Wednesday, February 18, 2009

La Residencia (1969): or, The House that Screamed "Awesome"


By this point in my movie-watching career, there are certain known quantities when it comes to watching Mad Movies. For instance, my tastes being what they are, I pretty much know going in to a movie by Paul Naschy, Jose Mojica Marins, or Jean Rollin that I'm going to find something to make my heart beat a little faster; similarly, I'm fairly confident that most Eurocine productions are going to leave me crankily unsatisfied. These are patterns that emerge over time, and though there may be exceptions, their general truth gives me a comfortable place from which to set off when dealing with such fare.

And while I always find it rewarding when a Naschy flick comes through with the awesome monster-mash action or a Coffin Joe joint blasts my eyeballs with the shocking, artistic perversity I've come to expect, it's even a little more rewarding when a movie I knew nothing about comes out of nowhere and bowls me over with its beauty, technical excellence, and/or effective storytelling. It's happened a few times--Bell from Hell, Lady Frankenstein, and Vampyres, to name a few. Like discovering a new species of butterfly, viewing these unexpected masterpieces is what really puts a spring in the Vicar's step and keeps him digging through the trash piles in search of similar treasure.

My latest Eureka! moment: this period-piece reform-school mystery/proto-slasher from Uruguayan director Narciso Ibáñez Serrador, 1969's La Residencia (aka The House that Screamed).


"Don't fuck with me, girls."

We open at the "residencia" of the title, a boarding school for girls in 19th Century France. Overseen by stern, no-nonsense matron Madame Forneau (an absolutely EXCELLENT Lilli Palmer), the boarding school specializes in the education of young girls who are "difficult" and come from "non-exemplary homes," teaching them sewing, cooking, gardening and dance in the hopes of helping them one day land a husband. Of course with the more rambunctious girls this sometimes involves breaking their spirits in "The Discipline Room," where Forneau hands out punishments to be administered by her Matron's Pet and She-Wolf-in-Training, Irene (young Linda Fiorentino lookalike Mary Maude).

After troublemaker Lacienne is sent to the DISCIPLINE ROOM for disrupting Forneau's dictation class, the headmistress is called away to a meeting with obviously well-heeled aristocrat Mr. Baldie (Tomás Blanco), who sadly has a full head of hair. Baldie is delivering a new student and our clear protagonist for enrollment, Theresa (the lovely Cristina Galbó of Let Sleeping Corpses Lie). The scene in which he negotiates the specifics of the girl's tuition with Forneau is really wonderful in its understated tension--Baldie says he is not a relative, but only "a great friend of the girl's mother," who has fallen ill and is unable to care for her. He pays Theresa's tuition up front but wants no reports on her progress and is not to be bothered with any difficulties--obviously he is in a hurry to drop the girl off and wash his hands of her, and it's clear to the audience (and the stern, disapproving Madame Forneau) that his relationship to Theresa is closer than he's prepared to say.

While Mr. Baldie and Forneau discuss her future, Theresa has a light dinner in the boarding house's huge, empty dining hall. As she nibbles at her soup and biscuits, Theresa is frightened by a cockroach scurrying across the table toward her. It's a small touch, but implies that despite the richly furnished surroundings, something dark and unclean infests this house, something that is slowly creeping into the light...

The Harold Lloyd Hat was big that year...

We soon learn that Theresa's illegitimacy and her shame about her mother's burlesque hall singer/call girl profession are only the first of a complex web of buried secrets and dark truths that converge in the Gothic boarding house's lush, shadowy rooms. Apparently three girls have run away from the school in recent months, never to reappear; since all the girls live in fear of Forneau's cruelty, no one thinks this odd.

Furthermore, Madame Forneau's 16-year-old son Luis (John Moulder-Brown) is the only young male on the grounds, an initially phantom-like presence who follows the girls through the garden and spies on them from the furnace vents. He's also secretly meeting one of the girls in the boiler room between classes--Isabelle, played by the gorgeous Maribel Martín of Bell from Hell and The Blood-Spattered Bride. When Forneau finds out, her fury is equal parts Ilsa and Oedipus--holding her young son's head in her hands, her lips a bit too close to his, she admonishes him, "These girls are not good enough for you...What you need is a woman like ME!"

Serrador continues to ratchet up the sickness when he gives us a taste of Forneau's idea of discipline--after giving Lacienne a stern lecture in the Discipline Room, the headmistress orders Irene and her Heathers-like goon squad to strip the girl, hold her down on a cot, and whip her with a cat o'nine tails! The line between "Gothic Old House Chiller" and "WiP-flick" is thus blurred and the viewer is thrown a bit off-balance, not knowing quite where the filmmaker will take us.

When a problem comes along...

In fact, Serrador makes a habit of throwing us off-balance throughout the run-time, and the deliciousness of that cinematic vertigo is so exquisite that it would really be criminal to ruin it for you. Suffice to say there's murder, mayhem, and a shock ending in store that sent me away with a huge, impressed smile on my lips.

There's so much to love about this movie, it's really an embarrassment of riches. First off, it's simply GORGEOUS to look at. The sprawling, Gothic boarding house is the stuff of any Eurohorror fan's wet dreams, absolutely choked with shadowy atmosphere and menace. The ornate antique furniture, the dusty mirror in the ballet room, the sweltering claustrophobia of the greenhouse--all just fantastic sets, and photographed sumptuously by Serrador and cinematographer Manuel Berenguer. If you're a fan of Old Dark House Architecture, this movie is definitely for you.

The plotting is fantastic too, using standard thriller/mystery tropes and mixing them up, so that as I said before you're really never quite sure where you stand. And even though there's only a smidgen of nudity, Serrador still manages to infuse the proceedings with a pervasive sense of psychosexual wrongness that will keep you on the edge of your seat, wondering where this director is going next. The slow-burn character build-up of the first 45 minutes never seems boring to me, and really pays off in spades at the end. Just wonderful stuff.

"...and BATHE you! Especially the bathing..."

The acting is nothing short of brilliant as well--Lilli Palmer as Madame Forneau just couldn't be more awesomely stern and evil, and her interactions with cherub-faced son Luis just reek of Oedipal wrongness. Galbó is great as the much-menaced Theresa, and Martin and several of the other girls make favorable impressions as well. And creeptastic character actor Victor Israel (the clumsy plan-buggering robber in Naschy's Crimson) has a small but memorable role.

But the real show-stealer here is Mary Maude, whose performance as the sadistic hall monitor Irene is absolutely arresting. Sadly she didn't do a lot of movie work after La Residencia, and her acting here (aided by Irene's surprising but totally awesome character arc) will make you wish she had.

Come-on, Irene

Serrador is a director whose work I'm sadly unfamiliar with, but I plan to rectify that as soon as possible--the wonderful camera work and his deft hand at cranking up the suspense have me sold on his "true artiste" status. (Struggling to remain spoiler-free, let me just say that La Residencia contains one of the most beautiful murder scenes I've ever witnessed in a movie.) He also directed the highly esteemed killer-kids movie Who Can Kill a Child? and a segment of the 2006 anthology 6 Films to Keep You Awake, both of which have rocketed up my Netflix queue as of NOW.

Intriguing, creepy, and visually mesmerizing, La Residencia is a movie I can wholeheartedly recommend to any Eurohorror fan, and I'm pleased to give it an enthusiastic 3+ thumbs. Do like your Momma tells you and see this one today!

Nota Bene: this has been released on DVD in a couple of versions under its Americanized title, The House That Screamed--one of which is, inexplicably, the Elvira Movie Macabre DVD line. It goes without saying that if you watch that version, be *sure* to turn off the hostess's "witty" interludes. The movie's too good to be undercut by lame jokes, I don't care how big your funbags are.

Fair enough.


13 comments:

Pierre Fournier said...

Great review. So good to see this relatively obscure one get respect. I saw it when it came out, bottom of a double-bill (with, I think, not sure, TROG). I went in for the other film, this was just a title on the marquee, no idea what I was in for.

Brilliant film and the ending (which you so kindly did not spoil) packs a wallop.

The Vicar of VHS said...

Thanks Pierre! Yes, I'd never heard of this one, but I was blown away by it, obviously. What a work of creepy art. I would sooner put a brick through a stained glass window than spoil the ending of this one! :)

>>bottom of a double-bill (with, I think, not sure, TROG).

Hmm....I can see those two working together! Like pickles and peanut butter! ;P

Fred said...

I agree with Pierre on this one. I saw this on television back in the mid 70s when it was part of the Fright Night package (along with A Bell from Hell, The Night Evelyn Came out of the Grave and A Hatchet for the Honeymoon). Even though edited for television (what little nudity was gone), it still caught me off guard. As for Who Can Kill a Child?, a definite recommendation. This is another one you won't soon forget, and you should move it to the top of your que.

The Duke of DVD said...

I just finished watching this myself, dear Vicar, and couldn't agree more with your expert assessment. The cinematography is off the hook, as well as the direction. I loved the copious use of tracking shots, with antiques and whatnot in the foreground. Simply sublime.

I also loved the subtle use of music. Usually in these movies it is overdone, but here we have tense passages where nary a note is to be heard, only to have the silence broken by the near-silent swell of strings. Creepy!

The acting is superb, the pacing is top notch, and the movie keeps you guessing, which is great. Everyone should not hesitate to add this one to their pile.

Ashton Lamont said...

Just picked this up myself sir! chomping at the bit to watch it now!

Anonymous said...

This is, hands down, my favorite horror film. I saw it in early 1971 at the tender age of 13, wrote a letter of praise that appeared in an edition of "Famous Monsters of Filmland", and have been in love with John Moulder Brown ever since. Bravo!

The Vicar of VHS said...

Hi Anonymous!

Wish I could have seen it in 71, but unfortunately I was a babe in arms at the time! ;) I hope you still have your copy of the FMF issue your letter appeared in...talk about instant horror geek cred!

This is really a fantastic film, and I hope one of the better Eurotrash Obscuro DVD companies picks it up soon. I'd love to see it cleaned up and given the SE treatment.

Whatever happened to John Moulder Brown, anyway?

Anonymous said...

Hi, Vicar! My name is Allyson, and yes, I still have the copy of "FMF", somewhere in this dungeon. It was the issue that has the cover feature of the film "Frogs", early 1972. John Moulder Brown was the Principal and Founder of ACT (Academy of Creative Training) in Brighton, England for several years. He is registered with the Spotlight Talent Agency in London. I emailed him a few times at the Academy (as I had no other place to send fan mail) and he was kind enough to respond! Be still my beating heart! He did a film a few years ago for the Ilya Salkind film company entitled "Young Alexander from Macedonia", playing King Philip, but the I haven't seen it. I have, and treasure, a full length copy of "The House That Screamed" (unlike the chopped - no pun intended - TV versions), and just watched it last night!

Anonymous said...

Hi again, Vicar!

Check this site out to see John Moulder Brown in the film I just mentioned.

http://www.ilyasalkindcompany.com/

Click the "FILMS" link, and it has it listed under "Young Alexander from Macedonia" (a working title).

Allyson

Anonymous said...

P.S. Vicar

Meant to say "Young Alexander the Great". Sorry

Allyson

Jack B. said...

I know this post is a year old, but I was wondering what DVD the screen grabs are from? Thanks!

Anonymous said...

I just saw this film and thought it was very good. Interestingly, it was made while Francisco Franco was still dictator of Spain, and I'm surprised it didn't face censorship problems.

Anonymous said...

Just watched the movie on youtube. ' The Uncut version'. Wonder what was cut out in other versions? Notable film. The role of Palmer reminded me of Madchen In Uniform.

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