Francis Ford Coppola could spend the rest of his living years making the most atrocious, unwatchable and worthless films – or even made for tv movies – and he’d still be revered as one of the seminal American directors coming out of the second half of the twentieth century. Yeah, The Godfather films have pretty much everything to do with that. And while the franchise petered out eventually, the first two installments ostensibly made Coppola a figure who demands and gets pretty much whatever he wants in Hollywood.

Prior to attaining that stature within the industry, though, Coppola put in a good deal of time with none other than Roger Corman during the early sixties. Collaborating on a series of scripts as well as working on second unit crews, Coppola eventually earned the director’s chair in a film during 1963. Of course, the situation allowing for his directorial debut was as a result of Corman having a budget surplus on another feature, but a chance is a chance.

Coppola quickly set about writing a script based a bit on suggestions Corman made. The result was Dementia 13. If you’ve not heard of such a thing, don’t be too surprised. The film’s been so neglected that it now resides in the public domain. Even with that, though, some folks from North Eastern Ohio saw fit to name their band after the film. That band’s not too much better than the movie.

That being said, some of Dementia 13 is pretty well shot. There’re establishing shots interspersed throughout the film that hint at the director’s impending success. Of course, with a cast of actors not quite adept at the necessary Irish brogue, some of the stylistic achievements of the film come off as less then memorable.

With suggestions levied by Corman, Coppola’s film was meant to ape some semblance of similarity to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. It’s a bit of a stretch, but the familial murder plot and the manner in which the killer is shot to have his identity obscured does a bit to connect the two features – but not too much. And that seems to be the general consensus.

The film doesn’t mark the fully formed arrival of a genius. Nor is it a film that viewers are going to learn anything from watching. Dementia 13, at this point, is just an historical document detailing the way Corman ran his company. Remember, the man did churn out his far share of soon-to-be Hollywood stars.