Sun 9 Jun 2019
A Movie Review by Jonathan Lewis: WEREWOLF IN A GIRLS’ DORMITORY (1961).
Posted by Steve under Horror movies , Reviews[6] Comments
WEREWOLF IN A GIRLS’ DORMITORY. Cineriz, Italy, 1961, released as Lycanthropus; MGM, US, 1963. Barbara Lass, Carl Schell, Curt Lowens, Maureen O’Connor, Maurice Marsac. Director: Paolo Heusch.
Not nearly as salacious as the title would indicate, Werewolf in a Girls’ Dormitory is a surprisingly well-constructed Gothic horror movie. An Italian production featuring an international cast, the movie feels as if it’s an off-kilter amalgam of 1930s Universal Studios monster films, West German Edgar Wallace films, and early 1960s black and white horror cinema.
Sure, it’s schlocky. But it’s undoubtedly effective in creating a claustrophobic setting in which a werewolf preys upon persons associated with a reformatory for girls who have gotten in trouble with bourgeois morality and the law.
The trouble begins when Julian Olcott (Carl Schell) young, handsome physician is hired to teach science classes to the girls. Although the girls don’t know it, he has a shady past. Something about a young girl’s mysterious death at his last place of employment in Burlington, Vermont. But he’s seemingly a good guy and gets along well enough with the headmaster (Curt Lowens).
Within his first week of being on campus, there’s a sudden brutal murder. One of the girls, who seemingly was blackmailing a faculty member over their illicit love affair, is mauled to death. Some suspect the groundskeeper. Others suspect a wolf in the forest. Even the police inspector is puzzled.
Olcott teams up with one of his students, the inquisitive Priscilla (Barbara Lass) to investigate the strange happenings. Could it be that a werewolf is behind the mayhem? And what, if any, is Olcott’s connection to the deaths? After all, his field of scientific research prior to his employ at the school was (wait for it) lycanthropy.
Now I’m not going to try to sell you on this film. It’s not for everyone. What it does, though, it does well enough to hold a viewer’s attention. I also think there’s also a strange undercurrent of sadness throughout the proceedings, a Central European fatalism that I couldn’t quite put my finger on until I read the biographies of two of the leads. Barbara Lass was born Barbara Kwiatkowska-Lass in German-occupied Poland and was Roman Polanski’s first wife. Curt Lowens, who portrays the headmaster, was a German Jew who survived the Holocaust in hiding and went on to a lengthy acting career in which he often portrayed German soldiers.
Maybe it’s there, maybe it’s not. But I felt as if both of these two actors conveyed, even if unintentionally, a certain world weariness, one that is difficult to put in words, but capable of being seen if one knows where to look.
June 10th, 2019 at 8:42 am
“his field of scientific research prior to his employ at the school was (wait for it) lycanthropy.”
Actually I majored in Lycanthropy in college, so I probably should check this out.
The late 50s and early 60s brought us quite a few dubbed European horror films, usually with trashy re-titles like this one and HORROR CHAMBER OF DOCTOR FAUSTUS, a blatant attempt to bit-and-switch the legions of Christopher Marlowe fans out there.
June 10th, 2019 at 10:28 am
By some sort of weird coincidence, an email flyer from the good folks at Sinister Cinema that was in my inbox when I got up this morning contained the following newly released “Drive-In Combo” on DVD:
DRIVE-IN COMBO #65 .
WEREWOLF IN A GIRLS’ DORMITORY (1963) Barbara Lass, Carl Schell, Curt Lowens, Luciano Pigozzi, Maurice Marsac. A creepy, gothic tale about a snarling werewolf on the prowl in and around at a girls’ reform school. Suspicion falls upon a new teacher after a horrible, animal-like slaying takes place. Is he really the murdering, supernatural beast? A little slow at times, but very atmospheric. The chase scene through the darkened forest is unforgettable. From a beautiful 35mm print.
THE MAD EXECUTIONERS (1963) Hansjorg Felmy, Wolfgang Preiss, Chris Howland, Maria Perschy, Dieter Borsche. A secret society seems to be bumping off a large number of notorious criminals. There’s also a mad scientist who decapitates his victims and tries to keep their heads alive. Based on an Bryan Edgar Wallace story. Partially letter-boxed. Released theatrically in the United States by Paramount. 16mm.
June 10th, 2019 at 3:08 pm
I’d never heard of Barbara Lass before this interesting review.
Imdb says she was in two Polish films I’ve seen.
TWO MEN AND A WARDROBE, ny favorite short surreal film from Roman Polanski.
And BAD LUCK from director Andrzej Munk. He’s famous in Poland. I didn’t like BAD LUCK anywhere as much as his EROICA.
June 10th, 2019 at 5:42 pm
It plays very much like the Edgar Wallace Krimi films of the period with a bit of horror thrown in, but works much better than you might expect as a mix of Krimi, Horror, and Gothic genre’s. Much better film than the title would ever lead you to expect.
June 10th, 2019 at 9:57 pm
True Story:
The weekend that this Klassik came out, it was double-billed with Corridors Of Blood, Boris Karloff’s latest British programmer.
On Sunday night, Tony Randall was guest panelist on What’s My Line> (the old Fred Allen seat).
The Mystery Guest spot came up, with the panelists trying to remember who was going to be in New York to open in something, or with something to plug, or whatever.
When Tony Randall’s turn came around, he mentioned that the only movies that were opening in NYC that weekend were Corridors Of Blood and Werewolf In A Girls Dormitory; he then politely asked if the Mystery Guest was in either of these.
All these years later, I can’t recall who the MG was that night, but the mention of Werewolf … got one of the biggest laughs I’d ever heard on What’s My Line? – even John Daly lost it momentarily (which generally took some doing).
After the spot ended, the regular panelists had a hard time shaking Werewolf In A Girls Dormitory; Tony Randall went as far as saying that he was planning to see it (he was probably joking, although it was sometimes hard to tell with him).
Those were the days(?).
September 27th, 2019 at 10:54 pm
It’s being released on Blu Ray from Severin.