Dementia 13 (1963)

Shocked by the death of her spouse, a scheming widow hatches a bold plan to get her hands on the inheritance, unaware that she is targeted by an axe-wielding murderer who lurks in the family's estate. What mystery shrouds the noble house?

Director:

Francis Ford Coppola (as Francis Coppola)

Writers:

Francis Ford Coppola (as Francis Coppola), Jack Hill (second unit written by)

Stars:

William Campbell, Luana Anders, Bart Patton

Cast

Complete credited cast:
William Campbell	...	Richard Haloran
Luana Anders	...	Louise Haloran
Bart Patton	...	Billy Haloran
Mary Mitchel	...	Kane
Patrick Magee	...	Justin Caleb
Eithne Dunne	...	Lady Haloran (as Ethne Dunn)
Peter Read	...	John Haloran
Karl Schanzer	...	Simon
Ron Perry	...	Arthur
Derry O'Donavan	...	Lillian
Barbara Dowling	...	Kathleen Haloran

Storyline

Whilst out on a rowboat with his wife Louise, John Haloran has a heart attack and dies. She casts his body overboard and hides his death telling the family he left on an urgent business trip. Louise's main concern is that she can only hope to inherit part of his family fortune if he's still alive. The Halorans are a strange family. They are still grieving over the death of the youngest daughter, Kathleen, who drowned in a pond when she was a young child. The family hold an annual ceremony of remembrance, on the anniversary of her death. But this year someone is wielding an ax...intent on murder.

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Plot Keywords:

irish | ireland | son | screaming underwater | psychotronic film | 

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Taglines:

Are you afraid of death by drowning? Have you ever attempted suicide? Have you ever thought of committing murder?

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

Unrated

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film was originally going to be titled simply "Dementia." The "13" was added because it was discovered that the title "Dementia" had already been used earlier for a 1955 film, Dementia (1955).

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Goofs

When Louise goes into the pond after stripping to bra and panties, her panties are tan or light brown, yet in the underwater sequence they are black.

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Quotes

Justin Caleb: You know, the one thing in the world that really chills my bones to the marrow is when a pretty girl in a wedding dress looks at me and finds me repulsive.

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Alternate Versions

Some prints of the film contain a prologue in which a psychiatrist would give the audience a test to see if they were stable enough to withstand viewing this film. This prologue has been removed from the television versions, reducing the running time from 81 minutes to 74 minutes. Many video releases of this film list the 81 minute version on the box, but actually contain the 74 minute version.

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Connections

Featured in Son of Svengoolie: Dementia 13 (1963) (1980)

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Soundtracks

Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms
(uncredited)
Lyrics by Thomas Moore
Music: traditional Irish air

User Reviews

Eerie Irish Horror Story

******SPOILERS****** Early 1960's collaboration of director Francis Ford Coppala and film producer Roger Corman of a horror story set in and around Ireland's Haloran Castle. The movie has really two stories that intersect each other halfway into the movie which sets off a series of brutal ax murders which for the time, the early 1960's, are as graphic as anything seen in films back in those days.

John Haloran, Peter Reed, dies of a sudden heart attack, which seemed self-induced, rowing a boat with his wife Louise, Luana Anders, on board one night. Getting nothing from John's estate if he dies before she does which was stated in John's will Louise frantically tries to hide John's body by throwing him overboard into the lake. Louise ties an anchor to his waist to keep John from floating to the surface and being discovered.

Back home Louise writes a letter attributing it to John stating that he's gone on an urgent business trip to New York and may not be back for some time. Louise then plans to talk John's emotionally unstable mother Lady Haloran, Eithne Dunne, into re-writing the will and include her in it with or without the survival of her husband. The next day John's older brother Richard, William Campball, is set to see his fiancée Kane, Mary Mitchel, who's arriving from the USA to meet Richard's family in Ireland. When Kane is picked up by Richard's younger brother William, Brent Patton, at the airport William tells Kane that tomorrow is the seventh anniversary of their 13 year-old sister Kathleen's, Barbara Downing, tragic death and the family is having it's annual ceremony to commemorate it.

Louise knowing how much Lady Haloran misses her beloved daughter Kathleen tries to manipulate her by trying to prove to her that she's somehow in touch with the dead Kathleen through communications with her from the "other side". This is to get her to like Louise, who Lady Haloran despises, and get her to change the will that she wrote up that left Louise out in the cold if her husband dies in terms of his inheritance. Trying to convince Lady Haloran that she's really in communication with her daughter Louise tries to stage an event by taking some toys from Kathleen's room and planting them at the bottom of the pound where she drowned seven years ago.Louise plans at the right moment to have the toys rise to the surface in Lady Haloran presence to prove, to Lady Haloran, that she's telling her the truth.

What Louise doesn't know, by reviving suppressed memories of Kathleen's death, is that she set off and put into motion the person who was responsible for it to commit a number of bloody ax murders with Louise being his first victim.

Despite a shoe string budget and a unknown cast "Dementia 13" is a pretty effective Horror/Mystery movie.The murderer is more or less reviled almost at the beginning of the film but in such a way to make you not realize it. In a good attempt of misdirection by Francis Ford Coppala the audience is made to look somewhere or at someone else in the movie which keeps you guessing who the killer is until the very end. Coppala's use of striking black and white photography as well as the effective use of sounds and shadows greatly adds to the suspense as well as creepiness of the movie.

Details

Country:

USA Ireland

Language:

English

Release Date:

1964 (UK)

Also Known As:

Dementia

Filming Locations:

Ardmore Studios, Herbert Road, Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Roger Corman Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

75 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White Color (colorized)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1