Dementia 13 on DVD

Description

Francis Ford Coppola's directorial debut is set in a spooky Irish castle where the family Haloran has gathered to memorialize the death of youngest sister Kathleen. Inheritance-seeking Louise Haloran (Luana Anders) is covering up the death of her husband John (Peter Read) from his mother Lady Haloran (Ethne Dunn), while other son Richard (William Campbell) and his fiancee Kane (Mary Mitchel) try in vain to plan their wedding. Third son Billy (Bart Patton) is tormented by nightmares of Kathleen's death. An axe murderer is haunting the grounds, and Kathleen's body shows up at just the wrong time. After Louise's disappearance, the family becomes suspicious of each other--as well as of the ghosts that haunt the castle. Then the sinister family doctor Justin Caleb (Patrick Magee) is called in to help with the mystery. Produced by Roger Corman, DEMENTIA 13's opening scene of Louise and John Haloran alone on a boat drifting nowhere (as an Elvis Presley song plays hauntingly) is reminiscent of many Hitchcock films. Coppola gave Corman his money's worth in this terror-filled tale of family ties chopped to pieces.