The House That Screamed (1969)
An excellent Spanish horror film from director Narciso Serrador set in a 19th century boarding school for young women.
The film follows new arrival Cristina Galba, as she gets to know her new surroundings, class mates and teachers, including the tyrannical Mrs. Fourneau (Who is she protecting?), and also finds out how to meet a local delivery lad as well as discovering there's a killer on the loose.
Serrador expertly captures the oppressive sexual needs of the girls without veering into leery Jess Franco or Jean Rollin territory, and the film is all the better for it. The erotic atmosphere flutters like a gentle breeze rather than submerging the film in soft core sex, culminating in a clothed shower scene which shows minimal skin but works wonderfully. No wonder pervy John Moulder-Brown scurries through the air conditioning vents like a sweaty rat determined to have a peek.
The film is firmly in the Gothic horror genre with the killer almost a side note to the beautiful atmosphere. Whereas say, Pete Walker would have created an exercise in decay and sexual subjugation the environs here are lush in the style of Roger Corman's Gothic chillers which add to the class of Serrador's relaxed but constantly interesting direction.
The young women who play the school girls are all believable in their own right and never lurch into sleazy parody whilst Lilli Palmer brings a real touch of class as the formidable but not OTT headmistress.
This is often said to be a direct influence on Dario Argento's Suspiria. As much as i love Suspiria i think i like this more having now seen it three times in just over a year. For me it's up there with Kill Baby Kill and Inferno as the very best Euro horror offers.
All in all The House That Screamed aka The Residence (My preferred title) is a seriously good film that i highly recommend.
Rewatched via the US version last night which runs 11 minutes less than the international release.
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