Starring: William Campbell, Luana Anders, Bart Patton
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Writers: Francis Ford Coppola, Jack Hill
Genre: Horror
Year: 1963
My rating:
There are two powerful names in the credits. The first name belongs to the director and co-writer, although his wasn't a powerful name when the movie was young. Yes, this is one of Francis Ford Coppola's (credited as Francis Coppola) earliest films, and therefore a lot is expected of it. But the other name is an equal and opposite name. Threatens the credits: "Produced by Roger Corman."
When good reputations go up against bad reputations, who comes out on top? In this case, Corman is the dubious winner, because -- while I thought this film did have its moments -- it's ultimately something of a mess.
The story revolves around a wealthy Irish family. And while the film was actually shot in Ireland, it did so with a predominantly non-Irish cast. None of the main actors attempts an Irish accent, which is probably a good thing based on the effort made by one of the secondary characters.
This family underwent a tragedy six years previous, when the young daughter of the house accidentally drowned in a pond on the estate. Every year, the family gather to remember Kathleen on the anniversary of her death. Despite the fact that her siblings are now grown men (the script states that six years has passed, but the age of the actors would suggest more time), the family can not emotionally move beyond this calamity. And now -- for no real good reason -- a serial killer decides to start picking off anyone who happens to be in the area.
DEMENTIA 13 is actually two different styles of horror movie put into the same film. It's attempting a creepy psychological edge while simultaneously putting itself forward as a slasher film. Personally, I thought it failed at both.
Usually films will kill off the boring, secondary characters first, leaving behind a smaller group of more interesting, more rounded people. Unfortunately, this serial killer has the bad habit of killing (or incapacitating) the more developed characters early on, leaving behind bland, faceless plot ciphers. In fact, you could say that the slasher portion of the film is actively at war with the psychological part, because every time the plot starts to take an interesting twist, the psycho killer shows up to kill off the responsible character.
And the slasher portions of the film don't work because they go on forever and contain absolutely no tension. The scene of the poacher being stalked made me wonder if the poor man was going to die of old age before the crazed murderer would finally make his move.
Most of the movie's flaws stem from the script. Characters have plans that are simultaneously too simplistic and overly convoluted. The resolution to the story's main mystery is so obvious that until it's finally revealed, one can't help but imagine that the twist will be that the obvious villain is actually innocent.
The direction has its good and bad moments. Some of the underwater sequences are particularly effective, and do a good job of establishing Kathleen's death place as an area of eeriness and supernatural evil.
On the other hand, there's a lot of sloppiness in the direction as well. Take what is now my favorite movie continuity error of all time. A character strips off before diving into the aforementioned pond. No glance is spared at the sight of her giant 1960s-style underpants. After filling the screen with this light-colored pair of panties (which are large enough to crush a major metropolis, if dropped without caution), the director has this young lady jump into the pond. Upon which, her unmentionables have instantly changed color and become dark black. You may think that I'm unfairly picking nits, but this is a typical (if extreme) example of the types of oversights on display all over the place.
As for the actors, I jumped up and down when I realized that one of the brothers was played by William Campbell who I immediately recognized from his role as the squire of Gothos on the original Star Trek series (I'm a nerd). Also, Patrick Magee is here, giving a more subdued performance here as the family doctor than he did in A CLOCKWORK ORANGE.
The picture and sound quality on this Digiview Productions disc is adequate, if not especially good. However, I get the impression that even in the best of circumstances, the film would look somewhat murky anyway.
Maybe if Coppola had stuck to just the psychological thriller aspects of this story, I would have enjoyed it a lot more. There does seem to be a lot of potential. I liked the idea of this family eternally stuck in emotional limbo after a tragedy. I liked the weight of the mother's grief crushing all those around her. But by the end, all the good stuff has been thrown away and we're left with an easy-to-guess serial murder mystery. Oh, and I don't know what the 13 in the title refers to, and by looking around the Internet, I don't think anyone else does either.
No comments:
Post a Comment