THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED is a quality horror flick directed by Narciso Ibanez Serrador, who was the man who gave filmdom the cult classic WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? This film isn't about an island full of murderous children but a boardinghouse school for girls where a murderer lurks around every corner. The only fault I have with this film is that the mystery is too easy to solve. This is one Watson could crack on his own.
Lilli Palmer runs a school for wayward girls with a bit too stern a fist. She has run-ins with one girl and has her whipped no end and locked in a room. But this is really her only fault--with the exception of her overprotective motherhood. She keeps her awkward son Luis (John Moulder-Brown) at the boardinghouse but won't allow him to socialize with any of the girls--who Lilli deems as nothing but trouble. But Luis is a teenage boy with teenage hormones so he spies on the girls.
In enters Cristina Galbo as the newest student as we focus on her initiation to the school. She runs afoul of Lilli Palmer's student informant, Mary Maude, and desires to flee the boardinghouse. But other girls have tried only to never have been heard from again. Have the girls disappeared or have they been murdered?
STORY: $$$ (The story was actually quite good--but you'll only come to this conclusion when the credits roll. It begins like so many horror films, giving us a sweet young girl (Galbo) exposed to the tyranny of new surroundings. You will probably be left aghast when a main character is murdered at night, which was out-of-the-blue and a bit too against-the-grain, but it works for the story).
ACTING: $$$ (The acting is solid all around. Cristina Galbo is excellent as the good girl who has to protect herself from a number of entities. Lilli Palmer is in fine form as the good-intentioned yet ethically questionable headmaster of the school. Conchita Paredes and Maribel Martin give quality performances in support. John Moulder-Brown is good as Luis, growing up around nothing but women and having his mother refuse him the feminine touch. But the best performance comes from Mary Maude as Lilli Palmer's righthand. She expertly portrays a wicked, self-serving little harpy who has ulterior motives for everything she does. She shines in the scene where she grills Cristina Galbo about her mother's social standing).
NUDITY: $ (There is some brief skin as Lilli Palmer has a student stripped to the waist and whipped. There is a lengthy shower scene but all the girls keep their underclothes on during the cleansing)
Lilli Palmer runs a school for wayward girls with a bit too stern a fist. She has run-ins with one girl and has her whipped no end and locked in a room. But this is really her only fault--with the exception of her overprotective motherhood. She keeps her awkward son Luis (John Moulder-Brown) at the boardinghouse but won't allow him to socialize with any of the girls--who Lilli deems as nothing but trouble. But Luis is a teenage boy with teenage hormones so he spies on the girls.
In enters Cristina Galbo as the newest student as we focus on her initiation to the school. She runs afoul of Lilli Palmer's student informant, Mary Maude, and desires to flee the boardinghouse. But other girls have tried only to never have been heard from again. Have the girls disappeared or have they been murdered?
STORY: $$$ (The story was actually quite good--but you'll only come to this conclusion when the credits roll. It begins like so many horror films, giving us a sweet young girl (Galbo) exposed to the tyranny of new surroundings. You will probably be left aghast when a main character is murdered at night, which was out-of-the-blue and a bit too against-the-grain, but it works for the story).
ACTING: $$$ (The acting is solid all around. Cristina Galbo is excellent as the good girl who has to protect herself from a number of entities. Lilli Palmer is in fine form as the good-intentioned yet ethically questionable headmaster of the school. Conchita Paredes and Maribel Martin give quality performances in support. John Moulder-Brown is good as Luis, growing up around nothing but women and having his mother refuse him the feminine touch. But the best performance comes from Mary Maude as Lilli Palmer's righthand. She expertly portrays a wicked, self-serving little harpy who has ulterior motives for everything she does. She shines in the scene where she grills Cristina Galbo about her mother's social standing).
NUDITY: $ (There is some brief skin as Lilli Palmer has a student stripped to the waist and whipped. There is a lengthy shower scene but all the girls keep their underclothes on during the cleansing)