Seven Decades Later, a Reboot of a Horror Film Classic
This article was originally published on Halloween 2022. It’s been updated to reflect the new Right Brain Music Podcast episode featuring K. Edward Smith, and details of his live performance.
Dementia is the name of a noir horror film, a forgotten classic directed by John Parker. The film was completed in 1953, but went nowhere. It was unusual in a several ways. For one, the movie had no dialogue. And its imagery was so disturbing that the NY authorities refused to allow it to screen in theaters, effectively blocking it from any commercial success. Dementia quickly fell into obscurity. But it’s a cult classic, and one prominent site considers it one of the weirdest movies ever made.
Now, musician K. Edward Smth has effectively rebooted the film with a brand new musical score, released just in time for Halloween on Right Brain Records. Smith is a heavy metal drummer, an alt-country singer-songwriter as well as a film music composer. (Read that sentence again…) Replacing the original (and rather ordinary) orchestral soundtrack with a new, minimalist avant-garde one, he has in effect made Dementia even weirder. Better yet, he’s created a rare, true right brain film experience: with only Parker’s imagery and Smith’s spine-tingling sounds to convey the story, viewers are free to process it in a very personal way.
Hear podcast feature of K. Edward Smith here.
Watch the movie here.
Was Dementia ahead of its time? Did the censors overreact? Was this a classic cinematic work that should have been appreciated back then? And how does Smith’s score affect the viewing experience? You can decide for yourself.
See the trailer and album artwork below. Hear the soundtrack here.
Read more about Smith here. This is the audio album cover, which captures the mood of the film rather nicely:
In the podcast episode, we sample a bunch of Smith’s music, including:
Lots of samples from the Dementia soundtrack.
“Lies We Eat,” by his band Assimilator
"Wait to Turn Out the Lights," from his album Carnival Street
"How it Ends," from Carnival Street
“Walking Song,” from his upcoming release “penny Picture Show.”
And for those near Fort Wayne, Indiana this month, here’s a poster for a live performance of the score with a screening of the movie:
Learn more about Right Brain Records and our musical artists that bust the rules and explore new frontiers.