Dementia (1955)

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1. 

   Siskoid

   I certainly appreciate the experimentalism of Dementia (sometimes called Daughter of Horror), a post-silent era film without any dialog, and whose only text is one of the strangest opening cards in cinema, but it's only really experimental in the context of the 1950s, since silent film and expressionism were earlier forms strange to the audience of its day. I'm still impressed by how little trickery there is in the film, depending on cinematography, acting, and music to give the sense that the title character is descending into madness for reasons expressed as clues throughout and, if we can believe anything we see (which isn't a given), revealed/confirmed at the end. Our "heroine"'s journey, on a basic level similar to that of Nights of Cabiria (out two years later, or 4 considering the film should have come out in '53), is nightmarish and paranoid, and everyone seems sinister. Her too, though I find Adrienne Barrett's performance a little too theatrical for my tastes at times. A strong piece of lurid psychological horror nonetheless, and it's unfortunate that it initially got banned and probably blocked director John Parker from making more. 2 years 7 months ago
2. 

   samoan

   AKA Daugher Of Horror 7 years 2 months ago
3. 

   jlfitz

   "Hey you - you out there. Do you know what horror is?" Great opening.
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsVDFKBEzGs 8 years 6 months ago

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