This is one of Francis Ford Coppola's first films, at least within - what we can call - the 'horror genre', if one exclude 'The Terror' (a film we've written about before). The latter was however primarily directed by Roger Corman who instead produced this film.
First it was ment to be called only 'Dementia' but as a film with the same name had been made in 1955, they added 13.
The film starts with a young happy(?) couple rowing a boat in the middle of the night.
It's a couple by the name of John Haloran (Peter Read) and his wife Louise (Luana Anders) and they are not as happy as one might have thought.
They are actually discussing John's rich mother's will and the fact that every penny of it is designated to charity and this in the name of a certain Kathleen.
John tells Louise that if he dies before his mother, Louise will not be entitled to anything of the heritage and of course he dies there and then in the boat, a death caused by a massive heart attack.
Louise can't return to the family saying that her husband has died so what can she do?
She throws him overboard (of course) and then writes a letter to John's mother Lady Haloran (Eithne Dunne) in which she invites herself to the family's Irish castle while pretending that John is away on business, something that couldn't wait.
John's family is however not like an ordinary family and soon she witness that John's two brothers Billy (Bart Patton) and Richard (William Campbell) are taking part in a strange ceremony with their mother, a tribute to their younger sister Kathleen (the heir), dead through drowning.
When Louise now realizes that Lady Haloran is a psychologically overstrained person and also very superstitious, the former tries to convince the Lady that Kathleen is trying to communicate with her from 'the other side'.
In doing so she puts out objects belonging to Kathleen, things she has found when doing an 'inventory' in the house.
One night she plonges into the pond, in order to attach these belongings to something on the bottom, where they easily could surface but when doing so she finds, what she thinks is the perfectly preserved body of Kathleen.
When coming to the surface she is axed to death by someone. Who?
The family doctor Justin Caleb (Patrick Magee) arrives and starts his own 'investigation' in order to find the killer and solve the mystery with Kathleen's death on the same time.
Like Hercule Poirot he starts interrogating the family members and of course we find them all somewhat suspicious.
The killer is however found - after having found a wax model of Kathleen first. Who made it and who is the assassin and is it the same person?
The film contains some good ideas and material even if it's not made in a way preventing the viewer from anticipate the answer beforehand.
The aim of the director is to make everyone look suspicious but often this kind of approach lead to the fact that one concentrate on those seeming to be the 'least bad' among a group of suspects (think 'Usual Suspects').
It's however quite a 'kind' and harmless horror story but in spite of that worth seeing.
First it was ment to be called only 'Dementia' but as a film with the same name had been made in 1955, they added 13.
The film starts with a young happy(?) couple rowing a boat in the middle of the night.
It's a couple by the name of John Haloran (Peter Read) and his wife Louise (Luana Anders) and they are not as happy as one might have thought.
They are actually discussing John's rich mother's will and the fact that every penny of it is designated to charity and this in the name of a certain Kathleen.
John tells Louise that if he dies before his mother, Louise will not be entitled to anything of the heritage and of course he dies there and then in the boat, a death caused by a massive heart attack.
Louise can't return to the family saying that her husband has died so what can she do?
She throws him overboard (of course) and then writes a letter to John's mother Lady Haloran (Eithne Dunne) in which she invites herself to the family's Irish castle while pretending that John is away on business, something that couldn't wait.
John's family is however not like an ordinary family and soon she witness that John's two brothers Billy (Bart Patton) and Richard (William Campbell) are taking part in a strange ceremony with their mother, a tribute to their younger sister Kathleen (the heir), dead through drowning.
When Louise now realizes that Lady Haloran is a psychologically overstrained person and also very superstitious, the former tries to convince the Lady that Kathleen is trying to communicate with her from 'the other side'.
In doing so she puts out objects belonging to Kathleen, things she has found when doing an 'inventory' in the house.
One night she plonges into the pond, in order to attach these belongings to something on the bottom, where they easily could surface but when doing so she finds, what she thinks is the perfectly preserved body of Kathleen.
When coming to the surface she is axed to death by someone. Who?
The family doctor Justin Caleb (Patrick Magee) arrives and starts his own 'investigation' in order to find the killer and solve the mystery with Kathleen's death on the same time.
Like Hercule Poirot he starts interrogating the family members and of course we find them all somewhat suspicious.
The killer is however found - after having found a wax model of Kathleen first. Who made it and who is the assassin and is it the same person?
The film contains some good ideas and material even if it's not made in a way preventing the viewer from anticipate the answer beforehand.
The aim of the director is to make everyone look suspicious but often this kind of approach lead to the fact that one concentrate on those seeming to be the 'least bad' among a group of suspects (think 'Usual Suspects').
It's however quite a 'kind' and harmless horror story but in spite of that worth seeing.
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