Dementia 13

OCTOBER 23, 2007

GENRE: PSYCHOLOGICAL
SOURCE: DVD (BUDGET PACK 2!!!)

I was going to start my Dementia 13 review by quoting MST3k: “Smokey says, only YOU can prevent Roger Corman!”, but then I got déjà vu, so I checked and sure enough, I already began a review with that (for Bucket of Blood). I guess I am running out of ideas. Or MST3k quotes.

This movie is memorable for two things. One: it’s Francis Ford Coppola’s first movie, and possibly his only genuine horror movie with the exception of Jack (Dracula is more a costume design/art direction showcase with occasional blood splatter). Two: It has a prologue with a psychiatrist testing you to see if your mental health is strong enough to see the film. Well that part isn’t on this DVD, of course (this IS Mill Creek after all). But I assume I would have passed the test; it wasn’t very frightening and I’m a good guesser. However, perhaps AFTER watching the film I would be found insane, unless there’s a better clinical term for “Sick of watching movies about people pretending that loved ones are coming back to life in order to scam them out of an inheritance”.

Christ, how many goddamn movies in the 1960s had this scenario? It seems like I’ve watched like 5 of them already this year (The Ghost, Paranoiac, to name a two). It wasn’t very interesting the first time, and it’s not interesting now. This one also rips from Psycho, particularly in killing the assumed lead halfway through. In fact, the movie is pretty gory for its time (1963), so I will give it that, but it doesn’t really make the film any more interesting.

As you may have noticed, this one comes from Budget Pack 2 (aka 50 Horror Classics), as I am just about done with my beloved Chilling Classics set. Looking at the descriptions, I notice that they put a lot more effort into these little plot summaries than they did on the Chilling set. But on the flipside, the running times are not included, which is a bummer as I often choose my movie based on how much time I have to watch it at work. Since they are all old (some of them date back to the 20s), I can assume there wont be many of more than 90 minutes (this one was like 75), but if any of my fellow budget pack enthusiasts know of any really short ones off hand, please provide the titles. Those are key for busy days when I am finding it difficult to make time for my daily horror movie.

Also, the audio balance on this movie was skewed way to the right. When I watch a Corman film, I want the absolute best possible presentation!!!

What say you?