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| DEMENTIA 13 is distinctive from its very first shot. |
As legend has it, when Roger Corman finally screened the dailies, he broke several pencils - not because the film was bad, but because it was sorely under length (at a time when theaters were beginning to abandon double feature programs for hardtop theaters) and failed to complement its mystery elements with enough shock sequences. As we watch the film even in its completed version, we might notice that Coppola also failed to give his film any kind of build-up to its grand finale, which just sort of happens much as it just sort of ends. Coppola did some additional shooting, such as the prologue he'd intended to film from the start, but Corman also hired Coppola's fellow USC graduate Jack Hill to film a second grisly axe murder for the picture. The final coup de grace was a splendidly ogreish score by Ronald Stein, which (along with his score for Corman's THE HAUNTED PALACE that same year) was among the earliest horror scores to win strictly through musical intimidation. Even with the added material, the film ultimately had to be brought up to an acceptable length by filming a "DEMENTIA 13 Test" prologue featuring Dr. William Joseph Bryan, Jr., who had been the technical advisor for the hypnosis scenes in the "Case of M. Valdemar" segment of Corman's TALES OF TERROR (1962).
The film - which Coppola candidly allows was inspired by Corman's wish to produce a film that would rip-off William Castle's HOMICIDAL in the way that it ripped-off Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO - stars Luana Anders as Louise Haloran, who is introduced having a heated argument with her husband John (Peter Read) in a rowboat (of all places), at night (of all times). John is out of shape and his exertions through rowing induce a sudden coronary, just as he's chortlingly warned Louise that she'll never see a dime of their inheritance should he predecease her. (This dark, dramatic scene is lent additional tension by a jittery transistor radio broadcast of "He's Caught," an all-but-forgotten rockabilly number by Buddy Fowler and the Fads.) She then consigns his body and belongings to the deep to convey the illusion that he's away on business. Given that much of the story involves the pond on Castle Haloran's property, we assume that they were rowing on the pond, but ponds aren't for rowing and John's death and its cover-up by Louise never come to light, even after the pond is completely drained.
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| From Paul Julian's animated main titles sequence. |
After a superb main titles sequence by former Warner Bros. and UPA animator Paul Julian, the criminally minded Louise learns from her troubled brother-in-law Billy (Bart Patton) that the family has been haunted by memories of the day when his sister Kathleen drowned in that pond, and that Lady Haloran in particular is haunted by her memory and tries to make contact with her spiritually. Louise then attempts to endear herself to Lady Haloran and pays a midnight visit to the pond to "arrange" a message to the family from beyond the grave... and to her surprise, in another never unexplained moment, finds the dead girl perfectly preserved in an underwater shrine. At this point, the film takes an unexpected turn of the sort that became very popular and fashionable in the wake of PSYCHO, and the family doctor (Patrick Magee, relishing every morsel of dialogue) steps in to solve the stubborn family mystery. As fun as Magee is to watch, the film forfeits its most compelling center of gravity when Anders (who gives the film's outstanding performance) is removed from the action. The cast of characters includes William Campbell as Billy's older brother Richard, apparently a famous sculptor who welds iron into Elizabeth Frink-like constructions, and Mary Mitchel as his fiancée. Neither of the Haloran sons are portrayed as even remotely Irish.
I can understand Coppola's desire and pleasure to see his original work finally presented as it was meant to be seen, but while the restoration imbues the film to its original organic nature, it also makes the film's many flaws and faults much easier to spot. There is Arthur, a handyman character played by Ron Perry, who suddenly appears to have lost his left arm when rushing to tend to a fainted Lady Haloran. There are times in the film when his arm is tucked into his coat outside his sleeve, as if in a bad one-armed-man ruse, but sometimes he has both arms, and at other times it's his right arm that's worn inside the coat outside its sleeve. It's very confusing and the dialogue never makes any mention of what might be the problem with him. There are boom mike problems; an obvious boom shadow is cast directly onto the actors when Louise and Billy are conversing by the pond, and later, as Gloria is soothing Lady Haloran, a boom wire briefly tips into the upper frame over Eithne Dunn. Late in the film, when Patrick Magee's Dr. Caleb discovers a dead body, as he walks toward the shed where it's been stored, a prominently shown cigar randomly appears and disappears from his mouth. And most famously, in the film's standout set-piece of Louise's midnight swim (which Coppola freely admits was the scene he pitched to Corman that won him the assignment), Luana Anders wears a conspicuously different panties when in and outside the water.
Despite the film's many rough edges, it conveys a certain innate mastery at the same time, at its most effective when Coppola allows imagery to tell the story. Photographed by first-time DP Charles Hannawalt (formerly a key grip on Corman films), DEMENTIA 13 has an outstanding look about it with numerous memorable compositions. It notably predates Mario Bava's BLACK SABBATH and KILL, BABY... KILL! in its use of dolls and other trappings of childhood to convey a sense of morbidity and menace. There is also a moment in which Bart Patton is shown whiling away his time by dripping candlewax in curious psychological patterns, as Elizabeth Shepherd would later do in Corman's THE TOMB OF LIGEIA. All in all, it holds a manifold place of distinction in the genre - as Coppola's starting point as a writer-director, as one of Corman's most notable sponsorships of young talent, and as a mercurial work of psychological horror that somehow simultaneously belongs to both American and European Gothic traditions.
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| Castle Haloran was actually Howth Castle, just outside Country Dublin. |
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| Luana Anders as the compellingly criminal-minded Louise. |
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| One of the toys from dead Kathleen's menagerie. |
I can understand Coppola's desire and pleasure to see his original work finally presented as it was meant to be seen, but while the restoration imbues the film to its original organic nature, it also makes the film's many flaws and faults much easier to spot. There is Arthur, a handyman character played by Ron Perry, who suddenly appears to have lost his left arm when rushing to tend to a fainted Lady Haloran. There are times in the film when his arm is tucked into his coat outside his sleeve, as if in a bad one-armed-man ruse, but sometimes he has both arms, and at other times it's his right arm that's worn inside the coat outside its sleeve. It's very confusing and the dialogue never makes any mention of what might be the problem with him. There are boom mike problems; an obvious boom shadow is cast directly onto the actors when Louise and Billy are conversing by the pond, and later, as Gloria is soothing Lady Haloran, a boom wire briefly tips into the upper frame over Eithne Dunn. Late in the film, when Patrick Magee's Dr. Caleb discovers a dead body, as he walks toward the shed where it's been stored, a prominently shown cigar randomly appears and disappears from his mouth. And most famously, in the film's standout set-piece of Louise's midnight swim (which Coppola freely admits was the scene he pitched to Corman that won him the assignment), Luana Anders wears a conspicuously different panties when in and outside the water.
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| Luana Anders' classic moonlight swim. |
Despite the film's many rough edges, it conveys a certain innate mastery at the same time, at its most effective when Coppola allows imagery to tell the story. Photographed by first-time DP Charles Hannawalt (formerly a key grip on Corman films), DEMENTIA 13 has an outstanding look about it with numerous memorable compositions. It notably predates Mario Bava's BLACK SABBATH and KILL, BABY... KILL! in its use of dolls and other trappings of childhood to convey a sense of morbidity and menace. There is also a moment in which Bart Patton is shown whiling away his time by dripping candlewax in curious psychological patterns, as Elizabeth Shepherd would later do in Corman's THE TOMB OF LIGEIA. All in all, it holds a manifold place of distinction in the genre - as Coppola's starting point as a writer-director, as one of Corman's most notable sponsorships of young talent, and as a mercurial work of psychological horror that somehow simultaneously belongs to both American and European Gothic traditions.
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| William Campbell as Richard, the mad artist of the Haloran clan. |
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| Patrick Magee and Bart Patton. |
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| SPIDER BABY's Mary Mitchel in a startlingly diaphanous gown. |
The commentary is mildly spotty (Coppola seems to have been silently prompted to speak, here and there) but it is also a document of some historic importance considering the confluence of events and relationships it frankly documents. Coppola overlooks most of the gaffes I have pointed out here, but he points out some valuable, more transparent points of interest, such as the fact that the castle interiors had to be built diagonally on the tiny stages at Ardmore Studios just to evoke a sense of size and depth. He also tells some touching personal stories: one involving his father, then-aspiring composer Carmine Coppola, who turned down his invitation to score the picture because he insisted on also conducting his work (impossible for various reasons), which postponed his debut as a composer for several years (until he contributed "additional music" to FINIAN'S RAINBOW, 1968); another about his crush on Luana Anders during the filming, which he withheld from her for fear of harming their professional rapport; and an amusing anecdote about Patrick Magee's misadventures with drink. He also mentions in an aside that the Jack Hill footage produced to pad the picture will be included elsewhere on the disc, but this plan was evidently reconsidered.
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| Another of the film's many triumphal compositions. For many years a public domain eyesore offered in numerous substandard releases, the film has never looked better than in this Collector's Series presentation. The monochrome image is generally crisp (I say generally because the young Coppola optically cropped certain shots to reorient their composition, which dulled their sharpness) with exquisite contrast; one of the film's most memorable traits is its juxtaposition of ink-black nights with paper-white figures. (It also says a lot about the presentation that I've never realized, in more than 50 years of viewing, that William Campbell had freckles on his face.) The original mono mix is given a hearty DTS-HD Master Audio mix, but the film is actually galvanized in a new 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundscape that lends marvelous new dimension to the natural exterior sounds and makes the Ronald Stein score all the more powerful. The disc also includes a 1m introduction by Coppola, a feature-length audio commentary by Coppola, the lengthy theatrical "Test" prologue (which was actually directed by none other than Monte Hellman), and digital copy access. |
One wishes that both cuts of the film had been presented here in equal quality, but - realistically speaking - the whole point of this release was to give Coppola's debut its long-overdue hour of recognition in its purest state. For serious collectors and scholars of the genre, this has to be considered an essential purchase.
(c) 2021 by Tim Lucas. All rights reserved.
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