Lively, entertaining reviews of, and essays on, old and newer films and everything relating to them, written by professional author William Schoell.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

WEREWOLF IN A GIRLS' DORMITORY aka LYCANTHROPUS

WEREWOLF IN A GIRLS' DORMITORY (aka Lycanthropus/1961). 

Director: Richard Benson [Paolo Heusch.] A new teacher, Julian Olcott (Carl Schell), arrives at a girls' school/reformatory with lots of secrets and shenanigans and is immediately embroiled in the mystery of who is stalking and killing some of the students. It turns out that a werewolf is responsible, but the question is which of the male staff might be the lycanthrope. Suspects include the handsome director Swift (Curt Lowens), the middle-aged married lech Sir Alfred (Maurice Marsac), a demented handyman, and others. The movie is atmospheric and generally well-acted, and the werewolf has a scary make up job. Maureen O'Connor is spooky as staffer Lenor MacDonald. This is an Italian horror film with a great new American title, which got it a lot of attention and interest when it was released. On its own terms, it's not a bad little picture. 

Verdict: A sexier wolfman than usual. ***.

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