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Dementia 13 (1963)

Starring William Campbell, Luana Anders, Bart Patton, and Mary Mitchel.  Cinematography by Charles Hannawalt. Edited by Stuart O’Brien and Morton Tubor. Produced by Roger Corman.  Written by Francis Coppola and Jack Hill. Directed by Francis Coppola.

John Haloran (played by Peter Read) has suffered a heart attack and died.  His widow, Louise (played by Luana Andres), fears that without his presence she will not be included in Jack’s share of the Haloran fortune. She ships off to Castle Haloran with a forged letter stating that John has stayed behind on business and starts to look for loopholes that could earn her some money. 

At the castle she finds Jack’s family still suffering from the grief at their lost of their daughter (played by Barbara Dowling) seven years before. With the family all gathered together, an axe murder strangely and suddenly appears to start dismembering the group one by one.

Francis Ford Coppola first began to working with Roger Corman when Corman hired him to help “Americanize” Nebo Zowet, a Russian sci-fi film that Corman had purchased the rights to. The professional relationship continued over a number of Corman’s “Z-movie” projects with Coppola acting as everything from a sound recordist to a second unit director. Coppola eventually pitched his own idea for a horror film to Corman, one that would involve an axe murderer.

Corman approved the project as long as Coppola would be sure to amplify the sex and violence as much as possible. He also wanted to make sure that Coppola named the picture “Dementia”; an indication of madness. But when it was discovered that John Parker had directed a film by that name in 1955, Corman added a meaningless “13” to avoid confusion. With a few thousand bucks and a small crew of nine, Coppola headed off to Ireland to shoot his directorial debut.

Principle photography was shot on location in less than four weeks for Dementia 13.  When Corman finally saw the picture he was enraged about how senseless it was. After an argument, Coppola convinced Corman to allow him a few additional sequences to tie together the plot. He shot the scenes, but Corman was still unsatisfied.

Unbeknownst to Coppola, Corman went on to hire Jack Hill to shoot more violent and sexual footage that was used in the final cut. Coppola and Corman would work on a couple more projects together, but this was the beginning of the end of their professional relationship. When Dementia 13 was finally released it did decent business.

As a gimmick to intrigue the audience, some theaters would administer a “D-13 Shock Test” that was meant to prevent potentially unstable viewers from viewing the film. Dementia 13 is exceedingly mild by today’s standards and still suffers from a nearly incomprehensible plot. But if you’re a fan of Roger Corman’s work, you will most likely get a kick out of the picture.

Budget: $30,000

Total US Gross: $???

Genre: Horror

Runtime: 75 Minutes

US Release Date: 9/25/63

Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1

Awards: none

Tagline: The Most Terrifying Screen Experience Of Your Life!

Quote: “Richard, come quick!”

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