DEMENTIA 13

RELEASED OUT NOW! 1963 | 15 | Blu-ray

Director Francis Ford Coppola

Cast William Campbell, Luana

Anders, Bart Patton, Mary Mitchell

The shadow of Norman Bates hovers over Dementia 13, Francis Ford Coppola’s first mainstream credit as director, now restored to his original cut.

Commissioned by schlock king Roger Corman as a cheap Psycho rip-off, it’s a tale of family secrets, doomed blondes and axe murder, set in a haunted Irish castle whose forbidding stone walls provide the illusion of production value.

The plot’s a muddle but Coppola acquits himself well, capturing both the visceral ferocity of the murders and the queasy dread of the supernatural elements. Shot in stark black and white, favouring the immediacy of close-ups, it’s a glimpse of a young, hungry helmer as much in thrall to French New Wave cinema as the Bates Motel.

Extras Coppola provides an all-too-brief introduction (one minute), chiefly there to assert his ownership of the new cut. Thankfully he also provides an engaging audio commentary; full of detail and reminiscence, it gives a sense of personal connection to the movie.

There’s also an amusing, William Castle-styled prologue (seven minutes), originally bolted to release prints, in which “the world’s foremost authority on medical hypnosis” submits you to a psychological test to see if you’re stable enough to watch. Caution: mental health advice may be complete bobbins.