Dementia

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

Stripped of dialogue - using only sound effects and an unnerving score - Parker combines horror, film noir and expressionist methods to thrilling effect. 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’.

Featuring music by George Antheil (Ballet Mécanique) and foreshadowing the techniques of future psychological horrors, Dementia is now available on Blu-ray for the very first time.

Daughter of Horror (1957, 56 mins): Dementia was picked up by producer Jack H Harris and re-released as Daughter of Horror in January 1957. Whilst also featuring music without dialogue, Harris made a number of edits and added narration by actor Ed McMahon
Newly recorded audio commentary by film critic and editor-in-chief of Diabolique magazine, Kat Ellinger
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 (2015, 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)
Image gallery