Dementia 13 (1963)

(On Cable TV, June 2022) Even Oscar-winning directors have to start somewhere, and so Dementia 13’s claim to fame remains being Francis Ford Coppola’s mainstream directing debut (after a few sexploitation films made-to-order for Roger Corman). As such, it’s a surprisingly self-assured genre horror film, with psychological thriller elements overlaid on top of a familiar psycho-killer proto-slasher plot template. What impresses most, however, is the quality of the images and the dreamlike Gothic atmosphere. Produced on a low budget, Dementia 13 often plays fast and loose with continuity and the refinements required for a seamless narrative experience – too often, the result skips from one strong image or sequence to another without bothering to paper over the transitions and the plot turns. Still, Dementia 13 is interesting in its own right, and a great deal more respectable than similar films from the Corman school. It clearly affirms Coppola’s origins in genre work (making such films as his later Bram Stoker’s Dracula less surprising) and makes for a perfectly respectable novice entry in a far more distinguished filmography.