The House That Screamed

Sort of “Psycho” at a finishing school in the late 1800s

During the Victorian Era, a new student (Cristina Galbó) is brought to boarding school for “difficult” girls in France, run by a strict headmistress (Lilli Palmer). Teresa has to deal with the mean girl in charge (Mary Maude) while befriending the teenage son of the headmistress (John Moulder-Brown). The situation takes a turn for the worse as girls go missing.

A Spanish production, “The House That Screamed” debuted in Spain at the end of 1969 titled “La residencia” and didn’t make it to North America until 1971. It is a psychological youth drama that eventually throws in bits of horror.

No, it's not an exact copy of “Psycho”; it has its uniqueness, but the similarities are there. So, it's an early slasher, but with less focus on kills and more on psychological drama/mystery. "Lust for a Vampire" came out a year later and had a similar milieu, just with the vampire angle. “Suspiria” was obviously inspired by it.

Fans of "Lust for a Vampire," "Picnic at Hanging Rock," “Suspiria,” “The Woods” and “The Moth Diaries” should appreciate “The House That Screamed” since it’s the template. It features the first ever close-up slow-motion murder in the history of Spanish cinema and was the highest-grossing film there at the time.

The movie runs 1 hours, 38 minutes, and was shot in Madrid with exteriors of the school done 288 miles north of there at Palacio de Sobrellano in Comillas, Spain, which is on the Bay of Biscay.

GRADE: B-/B