The House That Screamed [La Residencia] *** (1969, Lilli Palmer, Cristina Galbó, John Moulder-Brown) – Classic Movie Review 12,271

Writer-director Narciso Ibáñez Serrador’s 1969 cult Spanish horror film The House That Screamed [La Residencia] stars Lilli Palmer as Señora Fourneau, the strict disciplinarian headmistress of a 19th-century French girls’ boarding school, where the students begin to go missing.

She forbids her teenage son Luis (John Moulder-Brown) from going near the girls. Then 18-year-old Teresa Garan (Cristina Galbó) arrives to be enrolled, and immediately notices odd occurrences at the school.

The House That Screamed [La Residencia] is enjoyably overwrought and its Psycho-style scenario is full of interest to vintage horror buffs.

It was also released as The Boarding School.

Serrador, the son of Argentine horror film actor Narciso Ibáñez Menta, made his first horror film to break into the international market. He wrote the screenplay, based on a story by Juan Tébar, under the name of Luis Penafiel.

Filming took place in Comillas, Cantabria, Spain, partly funded by the Spanish government.

Because the film had an English-speaking German star and English and Spanish actors, the film was shot with the actors performing in English and Spanish. The film was then completely dubbed into English, apparently becoming the first Spanish film presented in English. Also it has the first close-up slow-motion murder in Spanish cinema.

The film was released in Spain in December 1969 and in the US as The House That Screamed on 21 July 1971 by American International Pictures. The film was the highest-grossing movie in Spain up that time, grossing 45 million Spanish pesetas (then $640,000) in its first six months and more than $1 million by the end of the year. But it was not a hit for AIP in the US.

It was released on DVD in the Shout! Factory Double Feature series, paired with Maneater of Hydra. Shout! Factory released it on Blu-ray in North America on 27 December 2016, with both the US theatrical cut of 94 minutes as well as the extended cut of 104 minutes.

John Moulder-Brown (born 3 June 1953) is known for the films Deep End, First Love [Erste Liebe], Ludwig, King, Queen, Knave (1972) and The House That Screamed. He founded The Academy of Creative Training drama school in Brighton, Sussex, in 1997.

The cast are Lilli Palmer as Señora Fourneau, Cristina Galbó as Teresa Garan, John Moulder-Brown as Luis Fourneau, Mary Maude as Irene Tupan, Maribel Martín as Isabel, Cándida Losada as Señorita Despez, Pauline Challoner as Catalina, Tomás Blanco as Pedro Baldie, Víctor Israel as Brechard, Teresa Hurtado as Andrea, María José Valero as Elena, Conchita Paredes as Susana, Ana María Pol as Claudia, Mari Carmen Duque as Julia, and Paloma Pagés as Cecelia.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,271

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