Movie Description Francis Ford Coppola's directorial debut, produced by horror king Roger Corman, is a terror-filled tale of family ties chopped to pieces. DEMENTIA 13's opening scene of Louise and John Haloran alone on a boat drifting nowhere (as an Elvis Presley song plays hauntingly) is reminiscent of many Hitchcock films. Its 1963 release was just the beginning of what, for Coppola, would be a long career of helming chillingly powerful masterworks such as APOCALYPSE NOW and THE GODFATHER.
Set in a spooky Irish castle, DEMENTIA 13 begins as the Haloran family gathers to memorialize the death of the youngest sister, Kathleen. While various family members plot and connive, an ax murderer is roaming the grounds, and Kathleen's body shows up at just the wrong time. Slowly, the family members become increasingly suspicious of each other--as well as of the ghosts that haunt the castle. But when the sinister family doctor is called in to help with the mystery, the expertly contrived Coppola chills really take hold.
| Credits | | Producer: | Roger Corman | | Cast: | Mary Mitchell, Patrick Magee |
| Details | | Edition: | Fright Night Horror Classics #2 |
Notes DVD Features:
Region 1 Keep Case Fullscreen - 1.33:1 Audio: Dolby Digital Mono Additional Release Material: Biography - Francis Ford Coppola - Director Interactive Features: Animated Scene Index Information - Tools of Black Magic - The Voodoo Religion, Theatrical Release: September 25, 1963.
The film was released as THE HAUNTED AND THE HUNTED in Great Britain.
After toiling for several years as an assistant to Roger Corman, this was the first film that independent producer Roger Corman let Francis Ford Coppola direct.
Francis Ford Coppola's only complete film prior to this as a director was the 1961 nudie TONITE FOR SURE.
DEMENTIA 13 was shot on location in Ireland during the summer of 1963.
Patrick Magee (Justin Caleb) later became famous for his role as Mr. Alexander, one of Malcolm McDowell's victims, in A CLOCKWORK ORANGE.
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