Dementia

On the great Kino DVD, the print of "Dementia" is strikingly good; and you get some good information on the film's strange life.>

Other than that, this is a one of a kind gem, to say there is nothing else like it is only to get the ball rolling. Ten out of ten.

I watched Daughter of Horror, not the original version called Dementia. Of course the newer version has a voice over by Ed McMahon of Star search/Johnny Carson fame. Dementia had no voice over.

Neither film had dialog. The only thing you heard was the music of George Antheil. You watched as the faces of the actors gave the story. A woman (Adrienne Barrett) possessed by madness; the daughter of a philandering mother and a drunken father who murdered her, even as she murdered her father.

It was Luis Buñuel and Orson Welles throughout. Even the character of the rich man (Bruno VeSota) was channeling Orson Welles.

It is a bohemian rhapsody wrapped in madness. A strange but compelling film.

Even at under an hour, this film drags a bit in the middle but has so much going for it that it has to be called a "must-see." Definitely see the dialog-free version (DEMENTIA) before you see the narrated version (DAUGHTER OF HORROR) but do see both of them because the narration by future Tonight Show co-host Ed McMahon is priceless! The jazzy score and accompanying vocal renderings accent the weird mood perfectly. The last 15 minutes in the jazz club are especially striking as music, image and pace increase to a fever pitch until the movie starts as it began. It's amazing that a film as avant garde as this actually played mainstream theaters in the 50s.

This is one of those (exceptionally) rare very low budget films where you can see clearly that, if the director had had more time and more money, we would be discussing a classic "film".

Better known to buffs of the odd, the obscure, and the strange as "Daughter of Horror", in the tale as told we are witness to the unraveling of a mind. Like "Eraserhead", the best of this sub-genre, it is difficult to tell where the madness starts and where reality ends- or, indeed, if any of what we see on screen is real at all. It is hard to get any sense of what is occurring from the Gamine's point of view. Are the events happening to her? Is she dreaming? Hallucinating? The viewer (or, at least this viewer) is always a little off balance while watching this movie, and I think that that is what the director was aiming at.

I would go so far as to say that, within the budgetary constraints imposed, this movie is a masterpiece. As stated in the synopsis, this is a dark movie with no sympathetic characters, no attractive locales, no hope. Were it just a Film Noire murder story, it would still be a very good movie. As a descent into madness, it excels.

I saw this great movie in error in 1972. Dementia 13 by Coppola was ordered and Dementia (Daughter of Horror) showed up. I was particularly impressed by the brilliant score by Antheil and sung by Marnie Nixon, later the voice of Maria in the movie West Side Story.

Interesting note - In the original movie, The Blob, it is the movie being shown in the movie theater when the kids run in to find their friends.

The style of Dementia was captivating and created a surreal mood. For those interested in obscure horror films, well worth seeing.

After originally seeing it it took almost 10 years to even find a reference to it (partially because of the two names). I finally got a copy of Dementia around 10 years ago and can now appreciate it whenever I choose.