Dementia

Cinephile deep dive

The take

John Parker directs. William C. Thompson behind the camera. George Antheil scores. Joseph Gluck cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Tight 58-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
• 271 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 3Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
• 4Directed by John Parker, shot by William C. Thompson. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 5Original score by George Antheil. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 6Editor Joseph Gluck shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 7Adrienne Barrett and Bruno VeSota and Ben Roseman carry the top of the cast.
• 8Marketing tagline: "Not ONE WORD is spoken on the screen!".
• 9IMDB entry: tt0047976 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 10Only 86 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography

William C. Thompson

Original score

George Antheil

Editing

Joseph Gluck

Production design

Ben Roseman

Runtime

58 min · 0h 58m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Original language

EN

IMDB

Dementia (1955) ↗

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  DEMENTIA (1955) - Trailer

  Trailer · Official
• 

  ▶
  DAUGHTER OF HORROR

  Featurette

Community reviews

What people are saying

• John Chard2019-10-15
  ★ 8/10

  Feverish Hybrid! Dementia is written and directed by John Parker. It stars Adrienne Barrett, Bruno VeSota, Ben Roseman and Angelo Rossitto. Music is by George Antheil and Ernest Gold and cinematography by William C. Thompson. Dementia is a dialogue free picture that charts a young woman's night time journey through the seedy city. She may be a psychotic murderer? Will her journey reveal all? Made in 1953 but not getting a release till 1955, Dementia is a wonderfully weird one of a kind experience. It should be noted that there are two versions of it, it was recut with an added narration and titled "Daughter of Horror", Dementia is the original cut. It is an hour of feverish film, awash with expressionistic touches and noir imagery, it's obviously cheaply made but it looks terrific. From the moment "The Gamine" (Barrett) awakes in a hotel room, startled, there's an off kilter vibe going on. We will, in her company, see an act of police brutality played out in shadow form. Be spun off in a vortex to a turbulent cemetery sequence, meet weird men with hats and nylons over their faces. There's a lecherous slob, who gets grotesque close ups as he munches his chicken dinner, sexual subtexts are unbound (hello cigar and piano porn!), while the backstory reveal of our lady antagonist is itself haunting. Dementia greatly troubled the censors, so much so it suffered cuts and numerous submissions, thankfully now of course it can be seen untouched. The themes of adultery, police corruption, prostitution, drugs and implied incest ensure it's a potent hour of film, made all the more eerie by the no dialogue concept. Antheil's musical score is suitably ethereal, only halted by a cramped night club scene that sees "Shorty Rogers and His Giants" perform a sparky jazz combination in readiness for another otherwordly scene - the key one in fact. It's a love it or hate it movie, a tricky one to recommend with confidence. But once viewed it will not be forgotten, and not to only be remembered as the film that was playing on screen at the drive-in theatre when "The Blob" attacked in 1958!. It's a quirky and unsettling hybrid movie, one that deserves its cult classic status. 8/10

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• J.

  J.J. Parker Productions

• H.

  H.K.F. Productions

Key crew

• Sound Effects EditorMichael Pozen
• EditorJoseph Gluck
• SoundBuddy Myers
• Visual EffectsAlbert Simpson
• ProducerJohn Parker
• Production DesignBen Roseman
• Special EffectsAlbert Simpson

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• film noir
• disturbed

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1955-12-22

Also known as

International titles

• Daughter of HorrorUS
• 공포의 딸KR
• DementiaES