Dementia 13 (1963) Movie Review

Summary

Dementia 13 opens with Louise Haloran (Luana Anders) throwing her husband’s body overboard after his heart attack while on a lake in a rowboat. She lies about the incident to claim her will. Louise writes a letter to Lady Haloran (Eithne Dunne) in which she says that her husband is away on business. Louise arrives shortly after at the family’s Irish Gothic castle. She plans to take advantage of the sickly Lady Haloran and hopes to die soon so she can inherit the fortune.

When he arrives, he begins to notice strange things like the two brothers Billy (Bart Patton) and Richard (William Campbell) holding an annual ceremony for their deceased younger sister, Kathleen. Her sister died years ago in a mysterious drowning accident.

While the greedy Louise is there, she convinces Lady Haloran and her two sons, Billy and Richard, that her late husband is away on business. As she talks to Billy, she discovers that the castle is supposedly haunted by Kathleen.

She also plans a way to convince the distraught and superstitious Lady Haloran that her daughter Kathleen is still alive. The plan was to place Kathleen’s toy dolls at the bottom of the lake and then suddenly float to the surface right in front of Lady Haloran. Louise’s elaborate plot would end up being a fatal endeavor for her. It’s not long before the mysterious axe-wielding killer begins amassing more bodies to make sure no one discovers the horrible secret.

Dementia 13 Review

Dementia 13 is a surprisingly effective bargain production that incorporates elements of slasher and mystery. Along with Psycho (1960), Dementia 13 is one of the first slasher horror films. Like Psycho, Dementia 13 has a similar style and content. Mystery and suspense elements are used as much in Dementia 13 as in Psycho. Both are in black and white and have similar cinematography. The murder scenes in this movie have great anticipation leading to the death of the person.

Dementia 13 has many scenes shot at night and there are not many details. The camera angles used for Dementia 13 are similar to Psycho. Dementia 13 avoids being corny, which is great as it fits the serious nature of the film as a gritty horror film. It was made at a time when there weren’t a lot of extreme movies. It is a very dark image that adds a creepy atmosphere that makes it effective for crime scenes. The plot is simple, although somewhat unbelievable. The best elements of Dementia 13 are the mystery, the suspense and the psychological aspects. The addition of Kathleen’s dolls was also good for the spooky atmosphere.

The movie does a great job of masking who the ax killer is. Seeing the different characters throughout Dementia 13, such as Billy, Richard, and family doctor Justin Caleb (Patrick Magee), you might realize who you think the killer is. This style of concealing who the killer is would later be used in the great slasher horror, The First Friday the 13th (1980). Several of the characters have a suspicious nature that would give you the impression that they could be responsible for the murders. . Assassinations are also done in the dark, so the ax bearer’s face is completely obscured.

The acting in Dementia 13 is decent. The underrated actor, Patrick Magee, as always, does a fine job with his distinctive voice, playing a character that borders on insanity. You might recognize him from A Clockwork Orange as the wheelchair-bound writer that both he and his wife were attacked by Alex and his wife “Droogs” him. He is younger in Dementia 13 and his hair is not gray. Patrick Magee also played John Steed on the Avengers television series.

Luana Anders, who plays Louise, does a good job of playing a sleazy, greedy woman who you won’t like. She’s not that bad and takes off her bra and panties in one scene for the underwater swimming sequence. That underwater scene is perfectly shot, as are the swimming scenes in The Creature From the Black Lagoon.

The blood/gore in Dementia 13 is really tame compared to today’s slasher horror movies. There is very little to see in the details of the blood. The most graphic murder scene has one of the characters having his head lopped off. You can see the really fake looking head rolling into the lake. Another great thing about Dementia 13 is the menacing music. The musical score is almost as good as the Psycho and Cape Fear theme songs. It provides atmosphere and complements the tense murder scenes well.

At the beginning of the movie, while Louise and her husband John Haloran (Peter Read) are in a rowboat, a really cool rockabilly song can be heard. The singer of the song sounds just like Elvis. From what I read, it’s not Elvis singing. The person in charge of the voices does a great job emulating his voice. At 75 minutes long, Dementia 13 is an engaging and engaging first film from Francis Ford Coppola.

It’s a good low-budget Roger Corman production with mystery and suspense as its main strengths. It has an even rhythm and not too slow. The movie could have used more murder scenes. To see the roots of the Slasher Horror movie genre, Dementia 13 is a good movie to watch. I just reviewed Dementia 13, the public domain version featured in my box set of 50 Horror Classics from Mill Creek Entertainment. A Blu-ray of the film is now available.

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