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In this episode of Castle Talk, Jason chats with former Brady and Gidget Caryn Richman, who plays a key role as a psychic who may be in over her head in the new film The Puppetman on Shudder.
Posted in: Movies, Podcasts | Tagged: Castle of Horror Podcast, eurotrash, eurotrash horror, Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster, The House That Screamed
Castle of Horror: Explore What Makes Eurotrash Horror with "The House That Screamed"
This week for a "hangout" episode (between more structured panel reviews) the podcast looked at a couple of films, one of them being the 1969 Spanish film The House That Screamed, or La Residencia. We chose it as an excellent example of Eurotrash horror.
Eurotrash horror is a slightly unfortunate term for mid-century horror films that share a broad spectrum of sensibility and style. The label can be misleading because often the films are masterfully done, but what they tend to share are:
- Grainy film stock often exacerbated these days by the deterioration of old copies
- Rich color, heavy on yellows and reds—a quality shared by Giallo (yellow) films, a term for Italian mid-century horror/thriller films in particular
- Practical sets—a lot of countryside shooting and use of abundant castles and mansions found in Spain, Italy, and France
- A lack of traditional structure, causing American viewers especially to find themselves unmoored by the lack of a clear beginning, middle, and end
- Exploitation of the audience's interest in transgression and deviance from the norm. They won't offer a thoughtful look at questions about issues like revenge, gender identity or consent, but rather play to the audiences' fears and fetishes.
We could have chosen any of many great Eurotrash films, from the arty, dreamlike Suspiria (1977, dir. Dario Argento) to Paul Naschy's profoundly silly vampire and werewolf movies like Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman (1972).
We chose instead a film somewhere between those extremes: The House That Screamed, directed by debut horror director Narciso Serrador, goes to an old reliable for titillating the audience—the all-girls school—and delivers a Hitchcockian suspense thriller full of great moments of suspense and surprise. It's gorgeous to look at, telling the story of Therese, a girl dropped off at a school ruled with an iron fist by the statuesque, German Lilli Palmer. Therese soon learns that the boarding school is more a prison, and as the conflict between the girls heats up, Therese begins a secret love affair with the matron's young son even as a serial killer starts haunting the halls. The effect is wild: The House That Screamed veers from genteel and classy to garish and gory, like an episode of Masterpiece Theater with knife murders. By the end, it's defying your expectations with secrets and twists you don't see coming.
Check out this excellent entre into the world of Eurotrash in our double-feature episode paired with Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster (1965, dir. Robert Gaffney).
Listen here:
Listen on YouTube:
Check out the Trailer for The House That Screamed.
Get the Blu-Ray of The House That Screamed.
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Hosted by Jason Henderson, editor of the Castle of Horror Anthology and Young Captain Nemo, and creator of the HarperTeen novel series Alex Van Helsing; featuring Drew Edwards, creator of Halloween Man;Tony Salvaggio, lead singer of the band Deserts of Mars, lead guitarist of the band Rise from Fire, and co-creator of Clockwerx from Humanoids; attorney Julia Guzman of Guzman Immigration of Denver; and Jamie Bahr, lead singer and upright bassist of the rock and roll band Danger*Cakes.
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