La residencia

I saw this on a double-bill with Murders in the Rue Morgue back in the early 70s. According to IMDb, it was released in America in 1971, but I think I saw it later. Anyway, that year saw the release (in the US, at any rate) of two of the absolutely BEST horror movies of the decade: Daughters of Darkness and The House That Screamed. The comments are right about House being about sexual repression: whew! If you've only seen this on TV, YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT!!!! Not that there's anything especially graphic in the film, but you just won't be able to "get" it. I keep hoping it'll come out on DVD: it is, in Spain, but I don't understand Spanish, and it doesn't have subtitles! VSOM sells it on tape, but it's p&s and just too dark. Why don't we start a write-in campaign to Blue Underground??? I just wanted to add my two cents: RUNDBAUCHDODO's comments are right-on. I will say this about the greenhouse murder: it's pretty creepy when the girl enters, but it's a real shocker when the murderer STANDS UP RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA!!!! Maybe it was done before, and it's probably been done since, but it's the first time I saw it and I've never forgotten it. In fact, it surprises me how much of this whole movie I remember -- and remember correctly!

The Plot = A young girl joins a French boarding school for problem girls and soon feels that something's amiss with a sinister head mistress and nasty students, and girls begin to disappear and the teaching staff keep covering it up.

Despite being over 40 years old, this movie still holds up well in my opinion and is still effective and creepy by today's standards. The directing is both skillful and artistic and the suspense is spot on, with the murder sequences played out like a stylish nightmare and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Okay there is not a lot of blood and gore and this flick does rely on character development more, but that works because the cast are well acted and keeps you interested the entire way through. The killer's identity was easily figured out, but the motive when it's revealed is highly shocking and effective and will stick with for a long time afterwards.

The formats of this movie is nothing new but given the fact that this movie came out in 1969, it's pretty easy to see where a lot of these slasher movies get their inspiration and this proves that this movie is ahead of its time. The performances like I said before are excellent, Lilli Palmer who plays the head mistress simply steals to show, with a strong performance easily hold a film together single-handedly, and inject menace or compassion into a scene with a subtlety missing from many horror films of the period. Christina Galbo balances emotion and strength perfectly, as the new student.

All in this entire movie works well as a Gothic murder mystery filled with tension, a definite must see for any fans of European horror.

The story deals with a respected house (managed by Lilli Palmer and Candida Losada) of rebel girls (Mary Maude , Maribel Martin , Teresa Hurtado , among others) where arrives a new boarder (Cristina Galbo). There happens several astonishing murders with bloody and gruesome executions . Lilli Palmer has a teen son (John Moulder Brown) who looks for a girl just like his mother . Various suspects (Victor Israel) implicate about anybody girls are running away and dieing one by one. Meantime , the girls are escaping and someone originates a frightening massacre of the remaining wayward girls .

Chicho Ibañez Serrador's first great success is compelling directed with startling visual content . This frightening movie is plenty of thrills , chills , high body-count and glimmer color in lurid images with phenomenal results . This is a classic slasher where the intrigue , tension , suspense appear threatening and lurking in every room , corridors and luxurious interior and exterior . Agreeable performance from Cristina Gabo who played various Giallo and Horror movies such as ¨Sleeping corpses lie¨ , ¨What have you done to Solange¨ and ¨The killer must strike again¨ . This genuinely mysterious story is well photographed by Manuel Berenguer in location of Palace of Sobrellano (Comillas , Cantabria, Spain) with shades of ochre , translucently pale turquoises and deep red . Creepie and eerie musical score by Waldo De Los Rios.

This splendid movie belongs to Giallo genre . These Giallo movies are characterized by overblown use of color with shining red blood , usual zooms , and utilization of images-shock . The motion picture is well directed by Chicho Ibañez Serrador . Chicho directed another classic as ¨Who can kill a child ? ¨ and for TV , ¨Historias para no Dormir¨, being his last film an episode titled ¨Blame¨(2006) . Rating : Good, this is one of the more imaginative slasher pictures in which the camera stalks in sinister style . Well worth watching .

In the Nineteenth Century, in France, the teenager Teresa Garan (Cristina Galbó) is the daughter of a single mother, who is a cabaret singer. She is brought to the boarding school owned by the headmistress Ms. Fourneau (Lilli Palmer) by a friend of her mother that pays one year tuition for her. Soon Teresa learns that the boarding school is also a prison for the girls since Ms. Fourneau keeps everything locked. Her protégé, the wicked student Irene Tupan (Mary Maude), keeps watch over the other girls and uses her power to bully and torture them. Ms. Fourneau has a teenager son, Luis (John Moulder Brown), who is a peeping Tom, and his mother secludes him from the girls. Ms. Fourneau tells that he needs to meet a girlfriend "like his mother" and that the students of the boarding school are worthless. Meanwhile the runaway students are vanishing and their school mates believe they are fleeing from the boarding school. What they do not know is that a serial-killer is killing them. When Irene discovers that Teresa is secretly meeting Luis, she tortures Teresa that decides to flee from the school in the middle of the night. What will happen to her?

'La residencia", a.k.a. "The House that Screamed", is a stylish Spanish horror film. The cinematography, lighting and art direction are impressive and gives a scary atmosphere. The screenplay keeps the attention of the viewer until the very last scene when the surprising identity and motives of the serial-killer are disclosed. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Internato Derradeiro" ("Ultimate Boarding School")

Generally speaking, the reviews on this film are in it's favor. After watching the movie I have to agree that this is a worthwhile older horror-thriller - it's good.

It's fairly easy to know whodunit and why but it's still interesting to watch how the film plays out. Knowing whodunit and why does not spoil the film.

Sexual repression, incest, murder, a sadistic boarding school owner/teacher, lesbianism, torture and mystery - this movie has all of that. It is reminiscent of the 60s/70s Hammer Horror films. If you like all that then you might enjoy this film. It's sorta a hidden gem.

8/10