Directed by:
Narciso Ibáñez SerradorScreenplay:
Narciso Ibáñez SerradorCinematography:
Manuel BerenguerComposer:
Waldo de los RíosCast:
Lilli Palmer, Cristina Galbó, John Moulder-Brown, Teresa Hurtado, Mary Maude, Víctor Israel, Maribel Martín, Paloma Pagés, Cándida Losada, Frank Braña (more)Plots(1)
Thérèse (Cristina Galbó) is the latest arrival at the boarding school for wayward girls run under the stern, authoritarian eye of Mme Fourneau (Lilli Palmer). As the newcomer becomes accustomed to the strict routines, the whip-hand hierarchies among the girls and their furtive extra-curricular methods of release from within the forbidding walls of institutional life, she learns that several of her fellow students have recently vanished mysteriously. Meanwhile, tensions grow within this isolated hothouse environment as Mme Fourneau’s callow but curious 15-year-old son Louis (John Moulder-Brown) ignores his mother’s strict orders not to get close to the “tainted” ladies under her ward. (Arrow Films)
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Reviews (2)
Even though The House That Screamed looks quite ordinary, and even though you might feel that it's simply going to be some kind of wannabe Spanish giallo, Narciso Ibáñez Serrador focused on the horror atmosphere, which worked perfectly. The atmosphere is thick, the film has just about everything, the finale isn't sloppy, and it doesn’t amount to simply a simple revelation. In fact, it's a pretty scary blow to the viewer.
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I often have trouble rating old films like this because time has made them lose all of their scary, but I still don’t feel like harming them with a low star rating. In the case of The House That Screamed, I have no such worries, it has many scenes that are still incredibly atmospheric if not dreadful. It’s a pity, though, that the beautifully escalating and tense climax doesn’t last a bit longer, while the slow beginning could also be shorter. But those are only minor quibbles about this excellent film.
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