serves as location to the film, Coppola creates a nice atmosphere of dread and well, dementia, that fills the film with ominous power and gives it a personality of its own. Despite his limited resources (even for Corman's standards), he manages to come up with some good (although sparse) special effects that look impressive when one considers the shoestring budget he had to work with. Of course, "Dementia 13" is not really a great or remarkable film, but it's very good for a first time director and it's also really obvious that this is where Coppola learned many things about his craft.

Overall the cast does an effective job and manage to carry the film without too many problems. Luana Anders as Louise Harlan was probably at the top of her game and really shows that she is more than a pretty face. William Campbell as Richard Haloran is also excellent in his performance, although a little over the top at times. The film's best performances are given by Eithne Dunne and Patrick Magee, who as the unstable Lady Haloran and her Doctor respectively, give the film a dignity and a class uncommon in other similar movies. Magee is easily the highlight of the film, as he transforms what otherwise would be a two-dimensional character into a full fledged character with his charm and enormous talent.

This movie is a quite good example of how the cinema was evolving in the 60s, as the style and overall tone feel very fresh and young; however, those expecting to see another of Coppola's masterpieces in "Dementia 13" will be sorely disappointed. The movie's biggest problem is the somewhat messy script, that not only feels a bit too derivative from "Psycho" in some moments, but it also can become confusing and tedious at times. Fortunately, the cast does a very good job (considering the limitations) in solving this and along with Coppola's original direction literally save the movie from being a failure.

"Dementia 13" has gained a good reputation over the years, and while most of it is probably due to Coppola's later success as a director, it's hard to deny that there is real raw talent in the making of the film. Personally, I think that the best way to appreciate this early Coppola movie is to go without expectations and be willing to enjoy the ride. A very good, albeit flawed, horror movie. 6/10

Francis Ford Coppola's debut horror flick is sometimes hailed as a kind of forgotten masterpiece, which is downright preposterous. Bored with his work as an assistant director on THE YOUNG RACERS he wrote a screenplay, and asked Corman for $22,000 to let him film it on the same sets used for THE YOUNG RACERS. He shot the film in two weeks and the shooting of the two films at the same sets simultaneously only worsened the quality of the film. I must admit, made with this 99 cent budget, it's a comparatively well crafted horror mystery with some good scenes but overall pretty dull with a story that makes little sense.

The members of the Haloran family gather at their ancestral Irish castle to attend the annual commemoration of the death of Kathleen, the daughter of the family who drowned in the lake on their estate six years earlier. One of the sons in the family, John Haloran, dies of a heart-attack while listening to Elvis on the radio. His gold-digging wife Louise then dumps the body in the pond and pretends he has returned to New York, because she only gets part of the family inheritance when her husband is alive. When staying at the castle she begins an elaborate ruse to convince Lady Haloran that her drowned daughter Kathleen is still alive, but soon, she is killed by an axe-murderer, who proceeds to kill of the rest of the family one by one. What follows is: who's the psycho? Much inspired by Hitchcock's PSYCHO, it bears little relation plotwise, let alone in suspense. Coppola puts more emphasis on graphic violence than suspense and the story doesn't make much sense. With some good scenes it kept me watching till the end, but that's about it.

Not a complete waste of time though, as Coppola met his future wife Eleonor Neil on the set.

Camera Obscura --- 6/10

There are many plot points throughout this film that would make great horror or suspense movies in themselves. The gold-digging wife who plans to change the will of her mother-in-law. The guilt a family feels about the death of their daughter. A haunted Irish castle. An axe murderer loose at a family gathering where a will is being discussed. The trusted family doctor who is, in fact, a puppetmaster, making the family hold onto a tragic past. Unfortunately, none of these intriguing plot points are milked to their fullest advantage. Literally, Coppola has five movies in one...but none of them are finished. When John dies and Louise covers up the death, that's the last we hear about it. This could have been used later. Etc. etc. Instead, we get a mish mash of plot points with bad acting and bad dialogue that are important but never revisited and used to weave a cohesive plot.

A woman's husband dies of a heart attack shortly before they are to visit his family. She dumps his body into a lake and tells the family that he was called away on business, while she schemes to ensure she collects his inheritance. Her scheming is cut short, however, by the appearance of an ax-wielding killer out for blood.

Of note today as being Francis Ford Coppola's feature film debut, or at least his first credited one. Because it's from a director as accomplished as Coppola, there seems to be more thought put into analyzing Dementia 13 than is necessary. It is exactly what it appears to be: an early slasher film made on a shoestring budget and produced by the master of the cheapie, Roger Corman. It's not a bad movie. It's a little slow at times and the script doesn't always make sense, but it's a perfectly serviceable movie of its type. It has some style that one could point to as a sign of Coppola's yet-to-emerge talent. It also provided the line about "an American girl raised on promises" that was cribbed by Tom Petty for his song "American Girl," which I thought was a neat bit of trivia.