A family gets together to have a service honoring Kathleen who drowned when she was six. The siblings are all grown. Mom (Julia Campanelli) speaks to Kathleen and wants to turn the castle into an orphanage to the dismay of all her children. Things happen early and often as we have a masked ax murderer, the ghost of Kathleen, and a home break-in. Normally all these different elements would make for a confusing film, but this one blended nicely. I thought the ending could have been worked better. Good suspense and simple ghost effects.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

Gathered together at their family house, a group of individuals intending to celebrate a family tragedy learn that not only as their world been thrown for a loop by a sudden revelation but a ravenous killer as well as a pair of thieves arrive which complicates their survival.

For the most part, this here wasn't all that bad of a remake. A lot of the fun here comes from the rather intriguing storyline here featuring the different backstage deceits and traditions of the family. Right at the beginning, we get the idea of their personal tragedies starting with the need to celebrate the accident yet also in the different setups for showcasing her as starting to become concerned about her intentions regarding their future which manages to readily upset the group.that doesn't take into account their own personal agendas which range from the backstabbing to the faithful that really gives this the kind of setup which gives the later horror scenes a nice charge. Those are surprisingly enjoyable, from the opening boat brawl to the later chase through the woods and the farmhouse ambush which signals the start of the home invasion where the robbers and the killer arrive to bring about more fun. Detailing the haunted house as well as their battles against the two different outside forces inside and outside the house, this has some enjoyable elements at play here to give this enough to lift it up over it's few minor flaws. The biggest issue here is the fact that the films' multiple storylines seem completely at odds with everything else around it, giving this the feeling of being incredibly scattered and chaotic for so short a running time. This works incredibly well with the backstabbing family members and the masked killer, yet when the film introduces ghostly hauntings, revenge, a character coming back from the dead for no reason and a group of kidnappers together with these elements it makes for a truly wild blend of activity that renders much of what happens too rushed to really care. That also reduces the fear and impact of the killer who has some fun scenes but doesn't have the full-scale sense of dread he could've had this one allowed for a more robust amount of time to get going as being reduced in screen-time definitely hurts him. As well, the darkness present in much of the finale affects this significantly as it's sometimes impossible to make out what's happening as there's just not much a chance of seeing anything. Along with the lame twist and the killers' motivation, these here bring it down.

Rated R: Graphic Language and Violence.

The movie starts with the mention it's based on a previous movie by Francis Ford Coppola. That should already have been a warning for me as I can't imagine they will do a better job than Coppola. And what's the point of making movies that are already have been done before if it's not to better them? To be honest I didn't watch the Coppola movie and I probably won't as this version is just not a good publicity for the other movie. The story is weak, not interesting, boring, and most of the time just doesn't make much sense. The horror parts are most of the time laughable. But the worst thing about Dementia 13 is the acting, that's just bad, mediocre at best. Just don't waste your time on this one.