Dementia 13

Francis Coppola (he added “Ford” later) made his “official” directorial debut with this 1963 low-budget horror film, a Psycho knockoff about an axe-murderer in an Irish castle, based on a script he reportedly wrote in three nights while working on a Roger Corman production. The story is a bit murky, but in the best Corman tradition, Coppola creates some stunning images from limited resources, and even goes his mentor one better with a few shocking, startling moments of violence. When John Haloran (Peter Read) suffers a fatal heart attack, his wife Louise (Luana Anders) worries that she may lose his share of the inheritance that will become available when his mother (Eithne Dunn) dies. So Louise concocts a scheme to cover up John's death in order to ensure her future financial security. Dementia 13 suffers from a convoluted plot: Louise gains mum's favor by convincing her it's possible to communicate with the ghost of John's little sister, who drowned years earlier; but things go awry, leading to a series of bloody murders. Patrick Magee brings a little class to a couple of scenes as a pub-frequenting policeman, but the rest of the black-and-white film is generally carried along by B-movie ingenuity. This remastered edition from Virgil's HD Film Classics series features both the Blu-ray and DVD versions, and while the image remains disappointingly soft here, it's still a significant improvement over previous releases. Offering an interesting glimpse of an American auteur while he was still learning his craft, this is a strong optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)[Blu-ray Review—July 26, 2016—Film Detective, 75 min., not rated, Blu-ray: $14.99—Making its latest appearance on Blu-ray, 1963's Dementia 13 features a fine transfer, but no extras. Bottom line: while the transfer still looks soft on this latest Blu-ray release of Dementia 13, it's better than earlier entries.]