Product Details

• Actors: William Campbell;Luana Anders
• Directors: Francis Ford Coppola
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Alpha Video
• DVD Release Date: July 27, 2004
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000286S38
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #48,523 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Francis Ford Coppola was working as an assistant to Roger Corman when he made this, his feature debut. The story goes that Corman let Coppola make the film so long as he could work around the shooting schedule of the film they were working on together, and the results are impressive given the budget constraints. Or maybe because of the budget constraints. The story concerns the family at Castle Haloran, the secrets surrounding the death of young Kathleen, and an axe murderer who seems to be picking away at all present. Coppola's deft direction keeps this from being a routine ghost story, using light and dark in his compositions to create tension and suspense. The film has an interesting way of spanning the traditional ghost story and the more modern gore-fests that we're used to. I have one bone to pick with the manufacturer of this disc: the transfer to DVD was made from tape. This is evident from the way the frames roll repeatedly during the last 15 minutes of the film, and the tape bunches a few times leaving video artifacts. DVD consumers want all the benefits of this medium, and not to have the degraded quality of tape preserved on it. If this is the only way you can get this film, at least the price is reasonable. It's also packaged as a Fright Night Horror Classic along with Night of the Living Dead and Revolt of the Zombies. --Jim Gay

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Coppola's first--a mixed bag, July 14, 2004

By	J from NY (New York) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Dementia 13 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is not the best horror movies I've ever seen, but one of the best films in terms of *atmosphere*. The frightening parts about it are less in the film itself than what the film suggests--the really psychotic point to which codependency can build, obsession, and a host of other disturbances, none of which involve the supernatural but suggest it. Along with the Vincent Price films he did, this is the best film you'll see that Roger Corman was involved in.

Luana Anders is, ironically, the strongest presence in this film. Thing is, she doesn't last very long, and the viewer isn't all that devastated when she does disappear. A scheming, money hungry witch, she preys on the co-morbidity of an elderly woman to the point of sadism. A young girl dies tragically at a young age. An Irish family living in Nowheresville idealizes her mysterious death to the point of madness. Someone is responsible, and we eventutally find out who. There are a few 'jump out of your seat scenes', one of them being the untimely (and grisly) death of Anders. It's been awhile since I've seen this film, but much of the imagery (dolls, truly 'demented' childhood memories, and the last exclamation by the ultimate culprit: "DON'T TOUCH THAT!") have remained with me. This is an odd blend, Corman and Coppola. A worthwhile old cinematic antique of misery.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "And Here Comes the Chopper, to Chop Off Your Head...", September 7, 2002

By	Bruce Rux (Aurora, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dementia 13 (DVD)

Francis Ford Coppola's first film of note, graduating from the tutelage of schlock-meister Roger Corman. It was made hot on the heels of Hitchcock's more famous Psycho, and is very similar in content and style.

Con-woman Luana Anders' husband-married-only-for-the-family-money dies before she can be included in the will, causing her to seek out a new scam. Deceased hubby's wealthy Irish family is more than usually superstitious, yearly celebrating with a morbid ceremony the date that their matriarch's youngest daughter, Kathleen, drowned in the lake out back. Anders poses as a medium and stages a few tricks to make herself look good to the rich matriarch, who buys her act. Eldest son William Campbell knows she's a phony, and kid brother Bart Patton has been generally kind of creepy ever since the day Kathleen died - which makes it kind of a toss-up as to who follows Anders out to the haunted lake one night, and cuts her up with an axe...

This movie succeeds on its acting and its atmosphere, which are terrific. Anders was good in everything she did, and this was probably her best role. Campbell never disappoints, and Patton is wonderfully intense and unsettling. The always creepy - and always good - Patrick Magee is on hand as the family doctor, who seems to know a great deal more about the recent mysterious disappearances (Anders isn't the only one who goes missing) than he's letting on. The music score isn't quite as frightening as Bernard Hermann's for Psycho, but it's damned close - the opening theme and credit sequence are terrific, even for American International Pictures, which was usually good in that department. Anders' murder scene will haunt your nightmares about as bad as Janet Leigh's in Hitchcock's film.

Well worth the time and trouble, especially for fans of film noir.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars COPPOLA'S FIRST APOCALYPSE, November 9, 2003

By	Michael Butts (Martinsburg, WV USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: 3D Dementia 13 (2-D & 3-D Versions Included) (DVD)

In 1963, the movie audience had already experienced the new kind of psychological horror movie born with the great PSYCHO. Francis Ford Coppola's attempt at matching that horror is greatly inferior, of course, but as an exercise in mental terror, it works on its own subliminal level. The wonderful Luana Anders starts out the film virtually murdering her rich husband, and then tosses his body in a pond, telling the family he's off on a business trip. She wants his Mama to change the will to include the in-laws. As in PSYCHO, Anders is dispatched early in the film in a very surprising way, and although it can't touch Janet Leigh's demise in PSYCHO or Angie Dickinson's in DRESSED TO KILL, it packs a wallop. From there on in, it's time to figure out who the nasty killer is. It's fairly easy to pick the killer out, but there are some wildly frenetic scenes before getting there. Bart Patton and Patrick Magee provide excellent support and one can detect the future genious of Coppola in this atmospheric thriller.