Dementia (1955)

Writers:

(more)

Release Date:

22 December 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Film-Noir | Horror | Mystery

Tagline:

Not ONE WORD is spoken on the screen!

Plot:

This film, with no dialogue at all, follows a psychotic young woman's nightmarish experiences through one skid-row night.

Plot Keywords:

Hotel | Hotel Room | Necklace | Nightclub | Detective

Cast

Adrienne Barrett	...	The Gamin
Bruno VeSota	...	Rich Man (as Bruno Ve Sota)
Ben Roseman	...	Law Enforcer / Father
Richard Barron	...	Evil One
Ed Hinkle	...	Butler (as Edward Hinkle)
Lucille Rowland	...	Mother (as Lucille Howland)
Jebbie VeSota	...	Flower Girl (as Jebbie Ve Sota)
Faith Parker	...	Nightclub Dancer
Gayne Sullivan	...	Wino
Shorty Rogers	...	Himself (as Shorty Rogers and His Giants)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Shelley Berman	...	Stoned Beatnik (uncredited)
Jonathan Haze	...	Character (uncredited)
Ed McMahon	...	Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Angelo Rossitto	...	Newsboy (uncredited)

Directed by
John Parker		(uncredited)

Writing credits
John Parker		(original screenplay) uncredited

Produced by
John Parker	....	producer
Ben Roseman	....	associate producer
Bruno VeSota	....	associate producer

Original Music by
George Antheil

Cinematography by
William C. Thompson

Film Editing by
Joseph Gluck

Production Design by
Ben Roseman

Sound Department
Buddy Myers	....	sound
Michael Pozen	....	sound effects editor (as Mike Pozen)

Visual Effects by
Albert Simpson	....	special photographic effects

Music Department
Ernest Gold	....	musical director
Marni Nixon	....	singer: featured voice
Shorty Rogers	....	musician: new concepts in modern sounds (as Shorty Rogers and His Giants)
Ernest Gold	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Everett Baker	....	technical production associate
Eddie Dutko	....	production assistant (as Edward Dutko)
Albert Duval	....	technical production associate

Production Companies

• H.K.F. Productions (uncredited)
• J.J. Parker Productions

Distributors

• Exploitation Pictures (1955) (USA) (theatrical)
• Exploitation Pictures (1957) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release) (changed title)
• Something Weird Video (SWV) (2000) (USA) (video)
• Thunderbird Video (2000) (USA) (video)
• Kino Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Toppraffel! DVD (2009) (worldwide) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Daughter of Horror" - USA (recut version)

Runtime:

56 min | USA:61 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

UK:(Banned) (1957)

Filming Locations:

Windward Avenue, Venice, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

H.K.F. Productions

Trivia:

This film received scant distribution. It became well known when footage from it was used in the theatre sequence of the highly popular release The Blob (1958).

Quotes:

Narrator:Yes... I am here, the demon who possesses your soul. Wait a bit. I'm coming for you, I have so much to show you!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Creepy Classics (1987) (V)

Soundtrack:

Wig Alley

Give it a million dollar budget, and...

This is one of those (exceptionally) rare very low budget films where you can see clearly that, if the director had had more time and more money, we would be discussing a classic "film".

Better known to buffs of the odd, the obscure, and the strange as "Daughter of Horror", in the tale as told we are witness to the unraveling of a mind. Like "Eraserhead", the best of this sub-genre, it is difficult to tell where the madness starts and where reality ends- or, indeed, if any of what we see on screen is real at all. It is hard to get any sense of what is occurring from the Gamine's point of view. Are the events happening to her? Is she dreaming? Hallucinating? The viewer (or, at least this viewer) is always a little off balance while watching this movie, and I think that that is what the director was aiming at.

I would go so far as to say that, within the budgetary constraints imposed, this movie is a masterpiece. As stated in the synopsis, this is a dark movie with no sympathetic characters, no attractive locales, no hope. Were it just a Film Noire murder story, it would still be a very good movie. As a descent into madness, it excels.