Hasta el viento tiene miedo

"Hasta el viento tiene miedo" is a good offering of Mexican horror. It takes place in a boarding school for girls. Five years ago a girl that studied there committed suicide. At night, when the wind whistles.....

This film is a horror film with touches of comedy and it manages to create a good supernatural atmosphere (night, the wind blowing, the leaves trembling, the tower..). It reminded me somehow of "Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory" an Italo-Austrian film made in 1961, that also took place in a girls boarding school. But "Hasta el viento tiene miedo" is the better film.

"Hasta el viento.." tells the story in a very straightforward way, no room for ambiguity is left, so it becomes predictable and this takes away some of the film's edge. The girls, though, are very charming and add eye candy to the film.

You can't compare it to the Italian Gothic films ( by Bava, Margheriti, Freda, Caiano..) with their visual grandeur (lighting, decors, camera work ..), and their magnificent soundtracks.

Anyway "Hasta el viento...." is an interesting film - I think that it won't scare the modern viewer, but it offers in return a well-crafted atmosphere, with touches of suspense and comedy. It is charmingly naive and romantic. It was released in Mexico in 30 May 1968. Some months later a hard wind blew and even the wind was afraid.

While not as prolific as the USA, UK and Italy; Mexico is responsible for many great horror films; with the sixties in particular being something of a goldmine for the horror fan. Carlos Enrique Taboada's Hasta el viento tiene miedo has a great reputation amongst those who have seen it; and after having finally tracked the film down myself, I have to say that its reputation is completely deserved! The title translates into English as 'Even the Wind is Afraid' and as you would expect from a film with such a title; this is a macabre treat! Like the classics The House That Screamed and Suspiria, this film focuses on an all-girl boarding house. After a group of girls sneak into a restricted part of the school and are caught; their punishment (doled out by the head teacher nicknamed 'The Witch') is that they have to stay behind during the summer break! Naturally the girls are not too pleased, and things take a turn for the worse when a long dead student is sighted during the heavy winds, and seems to be after a student named Claudia...

The story is very much of the slow burn variety and while we do get plenty of horror; the film focuses more on building the characters, their relationships and the central situation. The horror is brought forward more through atmosphere and while the locations used are not as Gothic as those seen in similar Italian films; the film does deliver a great air of creepiness and the way that the wind is used provides one of the main highlights. The acting is very good, with adult performers Marga López and Maricruz Olivier delivering the standout performances as the two teachers. The younger performers are all very nice looking and while the acting is sometimes a bit cheesy; it doesn't harm the film too much. The plot does move slowly but it's always interesting and the film builds tension as we get closer to the end, with the film taking a rather unexpected twist half way through. It all boils down to an engaging and original (for the time) climax and overall; Hasta el viento tiene miedo may not be one of the best known horror films ever made, but it will certainly be of interest to horror fans. Recommended!

This movie is a very good one, you have to check out Mr.Taboada´s directing,It´s ageless and even if its mexican oldstyle movie making, you can still feel the scary vibes he was aiming for. The movie centers around a group of girls that because of disobeying some orders stay stranded in their college all summer long, one of them starts having some weird dreams and theres a ghost rounding that college with a dark past. There´s a strip tease scene that can show some lesbian shadows on the girls, you have to see it yourself, spine tingling and horror at it´s best on this 70´s horror story.

Nowadays, I am rather bored with the same movies about spiteful little ghosts of teenage girls or resentful children who want to give someone a message or simply punish their murderers. Especially if we are talking about those Asian movies that always have a similar ending. Don't get the wrong idea about me, I am not trying to be rude or offensive, but horror movies nowadays tend to be way too similar when it comes to the whole "vindictive ghost" subject matter. Obviously, it is almost impossible not to base a movie on prior ideas and that is not the blameworthy thing I'm trying to point out. Basically what really annoys me about contemporary ghost flicks, is that they try so hard to shock the audience or provide something new, that they usually end up messing it up and worst of all, the ending is still predictable. At least that is my humble opinion. Fortunately, we can always rely on a good horror gem from many years ago and that is the case of "Hasta el viento tiene miedo". A simple and yet stylish horror movie that provides all the necessary elements, without trying so desperately to fill an hour and a half. It may be a little bit predictable in a way, but at least it's highly enjoyable and it doesn't try to mislead the audience with pitiful and superfluous situations.

In "Hasta el viento tiene miedo", a group of boarding school girls suffer from the torments of a authoritarian and conniving headmistress called Bernarda, who seems to unload of all her anger on the girls. In contrast, Lucia, the vice-headmistress, tries to be as easy-going as possible to make up for Bernarda's unkind behavior, earning that way, the girls' friendliness One night, Claudia, a student from the boarding school, suffers from a nightmare, in which she hears a ghostly voice that calls her name from the heights of a tower that is situated in the school garden. When she goes in and walks up the stairs, she opens a red door and finds the body of a blonde girl hanging from the ceiling. Claudia's classmates become so fascinated with that dreadful nightmare that they all go together to the tower to reveal the mystery, even though Mrs. Bernarda had forbidden the girls to go up there. Before they can reveal any mysteries, the headmistress arrives and catches the girls who were trying to disobey her rules. As a consequence, all the girls are punished and forced to spend their winter vacations at the boarding school. Furious with their headmistress, all the girls complain about their vacations, without realizing that something even more awful is about to happen. There's a ghost seeking for revenge and one of them is going to be chosen as a messenger and living avenger.

"Hasta el viento tiene miedo", is a well made Gothic horror gem, that not only frightens more than once, but also offers a lot of amusing scenes that work as some kind of humorous relief, without turning the whole movie into a comedy. Naughty winks and yet naïve situations that probably caused a little bit of controversy back in the 60s, when the film came out. For example, the scene in which the ill-disciplined and naughty student named Kitty performs a striptease for her classmates and teaches them how to do it, I think that's one of my favorites. Not so much because of the striptease itself, but mostly, because the other girls look at her as if she was killing someone right in front of their eyes. There's also the scene in which all the girls force the prude girl to dance along with them and then jump all over her, like barbarians and take off her clothes as a way of revenge for being such a gossipy. The chemistry between actresses who played the schoolgirls (some of them were almost in their 30s) was simply flawless. Marga Lopez, as the evil headmistress, probably offered one of the best performances in this film. Her character, Mrs. Bernarda, reminded me of those days when I used to go to school and I would feel a shiver up from down my spine, every time I saw an intimidating teacher or headmistress. Definitely not a pleasant feeling, which means she did a good job. The well known Mexican composer Armando Manzanero was in charge of the music, which is also an extra point. His work, is also one of the main elements that contributes to make this film so atmospheric. "Hasta el viento tiene miedo" probably even delivers a hidden message regarding the severity of school authorities back then and the fact that violence can only produce more violence. Now, the question is: is there really a hidden message or am I just overreacting and giving the film more credit than it deserves?. I suppose that's up to each one to decide. Either way, hidden message or not, I highly recommend this film.

It's been over thirty years since I've seen "Hasta el Viento Tiene Miedo" but I still think it is the best thriller movie ever...I can still picture some of the scenes. If you want to be scared without being grossed out, this is the film to see. When I saw it, I thought it would be the usual campy type scare film. But, instead, it turned out to be one of the best I've ever seen. The suspense builds throughout the film and brings to mind the thrillers by Hitchcock. The actors were wonderfully natural, not the usual "kid" actors and the scenery was frightfully eerie. The sound effects were also good, you could feel the wind blowing throughout. I would love to see it again...does anyone know where I could buy a copy?