Corman/Coppola horror film..."Dementia 13"

Wikipedia...

Dementia 13 (UK title: The Haunted and the Hunted) is a 1963 horror-thriller released by American International Pictures, starring William Campbell, Patrick Magee, and Luana Anders. The film was written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Roger Corman. Although Coppola had been involved in at least two nudie films previously, Dementia 13 served as his first mainstream, "legitimate" directorial effort.

Plot

One night, while out row boating in the middle of a lake, John Haloran and his young wife Louise argue about his rich mother's will. Louise is upset that everything is currently designated to go to charity in the name of "a mysterious Kathleen." John tells Louise that if he dies before his mother does, she will be entitled to none of the inheritance. He then promptly drops dead from a massive heart attack. Thinking quickly, the scheming Louise throws the fresh corpse over the side of the boat, where he comes to rest at the bottom of the lake. Her plan is to pretend that he is still alive, in order to ingratiate her way back into the will. She types up a letter to Lady Haloran, inviting herself to the family's Irish castle while her husband is "away on business".

Upon arrival, she immediately notices that things are a little strange in the castle. She observes John's two brothers, Billy and Richard taking part in a bizarre ceremony with their mother as part of a yearly ritualistic tribute to their youngest sister, Kathleen, who died many years before in a freak drowning accident. Lady Haloran still mourns for her, and during this year's ceremony, she faints dead away. As Louise helps her into the house, her mother-in-law tells her that she fainted because one of the flowers she had thrown had died as it touched Kathleen's grave.

Louise, realizing that Lady Haloran is emotionally overwrought and superstitious, devises a plan intended to convince the old woman that Kathleen is trying to communicate with her from beyond the grave. This plan involves stealing some of the dead girl's old toys and placing them at the bottom of the estate's pond where they will float to the surface in the middle of the day in an ostensibly ghostly way. At night, Louise swims into the pond and begins placing the toys as planned. However, she is shocked to see what appears to be Kathleen's perfectly preserved corpse at the bottom of the pond. Horrified, she swims to the surface... and is abruptly axed to death by an unknown assailant. The killer then drags Louise's bloody corpse away.

Concerned family doctor Justin Caleb arrives and becomes determined to solve the mystery. He questions the family in an intense, almost insane manner. Meanwhile, the murderer strikes again, decapitating a man who is poaching on the estate. Caleb has the pond drained, revealing a stone shrine for Kathleen, with the words "Forgive Me, Kathleen" on the monument. The following night, Lady Haloran is attacked by a shadowy figure, but she survives.

Finally, Caleb utilizes an obscure nursery rhyme ("Little fishies in a brook, papa's hanged you on a hook") to help him discover Louise's corpse hidden in a meat freezer. Next to the body is a wax figure of Kathleen. Caleb places the figure in a public square to lure the killer. Taking the bait, a gibbering Billy attempts to kill Richard's fiancée Kane with an axe; he has become insane with the guilt he has felt for years over having caused the death of his sister Kathleen. Caleb removes a gun from his coat pocket and shoots Billy to death.

IMDb reviewer, José Luis Rivera Mendoza, wrote...

Back in the early 60s, filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola was taking his first steps as a director, and after directing two "Nudie Cuties" (his very first two works), he began working with legendary producer Roger Corman as an assistant in several tasks such as dialog director, actor and finally working in the sound department of Corman's 1963 film, "The Young Racers". It was while filming this movie in Ireland when Coppola finally convinced Corman to allow him to make his first "legitimate" film: "Dementia 13", a low-budget horror film using the same locations and most of the cast of Corman's movie. Impressed by the script that Coppola and writer Jack Hill devised, gave Coppola free reign over the film and went back to the America, leaving all set for the debut of a man who would become one of the most important directors of the 70s and 80s.

Louise Haloran (Luana Anders) has a problem, her husband John (Peter Read) has died and therefore legally she is unable to claim any inheritance if John's mother dies. In order to retain her part in the testament, Louise decides to make everyone believe that John is still alive and pretending he was sent to New york to work, making him unable to accompany her to the family annual Memorial service they do for John's younger sister Kathleen in Ireland. at her arrival, everything seems to work out fine at first, but John's older brother Richard (WIlliam Campbell) begins to suspect that something is wrong. However, soon this becomes Louise' lesser problem, as something bigger and morbid seems to be going on inside the dark corridors of Harlan's Castle.

"Dementia 13" was written mostly by Coppola in a few days, but after Corman allowed them to continue with the project, Jack Hill helped Coppola to finish the script. The story is basically a mixture of traditional Gothic horror with elements of the slasher sub-genre that was in its early stages during those years ("Dementia 13" shows a lot of influence from Hitchcock's "Psycho"), and while it is indeed a bit messy and contrived at first sight, it does deliver an interesting mystery and good doses of suspense. It's not the most original movie ever (not even for its time), but it's very noticeable that Coppola was not going for the easy route of showing shocks ("lots of sex and violence" as he supposedly promised to Corman) and actually attempts to built a thrilling story of intrigues and madness.

While the plot may not be the film greatest strength, the direction by Coppola is surprisingly very good for a debut as he shows a raw display of the talent that would take him to the top in the future years. Giving a great use to the Irish castle that serves as location to the film, Coppola creates a nice atmosphere of dread and well, dementia, that fills the film with ominous power and gives it a personality of its own. Despite his limited resources (even for Corman's standards), he manages to come up with some good (although sparse) special effects that look impressive when one considers the shoestring budget he had to work with. Of course, "Dementia 13" is not really a great or remarkable film, but it's very good for a first time director and it's also really obvious that this is where Coppola learned many things about his craft.

Overall the cast does an effective job and manage to carry the film without too many problems. Luana Anders as Louise Harlan was probably at the top of her game and really shows that she is more than a pretty face. William Campbell as Richard Haloran is also excellent in his performance, although a little over the top at times. The film's best performances are given by Eithne Dunne and Patrick Magee, who as the unstable Lady Haloran and her Doctor respectively, give the film a dignity and a class uncommon in other similar movies. Magee is easily the highlight of the film, as he transforms what otherwise would be a two-dimensional character into a full fledged character with his charm and enormous talent.

This movie is a quite good example of how the cinema was evolving in the 60s, as the style and overall tone feel very fresh and young; however, those expecting to see another of Coppola's masterpieces in "Dementia 13" will be sorely disappointed. The movie's biggest problem is the somewhat messy script, that not only feels a bit too derivative from "Psycho" in some moments, but it also can become confusing and tedious at times. Fortunately, the cast does a very good job (considering the limitations) in solving this and along with Coppola's original direction literally save the movie from being a failure.

"Dementia 13" has gained a good reputation over the years, and while most of it is probably due to Coppola's later success as a director, it's hard to deny that there is real raw talent in the making of the film. Personally, I think that the best way to appreciate this early Coppola movie is to go without expectations and be willing to enjoy the ride. A very good, albeit flawed, horror movie.

Dementia 13

1963

 
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What a piece of nostalgia. Every major city had at least one such district or theater.

"Cinema of sin: London's old Scala picturehouse"

The antics were X-rated – on screen and in the audience. Tony Paley remembers the sleazy heyday of London's Scala cinema

by

Tony Paley

July 31st, 2011

guardian.co.uk

The Scala cinema is dead: long live the Scala. The last ticket stub at London's legendary picture house was torn 18 years ago, but like the zombies that often haunted its screen, its influence on movie culture refuses to die.

A seven-week celebration of the cinema, reliving its famous all-nighters and trash/horror/arthouse double and triple bills, begins later this month. The Scala Forever season will feature 111 films screened at 26 London venues, some of them selected and introduced by the film industry people who frequented what became known as the Sodom Odeon in the 80s and early 90s. (Highlights include Tilda Swinton introducing The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, which she first saw at the Scala.)

As well as celebrating the King's Cross venue, organisers hope to draw attention to some of the cinemas, pubs and clubs that specialise in showing classic films today. "The aim is not just the one-off season," says programmer Andy Kimpton-Nye of the Roxy Bar and Screen. "We want to create a legacy, to bring venues together and create a portal for people to discover repertory film."

The Scala was founded by Stephen Woolley in 1979, originally at a venue on Charlotte Street in north London, and then two years later at its long-term home in King's Cross. Woolley – who went on to found Palace Pictures and produce countless films – wanted to create a UK equivalent to the grindhouse venues of Los Angeles and San Francisco, with their eclectic, daily-changing menu of movies. The impressive building, which first opened in 1920, and its location in neighbourhood then largely populated by prostitutes and drug addicts, added to the allure: the atmosphere was a world apart from that of the National Film Theatre.

"It was a thrilling experience," says former programme manager Jane Giles, now head of film and video distribution at the British Film Institute. "Part of that thrill was that you walked out [of the station] into the badlands of King's Cross. You then quite quickly found your way to this palatial building, like some sort of bonkers white castle that you see on the logo of Disney. Going up the marble staircase led you into this massive space. The rake was very steep, the seats bolt upright and I think you sat there for a moment with a sense of incredible anticipation. In addition, the auditorium was dark and, at times, illicit. There was a frisson. A lot of the films were quite explicit, so there was a sexuality about the place that was unusual in cinemas. It all added up to an incredibly potent combination."

Stories surrounding those nights are legion: the dope-fiend projectionist who scratched a CND symbol into a Pearl & Dean army recruitment ad and got the reels in the wrong order at a horror festival; the antics at the gay-themed all-nighters. "We had to try to explain to Serena the cleaner why there were so many used latex gloves on the floor after a lesbian all-nighter," says Giles. "I told her it was a fashion statement."

The cinema's biggest hits were underground classics such as Thundercrack and Cafe Flesh; John Waters's 70s trash trilogy Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble and Desperate Living; and the work of sexploitation king Russ Meyer. These were films other venues simply would not screen; many of them will feature in the upcoming season.

By 1992, however, the cinema was in trouble. Warner Brothers were tipped off about a (then illegal) screening of Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange and sued. This followed a relaxation in the rules on late-night alcohol consumption at non-club venues, which meant the Scala was no longer the go-to place for an after-hours drink; the increasing availability of transgressive films on video was also taking some of the shine off the programming. The Scala lost an expensive legal battle against Warner Bros; plans to convert into a multiplex foundered. The last of the cinema's monthly film-strip style calendars, the format of which has been lovingly reproduced for Scala Forever, was printed in May 1993.

The season will open with King Kong, the first film ever screened at the King's Cross site (home to a primatarium, celebrating all things ape, before the Scala moved in) and close with A Clockwork Orange. The organisers are hoping to recreate some of the cinema's original magic. John Waters, the Scala's "patron saint", vividly recalls his sole visit. "It was like joining a club, a very secret club, like a biker gang or something. I remember the audience was even more berserk than any midnight show I had ever seen in America. Maybe they were on ecstasy, I don't know, but it was a really raucous audience. It was so great – but it was almost scary."

SCALA'S HISTORY

Built to the design of H Courtney Constantine, the Kings Cross Cinema (Scala), was nearing completion when the First World War to began. The partially completed cinema was first used to manufacture airplane parts, and after 1918 as a local labour exchange for demobilized soldiers returning from the war.

Finally completed, the Kings Cross Cinema opened on April 1920. Seating over 1000 people, the auditorium offered a three-hour program, accompanied by a 20-piece orchestra.

At the end of the 1920’s, under the control of Gaumont British Pictures, the cinema staged lavish free Christmas shows for local children - endearing a whole generation.
The King's Cross Cinema was damaged in air-raids during the Blitz. New owners refurbished the cinema, now called the Gaumont, and it reopened in March 1952. In 1962, the Gaumont became the Odeon and continued to screen mainstream pictures until 1970.

In February 1971, the cinema embarked on a short-lived experiment showing adult films. Soon after it reverted to the King's Cross Cinema and mainstream features returned. In addition to the programs of films, the venue became a live, all-night, rock venue. Iggy Pop and Hawkwind have played at the Scala. In 1974, this bold move came to an end when the cinemas late-night license was revoked, petitioned by the local residents. Soon after it closed.

Five years later, the King's Cross Cinema, became a Primatarium. The stalls were reconstructed to resemble a forest. The project failed and on July 1981 the cinema returned as Scala, featuring the classic 1933 version of King Kong on opening night.
The Scala Cinema went on to become one of London's most famous repertory/art house cinemas. In 1993 the Scala Cinema Club went into receivership after losing a court case over an illegal screening of Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange.

Scala reopened in March 1999 after a radical transformation which included an additional 2 floors. King's Cross once again plays host to a vibrant and important cultural meeting place, embodied in which is the long and colorful history of both the Scala Cinema Club and The King's Cross Cinema.


Deceased--Tura Satana

Joe Bonica, Amalia Aguilar...early home entertainment

Kroger Babb and exploitation

Roger Corman--his B-movies

The Vampire Happening

directed by

Freddie Francis

1971

Two from colleague...Corman/Coppola and Romero

Luana Anders

Dimentia 13

Francis Ford Coppola

1963

Judith O'Dea

Night of the Living Dead

George A. Romero

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