Dementia 13

Lights in the Dusk

Too often dismissed as cheap schlock, Coppola's debut is a complete film! The gothic ambiance is stylish and atmospheric, the story is engaging, and the psychology of the killer is rich and fascinating. It's also a proto-giallo; thematic similarities can be found in later films by Argento, etc. As such, it is as important to the development of the sub-genre as Bava's The Girl Who Knew Too Much released the same year.

msmichel

Early Coppola film made for producer Roger Corman on sets for another film after day's production. One can see glimpses of the cinematic language to come but the story is that of the 'B' movie variety. Performances are OK save the over the top Magee as the family physician who seems to be in a totally different genre. Atmospheric but a little shrill overall.

oldfilmsflicker

"The mood around this place isn't good for her. Especially for an American girl. You can tell she was raised on promises." Brilliant.

Edna Sweetlove

Coppola's first film apart from porn, financed for c.$1 by Corman. TRULY APPALLING. Switched off after 15 minutes (and that was too long). NO stars our of five. Utterly abysmal. Don't watch this if you are of a narcoleptic nature as you will fall asleep for ever. An example of its badness: it's supposed to be set in Ireland, but the only cars are American and they drive on the wrong side of the road. Duh!

Ethan

Not a terrible film but even though it is only 75 minutes it feels longer than that due to the pacing. Interesting enough to see because it is Coppola's first solo film but other than that there's not much here.

Pierluigi Puccini

Roger Corman gave a hand to Coppola, producing a decent thriller with Poe/Henry James gothic flavor, that also borrows a couple of elements from Hitchcock's then hit film Psycho. Cool main titles and creepy music. I particularly like Luana Anders.

Stefan Drees

There are some incredibly intense and well photographed passages like the sequences in the room with the toys around 30' or in the woods (with a polyphony of nature's sounds) around 45'.

Ludovic72

Un film bien inspiré de ceux du maître Hitchcock, à l'évidence (et réalisé la même année que Les Oiseaux). Classique, mais pas mauvais du tout pour un cinéaste qui n'avait alors que 24 ans...