RyothChatty ridiculous rating

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Ortiz Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Yvonne Jodi Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

soulexpress The directorial debut of Francis Ford Coppola (courtesy of producer Roger Corman), DEMENTIA 13 has been hailed as a forgotten masterpiece. Those who make that claim are only half right. It is a rushed production with a very low budget and a young director who had yet to find his voice. These elements don't have to mean a sub-par movie, but in this case they did.The plot: when John Halloran (William Campbell) dies of a heart attack, his wife Louise (Luana Anders) disposes of the body and lies that he was called away on urgent business so she can claim his inheritance. This leads to a bizarre family gathering in an Irish castle where an ax murderer picks them off one by one. Luana Anders is convincing enough as the scheming Louise. She also is quite attractive in a Dusty Springfield sort of way. The rest of the acting is what I expected: passable but nothing special. The characters are cursory and, though the Hallorans are of Irish descent, none have an accent. So why bother to set the film in Ireland? It never occurs to anyone to notify the police when their family and staff members go missing. The film does a poor job of hiding the killer's face during the ax murders. The violence is more implied than shown, a bad move on Coppola's part. The score is simultaneously uninspired and grating. And in several scenes, it's hard to hear what the characters are saying. DEMENTIA 13 is a desultory exercise that moves like molasses, offers no suspense, and at 74 minutes feels longer than Coppola's three-hour- long masterpieces, THE GODFATHER and APOCALYPSE NOW. On the other hand, I can see the genetic link between this film and the disastrous BRAM STOKER'S Dracula.Item: When Louise strips to her underwear and goes swimming in a nearby pond, her panties change color from white to black. Item: Though she is swimming at night, Louise has a clear view of everything under the water.Item: The family doctor tells an ailing Mother Halloran, "Think of your mind as a bird in the hand. When it's relaxed, you're fine. But when it's tense…." (How do I know what it means?)Item: The killer takes his ax to one of the servants, who is never mentioned again. Either no one noticed, or didn't care, that he was gone.Item: As the family doctor pursues the killer through the woods, there is a cigar in his mouth that vanishes and reappears with each cut.Item: The title is never explained.

Martin Bradley Even the director of "The Godfather" and "Apocalypse Now" had to start somewhere and here you have it. This early Coppola, (he wrote it as well as directing), was produced by Roger Corman and was filmed in Ireland. Despite being a cheapo it's quite a smart little horror picture. The acting is mostly terrible despite the presence in the cast of those fine Irish actors Patrick Magee and Eithne Dunne. The leads, shipped from America, were William Campbell and Luana Anders though their names would hardly boost the films box-office appeal so it's left to a fledgling Coppola to jizz things up which he does quite effectively. The creepy black and white photography of Charles Hannawalt also helps.

SnoopyStyle John and his wife Louise Haloran (Luana Anders) have an unpleasant time together rowing a boat. He dies of a heart attack and she dumps his body in the water. She stands to lose everything because of his and his mother's Wills. So she tells everybody that he's away on a business trip. She must take care of his mother-in-law before she dies leaving everything to a charity for her daughter Kathleen dead for 7 years. Louise fakes an invite to the annual family remembrance for Kathleen.The plot is confusing. The motivation of Louise is barely decipherable. The movie is a bit of a mess. It's disappointing considering that it is both written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola in one of his earlier efforts. Although one must remember that this is a Roger Corman production. He's even copying Psycho in killing off the blonde female lead halfway through the movie. There is an attempt at spooky atmosphere with filming in and around an English manor. It never builds anything close to that. It's mostly a low-budget boring ax-murdering slasher horror. The kills aren't scary but there is some blood-splattering head-rolling fun.

Scott LeBrun While this viewer won't make this film out to be more than it is, it's still noteworthy as a solid and atmospheric shocker that showed signs of things to come for the young Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola, a recent UCLA graduate, had found employment with legendary independent filmmaker Roger Corman. Corman had brought in his own directorial effort, "The Young Racers", under budget, and decided to use the leftover cash to make a "Psycho" inspired thriller. Coppola brought him a script that he liked, and got the green light to make the film.Coppola succeeds quite well here at working with an obviously very low budget; this is professionally made (if understandably not as slick as his later efforts), and can boast fine visuals and a moody, creepy feel. The stark cinematography is by Charles Hannawalt, the excellent music by Ronald Stein.Set (and filmed) in Ireland, it tells of Louise (the under-rated Luana Anders), whose husband John (Peter Read) dies of a heart attack. Now, she's been told that if he should die before his mother, she gets nothing in the old lady's will. So she creates a cover story that he's gone to NYC on business, while hanging around his family and their castle, hoping that she can still come away with some sort of payday.The acting is generally good, with William Campbell and Bart Patton as Johns' brothers Richard and Billy, Mary Mitchel as Richards' fiancée Kane, Eithne Dunne as the family matriarch, Karl Schanzer as amiable poacher Simon, and the always amusing Patrick Magee as the inquisitive family doctor Justin Caleb.Coppolas' tale is reasonably absorbing from scene to scene, with especially effective scenes set on and in a pond (it gets off to a pretty good start); second unit scenes were written and directed by Jack Hill, who utilized Mitchel and Schanzer for his classic film "Spider Baby". Coppola includes such elements as titillation and (mild) gore to spice things up a bit."Dementia 13" has a wonderful "late show" sort of feel that makes it worth a viewing, for fans of the genre and/or people who want to check out Coppolas' humble beginnings.Seven out of 10.