Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: William Campbell, Luana Anders, Bart Patton
One of Francis Ford Coppola’s first films, Dementia 13 takes a fairly basic (now standard) horror movie premise and presents it with a really creepy atmosphere and some good suspense. Why the movie is called Dementia 13 is completely unknown to me.
The film is about the Haloran family and their castle in Ireland where, several years ago, Kathleen Haloran drowned in the pond. Every year since then, the family has gathered to mourn her passing, and every year the Lady Haloran passes out because she’s been kinda crazy since her daughter died. As often happens in horror movies, people start dying off, at first due to a wife who wants a bigger cut of the family inheritance, and later turns out to be a crazy man wielding an axe to protect the body of the dead girl. I won’t say anymore than that because it’s actually pretty well written and I don’t want to give anything away (though it is kinda obvious who the killer is once you get into it).
It’s worth a watch if you’re into older 50’s and 60’s horror movies that can actually be kinda creepy, or if you’re a big Francis Ford Coppola fan, I guess. It was definitely worth it’s hour of playtime and I’ll end up watching it again, I’m sure. In fact, I think this is my second or third time I’ve seen it. Pretty good stuff. I just wish I could figure out why the hell it’s called Dementia 13.
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