Dementia 13
About Dementia 13
John Haloran dies. His widow Louise hides the death and goes to the family estate in Ireland so she will not be cut out of the money. Lady Haloran is still mourning her daughter Kathleen, who drowned. An axe killer is on the grounds.
Cast & crew
More about Dementia 13
Francis Ford Coppola wrote and directed his first feature for Roger Corman, using money left from The Young Racers, on which Coppola had been the sound man. Charles Hannawalt photographed it. Ronald Stein wrote the music. American International Pictures released it in the United States in the fall of 1963 under Dementia 13, on a double bill with X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes. The British title is The Haunted and the Hunted. Corman called the cut unreleasable and had Jack Hill and Monte Hellman shoot extra scenes. Wikidata lists 75, 80, and 81 minutes, and dates of August 31 and September 25, 1963. Luana Anders plays Louise. William Campbell, Bart Patton, Mary Mitchel, Eithne Dunne, and Patrick Magee are billed. In 2017 American Zoetrope restored a director's cut. The film is in the public domain. A copy is on the Internet Archive as RogerCormansDementiaThirteen720p.
Themes
Making
Coppola wrote the script fast to Corman's brief and shot it on the leftover Young Racers money.
Look
Charles Hannawalt shot the Irish estate and the killings Corman had ordered.
Music
Ronald Stein wrote the score.
Preservation
Public domain. A director's cut was restored by American Zoetrope in 2017.
Notes
- Corman asked for a cheap Psycho, with a gothic house and killings.
- The extra scenes are Hill's and Hellman's, not Coppola's.
- The 2017 restoration was supervised by James T. Mockoski.
- Ireland is both the story's setting and the place they shot.
Scenes
- Louise conceals John's death before she reaches the estate.
- The family gathers around the memory of Kathleen's drowning.
Also available
- Internet Archive (RogerCormansDementiaThirteen720p)