The Family Secret

Hallorans attend their beloved's grave

Known for Francis Ford Coppola's association with the film, Dementia 13 (1963) has capitalized on a healthy public domain durability. It has an ax wielding maniac on a decadent castle estate, a Halloran family accursed by a sibling drowning in their pond, a family doctor (Patrick Magee) visiting from town with suspicions of foul play and shenanigans, a wedding planned if the matriarch agrees, a scheming sister-in-law looking to get in a will, and familial strife. The dolls rising in the pond, the sculpted lifelike figure of the drowned sister, a groundskeeper on the unfortunate end of an ax decapitation, and body dumped in a pond after a coronary; Coppola's screenplay (and whatever Corman had Jack Hill include) includes plenty of ghoulish activity.