NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Cohen Blu-ray (May 2022): Cohen got around to releasing their 1080P transfer of is this hidden classic - as we surmised as the 2020 BFI starts with a Cohen Media logo.

Short story: The Cohen video transfer is about the same pleasing quality - a shade less robust with a lower bitrate. Their audio goes DTS-HD Master but at 16-bits. There is no dialogue and Cohen also offers optional English SDH subtitles. Their package is single-layered and also includes the 1957's 55-minute Daughter of Horror - in SD (480i) at a lowly 3 Gig. Dementia was picked up by producer Jack H. Harris and re-released as Daughter of Horror in January 1957. They include the same restoration demo and trailers for the original and restored rendition. BFI have advanced significantly with Kat Ellinger's excellent commentary, the the bold 1958 experimental film Alone with the Monsters directed by Nazli Nour with cinematography by the great Walter Lassally, an image gallery and a second disc DVD.    

So, it's BFI all the way as the superior Blu-ray package but we appreciate Cohen's efforts in restoration. I repeat that Dementia remains a wonderful 'experimental' 'Indie-feel' horror - heavy-handed in its social commentary and Freudian symbols, but brilliant in evoking Film Noir and a precursor to many horror film yet to come. You must have this film in your digital library, imo.

NOTE: Stephen tells us in email: "Unfortunately, the version on both the BFI and the Cohen are a censored version that the director disassociated himself from. The Kino DVD is more complete by about 1 1/4 minutes. Here is a list of the missing material on the Blu-rays.

The DVD doesn't have the quote scroll at the beginning.
Both are missing the director's credit.
Blu-ray is good until 48:58
Cut to DVD from 48:43 to 49:17 (:30) Gamin and Shorty / guy mashing girl at table
Back to Blu-ray from 49:30 to 50:04
Cut to DVD from 49:52 to 50:29 (:30) Extended Shorty Rogers scene (stock music)
Back to Blu-ray from 50:19 to 52:07
Cut to DVD from 52:16 to 52:22 (:05) Stump in the window
Back to Blu-ray from 52:06 to 52:54
Cut to DVD from 53:10 to 53:15 (:05) Montage scenes of gamin with switchblade cutting off hand
Back to Blu-ray from 52:55 to 54:09
Cut to DVD from 54:31 to 54:36 (:05) Hand in drawer comes alive and grabs the necklace
Back to Blu-ray from 54:11 to the end.

The missing material mostly involves shots of the stump and severed hand of the rich man, including one that is the final shock at the end of the movie. Also missing is a scene of a couple making out at a table in the nightclub, the gamin dancing seductively on stage, and scenes of the gamin with a switchblade knife.

I contacted Kino and Cohen and neither of them seem to care. I spoke to the gentleman who wrote the liner notes for the BFI disk and he said that he thought Cohen was aware of the cuts, and didn't make any effort to search out the print that Kino used to create their more complete DVD in 2000." Thanks Stephen!  

***

ADDITION: BFI Blu-ray (October 2020): BFI have transferred John Parker's Dementia (aka 'Daughter of Horror') to Blu-ray. It starts with a Cohen Media logo and we they are the source of the restoration - done in 2015. We've compared some captures to the Kino DVD from 2000 and the improvement is ginormous. The restoration is a huge leap forward considering the digital editions that have been surfacing for 20-years. The vertical scratches have been greatly minimized and grain textures are fine and exported expertly on the dual-layered disc with a max'out bitrate for the hour long film. It looked very pleasing in-motion on my system. I can hardly believe the improvement.

The presentation starts with this text: "EN GARDE! Art is a medium for the transmission of emotions. It is not difficult then to determine, for yourself at least, whether a work of art has failed or succeeded. It was intended for YOU (italicize this last word). YOU italicized) are the only judge. I (italicized) en-joyed DEMENTIA. It stirred my blood, purged my libido. The circuit was completed. The work was a work of art. Whether YOU (italicized) like it or not will depend entirely upon the permeability of your emotional shell, your idioplasm and your previous conditions of servitude. It is not important. PRESTON STURGES Hollywood, 1953 "

NOTE: We have added 70 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, BFI use a linear PCM dual-mono track (24-bit) - there is no dialogue. The audio is almost exclusively the score by George Antheil (Repeat Performance, Not as a Stranger, The Pride and the Passion, In a Lonely Place, Make Way for Tomorrow (1937), Sirocco (1951), House by the River (1950) Tokyo Joe (1949) and other Nicholas Ray films, including, Knock on Any Door (1949) along with Rule, Britannia) - with 'New Concepts In Modern Sounds' by Shorty Rogers and his Giants in the Jazz club sequence. The musical director is credited as being Stanley Kramer-regular Ernest Gold (The Defiant Ones Inherit the Wind, Cross of Iron, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, On the Beach, The Secret of Santa Vittoria.) It all sounds authentically flat but buoyant. BFI offer optional English SDH subtitles (only signifying occasional music tone shifts) on their Region 'B' Blu-ray.

The BFI Blu-ray offers a new audio commentary by film critic and editor-in-chief of Diabolique magazine, Kat Ellinger. Kat discusses the transgressive impressions of the film, how it was not approved by NY State Censors board, alienation (as in Film Noir), she comments on cycles of violence less of a transgressive rejection of Mother (and Motherhood), how 'The Gamin' is excited about violence, the film's many phallic symbols, Ed McMahon's (yes, of Johnny Carson's 'Tonight Show' fame) narration in Daughter of Horror, Marni Nixon's voice overs, and much more. It is at her usual high standard although, in this case, I may agree more with John Parris Springer's analysis as a "psycho-social critique of the violence against women" but the film, as Kat states, is filled with ambiguity and it's a pleasure to hear other well thought-out views. BFI also include 1957's 55-minute Daughter of Horror in SD. Dementia was picked up by producer Jack H. Harris and re-released as Daughter of Horror in January 1957. Whilst also featuring music without dialogue, Harris made a number of edits and added narration by McMahon. It is generally in poor quality and has not been restored. BFI include the bold 1958 experimental film Alone with the Monsters directed by Nazli Nour with cinematography by the great Walter Lassally. It is a psychological study of people's unconscious cruelty towards those who appear to be different from themselves. An old woman, tormented by Loneliness and lack of sympathy, commits suicide. Trailers from Hell: Joe Dante on Daughter of Horror has Dante describing to us that Daughter of Horror is the film playing in the Drive-In in 1958's The Blob.

NOTE: (sent in email): "Hello. I wish to submit a correction to your Blu-Ray review for "Dementia."
In "The Blob," the audiences are not viewing "Dementia" (or "Daughter of Horror") at a drive-in. They are viewing it at the Colonial Theater in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, at which the annual BlobFest takes place." - thanks Freline

From 2015 is a Before & After: restoring Dementia running just over 3-minutes. It is a series of short split-screen clips from Dementia that illustrate the work done by the Cohen Film Collection for their 2015 restoration. There is a 2015 re-issue Dementia trailer and a 1957 Daughter of Horror trailer plus there is an image gallery. There is a second disc DVD included. For the first pressing there is a fully illustrated booklet with new essays by Ian Schultz and the BFI's William Fowler and Vic Pratt.

John Parker's Dementia is a wonderful 'experimental' 'Indie-feel' horror - heavy-handed in its social commentary and Freudian symbols, but brilliant in evoking Film Noir and a precursor to many horror film yet to come. I loved it. The package is a must-own with the stunning restoration improvement, the Kat Ellinger commentary and other extras. The BFI Blu-ray has our highest recommendation!

Gary Tooze