Dementia 13 (AKA: The Haunted/The Hunted) is written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It stars William Campbell, Luana Anders, Patrick Magee and Bart Patton. Music is by Ronald Stein and cinematography by Charles Hannawalt.
A Roger Corman produced cheapie, made to give Coppola a leg up the ladder while utilising sets and cast members just used for Corman's The Young Racers, Dementia 13 has somehow gained a reputation as a cult classic. It isn't.
Coppola shows some nice touches at times, throwing in some eerie images (children's toys/underwater shenanigans) to a Gothic castle backdrop, and he is assured when it comes to a violent scene, but the script is laughable, the screenplay ludicrous and away from Magee the acting is weak. Add to that that the mystery element - the who is the mad axe murderer? - is hardly mysterious at all, and it's a pretty turgid movie. And this even after Corman had changes implemented once he viewed Coppola's finished cut, proclaiming it as near unreleasable and hiring Jack Hill to touch it up.
It was always Corman's hope that the film would be a cheap Psycho knock off, and it is, and not a good one at that. Are there signs of great to come from the director? Yes, definitely. But that shouldn't be mistaken as worthy cinema. From blinking corpses to poorly lighted sequences, to kiddie gore effects and the uneven mess of a plot that unfolds once a key character exits the mid-point, the film shows itself as undeserving of the praise heaped on it by some. 5/10
A Roger Corman produced cheapie, made to give Coppola a leg up the ladder while utilising sets and cast members just used for Corman's The Young Racers, Dementia 13 has somehow gained a reputation as a cult classic. It isn't.
Coppola shows some nice touches at times, throwing in some eerie images (children's toys/underwater shenanigans) to a Gothic castle backdrop, and he is assured when it comes to a violent scene, but the script is laughable, the screenplay ludicrous and away from Magee the acting is weak. Add to that that the mystery element - the who is the mad axe murderer? - is hardly mysterious at all, and it's a pretty turgid movie. And this even after Corman had changes implemented once he viewed Coppola's finished cut, proclaiming it as near unreleasable and hiring Jack Hill to touch it up.
It was always Corman's hope that the film would be a cheap Psycho knock off, and it is, and not a good one at that. Are there signs of great to come from the director? Yes, definitely. But that shouldn't be mistaken as worthy cinema. From blinking corpses to poorly lighted sequences, to kiddie gore effects and the uneven mess of a plot that unfolds once a key character exits the mid-point, the film shows itself as undeserving of the praise heaped on it by some. 5/10