Francis Ford Coppola - Dementia 13 (1963)

http://img464.imageshack.us/img464/496/dementia133at.jpg

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/5333/imdbimage.jpg

Description: Dementia 13 is often dismissed as a bad B movie. The flick takes elements from earlier Gothic treatments while adding the slasher dimension that has grown so popular.

Dementia 13 (1963) was written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who was then a relative unknown. The flick, produced by legendary B-filmmaker, Roger Corman, was originally deemed unreleasable. Jack Hill took the director’s helm for the additional sequences. Dementia 13 was supposed to be a Psycho-style, low-budget horror movie. However, the film never achieved mainstream success and is often neglected by just about everyone. Critics panned it, stating that it stressed “gore rather than atmosphere” and announced that it all but buried any “workable plot.”

It’s unfortunate that Dementia 13 gets such a bad rap. Keeping in mind the Golden Age of the slasher films of the late 70s and early 80s, this movie is a credible and perhaps commendable ancestor. There are enough blood, guts and mysterious elements to satisfy any horror movie fan.

The movie begins with a young married couple, John and Louise Haloran, taking a moonlight boat ride on a lake. They argue over John’s wealthy mother’s will. Louis is upset that she’s not entitled to any of it and wonders who “Kathleen”, the mother’s beneficiary, is.

Unfortunately, immediately after the argument, John drops dead of a massive heart attack. Louise buries him in the lake and heads to the family’s ancestral home in Ireland, stating that John is “away on business.” Louise witnesses some strange goings-on at the castle.

She learns that Kathleen is her dead husband’s deceased sister. Kathleen died as a child under suspicious circumstances. Because Lady Haloran, John’s mother, is still so aggrieved over Kathleen, Louise sees the perfect opportunity to use the dead girl’s toys and such to persuade Lady Haloran that Kathleen is communicating with her family from beyond the grave.
~ Deanna Couras Goodson

....another good review can be found at:
http://www.angelfire.com/moon/darkchamber/movies/mo_dem.htm