Le Monstre aux filles

Everything is almost perfect in this underrated horror movie, except the stupid theme song, which was probably added for American distribution only. The scenes in the woods are atmospheric and thrilling due to competent cinematography. The main plot (who is the werewolf stalking a girls reformatory?)might be simple, but it is supplemented with an intriguing subplot of prostitution and blackmail centered around the reformatory. No surprise that the script is by Ernesto Gastaldi who wrote some of the masterpieces of Italian horror cinema in 1960s.

There is something bleak and disjointed about this film. First of all, I appreciate the fact that it has an interesting story and a few obstacles thrown in the viewers path. The movie is as much psychological as it is horrific. I don't like slasher movies and am bored with them, especially the ones out of the era where this movie appeared. It turned out to be kind of an atmospheric werewolf movie. It's deliberately misleading at times. Characters are there for no other reason than to confuse us. But it plays by the rules. The main female figure is quite pretty. The rest of the girls seem rather the same and there's a stuffy restraint all around. Nevertheless, there are some attacks, pretty good special effects, and an interesting conclusion.

This early Italian horror mixes the werewolf horror film with a mystery story. Set is a reform school for wayward girls, there's a series of murders - could it be a werewolf? What do you reckon? It has a few pacing problems but it has some good sequences to make up for that. While its goofy title is a little misleading, as this one plays its horror fairly straight.

Most of this story is like a murder mystery and people are killed not by a werewolf. There is a werewolf but they do a fairly decent job keeping the audience guessing who it may be. It isn't a great movie but I've seen much worse horror movies from Italiy.

This is, as you might expect, a movie about a werewolf in a girl's dormitory (although technically the werewolf mostly hangs around in a forest outside the girl's dormitory). The "girls" actually look to be about twenty-five on average and resemble European fashion models of the era much more than the "delinquents" they're supposed to be. And this was made in 1962 so you're not going to get any nighties or plaid mini-skirts, let alone any nude shower scenes. Still this is an entertaining little movie that serves to show the potential "beast" that lurks within the heart of all respectable men when they get around nubile young women. The first murder especially, while tame by today's standards, was no doubt quite a taboo-breaker at the time. The werewolf attacks his victim "missionary style" and the screams and cries that she makes as he ravages her off-screen could easily be taken for something else entirely. The other murders and attacks are less lurid, but generally pretty effective.

The movie also provides a plethora of great suspects and red herrings including a new professor who left his old job after a mysterious scandal, a benefactor of the school who is paying various girls for sexual favors (and finds himself being blackmailed), the creepy and very bestial-looking groundskeeper, and the very refined headmaster who nevertheless bears a striking resemblance to the werewolf. The movie really keeps you guessing to the end.

It's in black-and-white, of course, and it's dubbed (although the European cast does seem to be speaking English most of the time). Not a great movie perhaps, but not a bad way to waste 80 minutes either.