Dementia: Blu-Ray Review
Arriving this week on Blu-ray is IFC Midnight’s “Dementia”, courtesy of Scream Factory. We don’t see many horror films in which the central character is elderly. Most of the time the victims are either teenagers or couples in their 20’s or 30’s. A senior victim in a horror film, especially one suffering from dementia is definitely something different.
George Lockhart (Gene Jones) is an aging war hero who has lived on his own for many years. When he suffers a stroke and is diagnosed with dementia, his son Jerry (Peter Ciella) and his granddaughter Shelby (Hassie Harrison) come to look after him. Jerry’s plan was to put George in a care facility that could look after him, but when a young nurse named Michelle (Kristina Klebe) stops by to check on him, they wind up hiring her for in-home care.
Everything seems to be working out. That is until Michelle begins to reveal that she isn’t actually there to help George, but to make his life a living hell. Locking him in his room, drugging him, killing his cat. She has a personal vendetta against the man or she is just downright loony. It could very well be both. Unfortunately since he has dementia, Jerry and Shelby tend to believe Michelle over George if something bad happens.
“Dementia” borrows elements from other films, “Misery” being an example, but what helps elevate the material are the performances from Jones and Kiebe, who are both great here. It’s not so much that the film itself is scary, but the idea of how someone can get away with abusing a person who has lost the ability to stand up for themselves.
By: Marc Ferman