In England, Dementia 13 was titled The Haunted and the Hunted.

Coppola and Corman originally intended their film to have a one-word title ala Psycho (1960), but they added the number '13' when they found out that there had already been a movie called Dementia (1955). That film was also a low-budget mystery/horror movie, written and directed by John Parker.

For some first-run engagements, American International paired Dementia 13 on a double bill with X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963), directed by Roger Corman.

Along with Coppola, another of Roger Corman's assistants on The Young Racers (1963), the film that spawned Dementia 13, was screenwriter Robert Towne. Towne would later write several scenes for Coppola's The Godfather (1972).

Dementia 13 co-stars Bart Patton and Mary Mitchel were friends of Francis Coppola's from UCLA film school, and were cast in the film partly because they had already paid their way to Europe for a vacation.

Most of the cast of Dementia 13 were either brought over from the film The Young Racers, or were friends of Coppola's who had attended UCLA. One major exception was Eithne Dunne (the actress who portrayed Lady Haloran), who was recruited from Dublin's prestigious Abbey Theater.

The poster tagline for Dementia 13: "Do not see this film alone, or if you have a weak heart."

While Dementia 13 is acknowledged as Francis Ford Coppola's first major feature, he was responsible for scenes in two earlier films. The Bellboy and the Playgirls and Tonight for Sure (both 1962) were a couple of "nudie cutie" pictures that were made up of a combination of footage from West German exploitation films and new scenes written and directed by Coppola and Jack Hill.

Compiled by John M. Miller

SOURCES:
Francis Ford Coppola: Interviews, Edited by Gene D. Phillips and Rodney Hill. 2004, University Press of Mississippi.
Roger Corman: Blood-Sucking Vampires, Flesh-Eating Cockroaches, and Driller Killers by Beverly Gray. 2004, Thunder's Mouth Press.
Godfather: The Intimate Francis Ford Coppola, Gene D. Phillips. 2004, The University Press of Kentucky.
Earth vs. the Sci-Fi Filmmakers: Twenty Interviews by Tom Weaver. 2005, McFarland.