Ax Is the Family

 

Dementia 13 (1963) has always been a rather interesting film to me but never quite captivates me. I get that Coppola's attachment to it and Corman's producing it have always been draws various independent DVD distribution and companies capitalize on to sell the very rough public domain print available, but I never quite can remain interested, and the development of the mystery couldn't quite hold my attention. And the seams show as Corman's stingy production budget really is obvious when you watch it. The ax murders, especially when the very attractive (or always to me) Corman regular, Luana Anders, gets attacked with a number of chops when emerging from a lake after discovering a little stone tablet and doll shrine in memory of little girl, Kathleen, are just not particularly impressive. I take into account when the film was made, in 1963, so I recognize the effects won't be as elaborate and gory as today. I guess that one beheading where a groundskeeper on the hunt finds "Kathleen", with his head bobbling into the water, was shocking to folks in '63, though. But the choice few suspects it could be sort of left me rather disappointed. 

The matriarch of the Haloran clan has never recovered from the drowning death of her daughter, and her sons have felt that ever since. Each year of Kathleen's death has the mother needing to mourn her deeply and the sons are always expected to be there. One of her sons, married to Anders, dies of a heart attack at the beginning of the film and Luana must hide his body in order to inherit anything from his mother's estate. She sets up a trip he took and dumps contents where his body lies. So Luana Anders coordinates a plan to cause her dead husband's mother's death by initiating a ruse involving Kathleen's "rise from the dead", not anticipating an ax murderer on the grounds. Soon the mother is nearly killed by the ax murderer while she finds her "daughter" in a shack, and the family physician, played by Patrick Magee, is on the hunt for a killer. Magee actually is pursuing someone responsible for dolls rising in the estate lake (Anders' handiwork before she is killed), and eventually finds Anders, believing the killer will emerge and it will likely be one of the Haloran sons. Magee believes William Campbell is perhaps the killer, and that doesn't sit well with his bride-to-be. I think the way Coppola shoots the ax murderer is highly stylized and effective, and when Magee finds Anders, she's a muddy mess, but consider how many times that blade came down, she's not as badly chopped up as she should be. And Anders' face seems unscathed and the way Coppola shot her attack, you'd think she'd be hamburger. I wish I liked this more. It should be right up my alley. There is the ancestral European estate. The family with a damaged history. An ax murderer on the grounds. There are secret murders and greedy plotting. But Coppola just didn't have the budget needed to really give us what I bet he really could have if the money was there. He did what he could with what he had and this could have been even worse. I just find it sadly average. I prefer the oddball patchwork Gothic curiosity that is "The Terror" made around the same time. 2/5

***Still, this era of horror is my jam. I love the B&W 60s horror where you see a ton of independent productions coming out with some of the most interesting faces Hollywood could produce.***