DEMENTIA 13 - Director's Cut
When indie trailblazer Roger Corman found himself with funds left over from the production of his sports drama THE YOUNG RACERS, he handed the cash over to the film’s sound technician, a young man by the name of Francis Ford Coppola, and requested he write and direct a low-budget PSYCHO riff. Coppola was given free reign as director and, after securing additional financing, produced this Gothic horror family drama-cum-murder mystery about a widow (Luana Anders) who deceives her mother-in-law to secure her deceased husband’s inheritance while contending with his siblings and an axe-wielding murderer haunting the family’s Irish castle. Unfortunately, Corman was wholly unhappy with the finished film and inserted new scenes and a prologue (shot by newcomers Jack Hill and Monte Hellman) that left Coppola equally unhappy. In 2017, Coppola and his production company American Zoetrope restored this Director’s Cut version of DEMENTIA 13 that allowed audiences to see the maverick director’s humble debut as originally intended. DIR/SCR Francis Ford Coppola; SCR Jack Hill; PROD Roger Corman, Marianne Wood. U.S./Ireland, 1963/2017, b&w, 75 min. NOT RATED
Run Time: 75 Minutes
Opening Date: Friday, July 11, 2025
Genre: Horror thriller