Details

Release year: 1963

Storyline

Ax murders follow a heart attack at an Irish castle full of mourners.

Top credits

Directors

Francis Ford Coppola

Writers

Cast

William Campbell — Richard Haloran
Luana Anders — Louise Haloran
Bart Patton — Billy Haloran
Mary Mitchel — Kane

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Did you know

• During an interview with Ben Mankiewicz on TCM, Roger Corman stated that whilst the film's title originally was "Dementia", he discovered that there was another film by the same name, Dementia (1955), so he wanted to alter it. He thought to himself that the number 13 was typically thought of as a scary number, and "Dementia 13" sounded good. He called up Francis Ford Coppola and asked if he could add something to the script about a character having something bad happen to him at the age of 13 that would influence him to become a killer later on in his life. This would justify the addition of the number. Coppola agreed to do this.

• Francis Ford Coppola was assisting Roger Corman on the set of The Young Racers (1963) in Ireland. Corman allowed Coppola to use the same set, crew, and actors Luana Anders, William Campbell, and Patrick Magee for this film if he could shoot around the shooting schedule of Corman's film.

• American International Pictures would frequently make use of frozen dollars and cheaper European facilities by sending composers Les Baxter and Ronald Stein to record their scores in London, Munich, and Rome. In spite of The Terror (1963) having a very small budget, Stein was able to use the 90-piece Munich Symphony Orchestra to record the score for that movie. Furthermore, whilst in Munich, Stein cut costs even further by juggling the recording sessions to squeeze in the scoring of this film.