Dementia 13

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.

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.

I cannot comment on the original 1963 because i have not seen it.

But this one was very good having supernatural elements, an axe killer running lose, and a good twist at the end.

In a world where most remake are awful this one delivered the goods.

I probably should have watched the original first but this became available to me so what was a guy meant to do?

This supernatural tale tells the story of a family within their castle, a ghost, armed thugs up to no good and lots and lots of secrets.

I'll say one thing for Dementia 13, it's unpredictable. At no point did I correctly identify what was going to happen or the direction of the movie and that was refreshing.

The trouble is it's a bit of a mess, I can see what they were going for but it simply doesn't work. The plot is jumbled, the execution is all over the place and I'm left feeling that an additional 30 minutes could have saved the film.

Again I haven't seen the original (Yet) so this could be an utter hatchet job but in it's current form this is an underwhelming effort.

The Good:

Looks great

Unpredictable

The Bad:

Messy

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

It's 2017 and people still haven't grasped the concept of finishing the bad guy off