Dementia

i gave this title a 5 as it was kind of entertaining, there are a few films i have rated 0 and ended up turning of and this did not warrant that.

One thing i will say which is along the same lines as the other reviewers thus far is that it seemed more like a TV movie and within the first twenty minutes i had kinda worked out the plot. having said that it was nice to just chill out with a film that required not a lot of focus, it did the job.

An annoying point is the classification and Genre labelling of late on here and many other sites that put a film into the Horror category and this was labelled this as well as a Thriller. This was no more a Horror than ET and Thriller is what it was.

its mediocre at best hence my 5 rating.

When an elderly Vietnam vet, George, begins suffering from dementia, his estranged family hire a live in nurse to take care of him. However the nurse harbors a sinister secret and has an agenda for agreeing to take care of the man.

The story kept me engaged the whole way through and was all around good. The ending was easily predicted but I don't feel like it was meant to be a big mystery and the story doesn't suffer at all from you knowing it. There was one element to the ending that I didn't see coming and was surprised they went that way (in a good way).

The acting is the highlight of the film for me. George Lockhart and Kristina Klebe's roles notably. Lockhart plays the role of a dementia suffering veteran convincingly and switched between the characters various emotions expertly. Between this and her role in PROXY (2013), Klebe has proved that she can play bad ass women with streaks of madness to a T. Hassie Harrison and Peter Cilella do well with their roles as the distant family members and then you have the always excellent, Richard Riehle, as George's friend.

I did feel like thinks kind of wrapped up a bit too early once things get revealed and it could have used a bit more expanding on that angle. All in all though I dug it and it's definitely worth a watch.

"Keeping him calm, will keep him alive."

Everything was there to turn this into a horrible and unnerving horror. How terrifying is it for someone who's helplessly caught in a life-threatening situation and knowing it's impossible to escape from. No possibility to ask someone for help. No ability to save yourself. Both because you are physically limited and there's someone who makes this impossible anyway. Films about forced imprisonment are countless. From "The seasoning house" and "Mysery" to "Room" recently. The reason of detention varies from film to film. You can't say this genre films is saturated. That's a bit exaggerated. Unfortunately the theme used in "Dementia", isn't really realistic sometimes. The fact that someone suffers from dementia and is trapped in his own psychological consciousness, is scarier than what is shown here.

Especially the acting of Gene Jones catches the eye. In a brilliant way he shows the various characteristics of George. On the one hand a surly man who carries a heavy burden of his past. The unbearable memories of his captivity where he was subjected to inhuman tortures. After he returned this experience was the basis for his alcohol problem, which resulted in domestic violence and terror. On the other hand, we see the chastened former alcoholic, who tries to clear things up and rectify what he has done wrong in the past. There are timid attempts to restore the broken family band with his son Jerry (Peter Cilella) and seeks a rapprochement as the father he wasn't. Also, he finally gets to know his granddaughter Shelby (Hassie Harrison), who knows nothing about her grandfather's past. Jones shows George's range of moods brilliantly. One moment we see an unruly wiseacre who's waving around with a shotgun. The next moment he reacts very aggressively because he doesn't recognize his granddaughter. But the moments George looks helpless and vulnerable, made the biggest impression.

But this is by far the most positive thing I could say about "Dementia". There is indeed a tense atmosphere at times but it's never really creepy or eerie so to speak. Michelle (Kristina Klebe) has a kind of schizophrenic personality and reacts fairly hysterical, but the predictability of the story undermines this a little bit. And there are also some facts that seem pretty stupid. The way Michelle is appointed, is completely ridiculous. I would never give a total stranger the task to take care of my father, even if I don't care much about him anymore due to his behavior in the past, without asking some information about this person. A simple inquiry at the hospital where she works, was enough. And when that person addresses me in a rude and aggressive way, I'd sack her promptly. Obviously George's past and the diagnosis of dementia counts against him.

The makers succeeded in putting the film on the screen in a solid way, by using for example the fuzzy images as a suggestion of George's mental state and the eerie flashbacks. This combined with the excellent acting, made sure it remained a fascinating film all in all. The only flaw here, is the fact that you can guess the outcome in about 30 minutes. Thus there's no need for guessing anymore. Or George's mental state really deteriorates and he could become a danger to his environment or Michelle has other sinister plans concerning this elderly man. Take your pick.

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Is it the mind, is it something or somebody else? When someone suffers from Dementia, the Question is how do you keep track of what they might have gone through? Obviously this plays a big part of the story, since you have to decide what you believe happens or happened.

So since there are only two options (he did/she did), it's rather pointless saying or thinking "I knew it". Chances are you will be aware what the truth is though and where this is heading. It still is rather well made and has quite some suspense to offer nonetheless. The acting is ok and while there is a "sequel", it does not have anything to do with this movie at all

It builds you up and gets you somewhat into it (not much) and then has a terrible ending. I don't recommend wasting your time. It's a let down!