You may well recognize Gene Jones from any number of movies ("The Sacrament", "No Country for Old Men") but you likely don't know his name. Such is the lot of a character actor. Jones is exceptional as he takes the lead in the horror drama "Dementia". His interpretation of George Lockhart, a crusty codger with a horrifying past, is both affecting and ultimately chilling. Other than that Hassie Harrison as Lockhart's granddaughter is unbearably adorable. And we get further substantiation that Vietnam irrevocably f'd up the lives of far too many.Like every other damn war before, since or that may ever be.

Other Reviewers on the IMDb Site have pointed out that during a Crucial Scene near the End, a Sound Editing Problem Exists that is Unfathomable. The Music Swells to completely Drown Out the Dialog between Characters and it leaves Unanswered Questions and a Frustration that can't be ignored. It's only One Scene but it's a Critical Scene and is Unacceptable. Other than that bit of Clumsiness, the Movie is a Good Psychological Thriller that is Well Acted and Staged. Some Gruesome Horror and Tense Situations make for an Unsettling Uncovering of what's going on in the Mind of an Elderly Man (Gene Jones) and His Live-In-Nurse (Kristina Klebe). There's some Fine Back Up Performances from Hassie Harrison and Jerry Lockhart and both Add to the Edgy Excitement. The Denouement is both Predictable and somewhat Surprising and the Film is Finely Photographed Overall, Worth a Watch for Fans of Thrillers and Indie Cinema.

What was the point in drowning the dialogue in the end with superloud music so you couldn't even hear the big reveal?Or was that even intentional?My guess is that the revealing words simply was too trivial and the editors thought that the viewers wouldn't like it so let's just blast the violins.Other than that it had it's moments I guess, the old man was a decent enough actor... Awfully slow movie though but 'horror' movies with 'nothing happening' until the last 15 minutes are very popular these days.Yeah I don't know what more to say as I'm not sure what happened in the last 5 minutes because of the worst sound-mixing of all time.It wasn't great before it but acceptable (you could actually hear what the characters were saying after all) but my goodness felt like I was ripped off in the ending.

I had high hopes for this one, based on the casting alone. Gene Jones was pretty terrific in Ti West's so-so "The Sacrament," and Kristina Klebe knocked a small but vital role out of the park in Zack Parker's stark and disturbing "Proxy".Jones plays a Vietnam Vet who's had a stroke and Klebe is the home health care nurse assigned to his case. But it's painfully obvious that this nurse has a special fascination with, well, pain, as in seeing it inflicted.The concept of a helpless person being tormented by a sinister "care giver" is not exactly a new one. By itself, it's squirm-inducing and one of the best examples I remember seeing is the Spanish 1986 thriller In a Glass Cage about a paralyzed Nazi pedophile tortured by one of his former victims. These films aren't pleasant to sit through, in general, so they require a pretty damn good story and good performances to chew on.It's a shame that DP Mike Testin's first directorial outing has such a clunker of a script (written by Meredith Berg - whose only others credits are a short and "Lana Steele: Makeup Spy"). It takes no brains at all to figure out who Nurse Michelle (Klebe) is, why she's at George's house and even how she found him --- all in about 20 minutes. There is virtually no suspense or any tension for the rest of the film.While Jones gives the role his all, and is very convincing playing a basically unlikable character (in all fairness, I did admire how the script never backed down and soft-pedaled his PTSD raging), Klebe's performance is so unhinged and over-the-top (she twists the head off a Barbie in a check-out line, if you can believe that --- why not just hang a sign around her neck with a prescription for Thorazine attached?) that it borders on comic. I really don't think she had much to play. If so, it wasn't apparent from what got to the screen.What is obviously in Berg's resume is the Nancy Drew style sleuthing that George's granddaughter Shelby (Hassie Harrison) gets up to, but this isn't handled with any suspense or flair either. It's very TV- like in pace and dialog. Harrison does well, but she isn't given much depth to portray either.The lack of suspense is really what kills this one. Mark it Do Not Resuscitate and move on.Note: For a far more realistic horror film on the realities of living with Dementia, see "The Sideways Light". No plot gimmicks or SFX apply here. The truth is horrific enough.