Beloved author Stephen King once penned a rant for EW that touches on movies that matter and movies that just don’t. While making his case, King called Kill Bill: Volume 1 out as a movie that doesn’t matter and named Francis Ford Coppola’s Dementia 13 as a film that does. While I couldn’t possibly disagree more with King’s take on Kill Bill, I am always game to check out a classic horror feature I haven’t yet experienced.
What does Stephen King have to say about Dementia 13?
King had the following to say about Dementia 13: “For mood, atmosphere, and plain old gut-churning horror, 13 makes Psycho and Night of the Living Dead look tame. Dementia 13 is a movie that matters.”
Wow. That is exceptionally high praise when stopping to consider that the bestselling author considers Night of the Living Dead the scariest horror film of all time. I can only imagine what thrills and chills Dementia 13 must have in store for us.
If you are as curious to experience the picture as I am, you are in luck. Dementia 13 is available to stream on Pluto (for free with ads) as of the publication of this post. Hooray for that.
The setup for this classic horror thriller goes as follows:
After John Haloran (Peter Read) dies, his wife, Louise (Luana Anders), fears that she will be denied his inheritance. Fabricating a story about John traveling to the United States, she joins the rest of the Haloran family at their Irish estate as they hold a memorial for John’s sister, who died in a lake eight years ago. Louise schemes to convince Lady Haloran (Eithne Dunne) that she can speak with the dead child. However, this plan is interrupted by an axe murderer loose on the estate.
You likely noticed the surname Haloran in the plot crunch above. Does it sound familiar? It should. King gave a pivotal character in his novel The Shining a similar last name. I have to assume that Dick Hallorann was named as a nod to a film that shaped King during his formative years.
That’s all we have for you at present, dear reader. Keep an eye out for more exciting streaming recommendations from your favorite creators in the genre space as we uncover them. If you make time to check out Dementia 13, let me know what you thought on Threads @FunWithHorror.
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