Dementia

[MichaelB]

Full specs announced:

Dementia
A film by John Parker

Blu-ray/DVD release on 19 October 2020 with simultaneous release on iTunes and Amazon Prime

A woman’s nightmare of murder, maiming and mistrust proves to be more than a mere dream, in John Parker’s influential 1953 horror film DEMENTIA.

Foreshadowing the likes of Roman Polanski’s Repulsion (1965), the film comes to Blu-ray and DVD for the first time in the UK, released in a Dual Format Edition by the BFI on 19 October 2020, just ahead of Halloween. An extensive package of extras includes a newly recorded commentary, and an alternative cut of the film, retitled Daughter of Horror (1957) which has added narration by actor Ed McMahon.

Stripped of dialogue and using only sound effects and an unnerving score by George Anthiel (Ballet Mécanique), in DEMENTIA John Parker combines horror, film noir and expressionist methods to depict a mind descending into madness. Shocking audiences upon its original release, the film was initially banned by the New York State Film Board, who deemed it ‘inhuman, indecent, and the quintessence of gruesomeness’.

Special features
• Presented in Standard Definition and High Definition
• Newly recorded audio commentary on Dementia by film critic and editor-in-chief of Diabolique magazine, Kat Ellinger
• Daughter of Horror (1957, 55 mins): after being picked up by producer Jack H Harris, Dementia was re-released as Daughter of Horror. Whilst also featuring music without dialogue, Harris made a number of edits and added narration by actor Ed McMahon
• Alone with the Monsters (1958, 16 mins): a study of people’s unconscious cruelty to others, this bold experimental film was directed by Nazli Nour with cinematography by the great Walter Lassally
• Trailers From Hell: Joe Dante on Daughter of Horror (1957/2013, 2 mins)
• Before & After: Restoring Dementia (2020, 3 mins): a series of short clips from Dementia that illustrate the work done by the Cohen Film Collection for their 2015 restoration
• Dementia trailer (2015)
• Daughter of Horror trailer (1957)
• Stills and publicity gallery
• ***FIRST PRESSING ONLY*** illustrated booklet with new essays by Ian Schultz, William Fowler and Vic Pratt

Product details
RRP: £19.99 / Cat. no. BFIB1395 / 12
USA / 1953 / black and white / 56 mins (+ extras) / optional hard-of-hearing subtitles / original aspect ratio 1.37:1 // BD50: 1080p, 24fps, PCM 2.0 dual mono audio (48kHz/24-bit) / DVD9: PAL, 25fps, Dolby Digital 2.0 mono audio (320kbps)

[L.A.]

Beaver and DVD Compare reviews.

[Orlac]

Savant reports on missing footage - https://trailersfromhell.com/dementia/

[Telstar]

Savant reports on missing footage - https://trailersfromhell.com/dementia/

Well, that's a pretty major disappointment.

[Orlac]

Probably a simple case of dammaged film elements, but then what happened to the one Kino used? (which, to be fair, was 20 years ago!)

[Orlac]

Having another look at this BD and the Kino disc, I'm now no longer convinced that the version on the BD is the theatrical cut, as it is missing the "stump" shot, but the other censor-dictated cuts are not there, and the same footage also appears on the Daughter of Horror edit either, which does have the "stump."

BUT the Kino extras mention that one point in the 1955 pre-release preperations there was only the stump shot cut, and one distributor cut to aid continuity. Following some further research and consultations, the further cuts were made.

So it seems the version on the Kino disc is what was used to make DAUGHTER OF HORROR (or the stump shots were taken from DOH and put back into Kino's DEMENTIA print), and the BD version is a edit made before the final DEMENTIA release version was locked down. Both versions remove John Parker's director's credit, but the BD version just about shows the remants of it in a dissolve. I think it had left his hands by 1955, and I suspect he removed the credit following his failure to secure a release in '53.

So the version history is

1953 - uncut DEMENTIA with John Parker's director credit (now lost, I think?)

1955 version 1 - uncut film aside from the missing director's credit (KINO DVD) prepared by distributor

1955 version 2 - prepared censor-viewing version with Preston Sturges intro, censor cut of stump and accommodating cut (BFI Blu-ray), likely the one shown to the teachers review panel

1955 version 3 - final New York release print (likely with Preston Sturges intro), censor cuts of hand in basket, stump shot, and second shot of hand in drawer.

1957 - DAUGHTER OF HORROR

The weird thing I suppose is that Version 2 still exists and is gumming up the works. It'd make more sense for there to be the theatrical version ONLY, plus DAUGHTER OF HORROR!

What a strange mess!

[swo17]

That's a very helpful summary, thanks for that

[Orlac]

No problem

[reaky]

For anyone near a Fopp, this is £6 (as are many BFI blu-rays) in there at the moment.