The House That Screamed

Or, as it was shot, La Residencia, made in 1970.  Teresa is enrolled at an isolated all-girl boarding school by a family friend.  It is ruled over by an apparently harsh head mistress, who will have a girl beaten for public insolence (imagine that happening in today's schools), sexual awakening and consequential frustration is rife, to a point where the girls will make do with the substandard wood delivery guy, and the lesbian, sadist topdog's attention is immediately drawn to Teresa.  There are a couple of males on the scene too: the aforementioned wood delivery guy and his assistant, a handyman, and the head's son, who she keeps away from the girls as much as possible until he can find a worthy female who will love him 'in the same way' as his mother does...  And then there are disappearances - apparent escapes that soon manifest themselves as murder cases that the head herself is quick to eschew, possibility in order to avert negative publicity.  Basically, all is not well at the girls' school, but can Teresa herself escape before she suffers the side effects of residency?

The House That Screamed (to use its common US title), or La Residencia is a mixed-nationality cast Spanish horror featuring several actors that were involved in other classic works of horror (e.g. Cristina Galbo [Teresa] appeared in the masterpiece that is Living Dead at Manchester Morgue, and The Killer Must Kill Again among other things; Maribel Martin made such a sexual impression in The Blood Spattered Bride and that desperately-needs-a-definitive-Blu-ray film The Bell From Hell; Ana Maria Pol popped up in Carlos Aured's Paul Naschy vehicle Vengeance of the Mummy).  The director himself (Narciso Ibáñez Serrador) didn't work outside of TV much unfortunately, but in addition to La Residencia he directed what is now also considered to be a minor classic, Would You Kill a Child?  Perhaps he should have turned his hand to horror more often.

La Residencia is a beautifully shot piece, adopting a much more classical stance than the straightforward horror/exploitation approach that Spanish cinema became known for as the 70s progressed (I love it all nonetheless).  The photography and colour palettes are appealing throughout, and the house itself (which one might expect to be haunted from the outset) must have been a spine-tingler to explore.  The all-is-not-well narrative that boils between the deliberately formal cosmetic surface reveals much to enjoy, even if it's not always taken as far as it could be.  Without being too revelatory, the final scene is quite a punchy shocker that may induce a shiver as the end credits approach their roll.

Released in a couple of locations on Blu-ray, the edition I obtained (pictured above) is the German Alive disc, entitled Das Versteck (literally, The Hiding Place - an apt title as you will discover).  It's packed in a neat slipcase with differing art on the contained standard case (this itself has a reversible cover so you can hide the 16 certificate).  The banner on the cover translates roughly as 'The unabridged version for the first time in a new HD scan', and the slogan is enticingly 'Fear and murder in the girls' boarding school'.  There is a well presented booklet, but of course the essay is in German.  The US Scream Factory disc contains the longer, slightly more explicit cut as well as the theatrical version, whereas the Alive disc contains only the longer version.  The 2.35:1 image is largely excellent, although the sequences used to make up the fuller version are clearly taken from an inferior source or two - it's noticeable but it didn't detract from my enjoyment.

The extras between the US and German discs are mostly similar: interviews with John Moulder-Brown (the boy) - this is about 6 minutes long on the Scream but 18 minutes long on the Alive disc - and Mary Maude (Irene), running 12 minutes or so on both, plus an assortment of trailers and stills on both.  The Alive disc also contains two alternate opening sequences (cannot be played as part of the film, they're in the extras menu only). Whilst you have the choice of two cuts on the Scream, the Alive disc wins out in terms of audio options.  Not content with presenting just the English track of the Scream disc you also get a choice of German, Italian and Spanish language tracks!  These are of variable quality, though you will be pleased to know there are English (and German) subtitles available.  The interviews are subtitled in German, although these are removable.  Personally I would say the Alive disc wins out, though I suspect your purchase will probably be dictated by territory more than anything else.  Either way, it's a classy film to have in your collection.