Dementia 13

I was in the mood for a horror movie last night. Having seen virtually everything in the Netflix horror category, seeing this pop up in my Netflix feed was a welcome surprise. The first 20 minutes or so provided an interesting diversion. However things went downhill after that. When the twist appeared at about the 2/3 mark, the movie lost all credibility. By that point, I thought I simply must sit through the remaining half hour to see how this train wreck ends.

The actors, all of them unknown to me, did a fine enough job with the material they had to work with. That said, in the hands of a different director whose vision was to do a parody of a supernatural drama, this movie could have worked. Unfortunately, the director would have the viewer regard this as serious drama. It is not. Trust me. You can find better ways to pass 90 minutes of your time than watch Dementia 13.

What the hell does the title have to do with anything in the movie anyway?

I can't compare this remake of Francis Ford Coppola's 1963 horror film because I haven't seen the original. In this movie, a family gathers at the isolated Castle Haloran to attend a ceremony commemorating the death of 6-year-old Kathleen, the youngest family member from a drowning many years before. It isn't long before the murders, mayhem, and madness will begin and I was intrigued enough to wonder what the heck was going on here and why.

Although the dialogue and acting can be of B-movie quality and the film can certainly be weird and bizarre at times, there was enough here to keep up my interest throughout and I certainly have seen worse.

I went in expecting another attempt at a horror movie made garbage. Well nothing scary what so ever about this, but what I did like is how they put a slasher and supernatural togeather. This movie could have been a master peice if they actually took the time to do both genres good. Instead it was to faced paced which in its self isn't bad, but in the end I wanted more and they didn't deliver.

Members of a family coalesce at their secluded stone manor in upstate New York to commemorate the passing of one member sixteen years prior, but the grim gathering is hindered by a masked madman with an axe, a couple of lowlife thugs and... a haunting!

"Dementia 13" (2017) is a remake of the 1963 original by Francis Ford Coppola, which was basically a low-rent knock-off of "Psycho" (1960) produced by Roger Corman. That said, it wasn't an exact imitation and had enough to distinguish it; the original upped the ante in the slasher genre, which was in its infancy at the time, and obviously influenced movies in the soon-to-come slasher boom of the late 70s-80s.

Thankfully, this version of "Dementia 13" is all-around better and in living COLOR. There are enough changes in the plot/characters to keep things fresh and interesting. It also eliminates confusing elements of the original, like the two bodies of water that weren't properly delineated. And, although 8 minutes longer, the film's still streamlined and doesn't overstay its welcome.

Yet the first half is superior to the second half, which is highlighted by the eerie introduction to the castle-like manor, the establishment of the characters and their story, as well as the stunning Ana Isabelle as Louise. Unfortunately, her part is rather small, but Channing Pickett (Rose) and Marianne Noscheze (Billie) are okay on the female front. Meanwhile Julia Campanelli is effective as the mentally dubious matriarch.

The situation speeds-up in the second half and the twists & turns are sometimes awkward, similar to the somewhat contrived & clumsy second half of "Psycho II" (1983). Still, the movie improves on Coppola's original and there's enough good here if you're in the mode for a flick that combines two horror genres: slasher and haunted house.

The film runs 1 hour, 23 minutes and was shot in upstate New York.

GRADE: B/B-

Failed by its special effects, the remake falls short when it comes to giving the ghost and the axe guy a main stake in the story. The problem of wealthy families is a trove for stories - but visually this one didn't make the cut.