La residencia is a 1969 Spanish

Cinema of Spain

The art of motion-picture making within the nation of Spain or by Spanish filmmakers abroad is collectively known as Spanish Cinema.In recent years, Spanish cinema has achieved high marks of recognition as a result of its creative and technical excellence...

 horror film

Horror film

Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...

 directed by Narciso Ibáñez Serrador

Narciso Ibáñez Serrador

Narciso Ibáñez Serrador , also known as Chicho Ibáñez Serrador or Luis Peñafiel is a film, television and theater director, actor and screenwriter.He is the son of Narciso Ibáñez Menta.-Biography:...

. The film stars Lili Palmer as Señora Fourneau the headmistress of a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 boarding school for young women.

The film was released under various English titles including The House That Screamed and The Boarding School.

Plot

In a 19th-century French boarding school for troubled girls, Headmistress Señora Fourneau (Lili Palmer) forbids her teenage son Luis (John Moulder Brown) near any of the girls, finding none of them good enough for him. A series of murders begin taking place after the latest arrival of the a new student, Teresa (Cristina Galbó) and Fourneau's assistant Irene (Mary Maude). Fourneau investigates these deaths eventually leading her to the attic where she finds Luis has been dismembering the women in order to create his own "ideal woman". Luis' frustrated desires forced psychotic urges to the surface, compelling him to stalk the hapless girls in the hope of acquiring body parts. Luis then locks up his mother with his new creation.

Production

La residencia was director Narciso Ibáñez Serrador

Narciso Ibáñez Serrador

Narciso Ibáñez Serrador , also known as Chicho Ibáñez Serrador or Luis Peñafiel is a film, television and theater director, actor and screenwriter.He is the son of Narciso Ibáñez Menta.-Biography:...

's first horror film. The screenplay is based on a story by Juan Tébar. Serrador wrote the screenplay under the name "Luis Peñafiel."

The film was created as a commercial film with the express purpose of breaking into the international market. The film was shot in English, making it the first Spanish film shot in that language.

Cast

• Lilli Palmer
  Lilli Palmer
  Lilli Palmer , born Lilli Marie Peiser, was a German actress. She won the Volpi Cup, the Deutscher Filmpreis three times, and was nominated twice for a Golden Globe Award.-Life and career:...
  
   as Señora Fourneau
• Cristina Galbó
  Cristina Galbo
  Cristina Galbo was an actress of some moderate fame in Europe during the late 1960s and early 1970s, who made a name for herself in film mostly for European horror vehicles....
  
   as Teresa
• John Moulder-Brown as Luis
• Mary Maude
  Mary Maude
  Mary Maude is a British film and television actress.-Selected filmography:* The Boarding School * Crucible of Terror * Man at the Top * Scorpio * The Four Feathers * Terror...
  
   as Irene

Release

Director Narciso Ibáñez Serrador

Narciso Ibáñez Serrador

Narciso Ibáñez Serrador , also known as Chicho Ibáñez Serrador or Luis Peñafiel is a film, television and theater director, actor and screenwriter.He is the son of Narciso Ibáñez Menta.-Biography:...

 did not appreciate how the film had been promoted, stating that it was "terribly promoted, promoted with clichés". The film was released by American International Pictures

American International Pictures

American International Pictures was a film production company formed in April 1956 from American Releasing Corporation by James H. Nicholson, former Sales Manager of Realart Pictures, and Samuel Z. Arkoff, an entertainment lawyer...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

and did not do well with contemporary American audiences.

Reception

The film was released in Spain to very mixed reviews. Antonio Pelayo of Cinestudio wrote a review questioning the budget of the film, stating that other Spanish directors could have produced "at least two films of the same technical standard". Pérez Gómez of Reseña wrote a positive review, stating that the film was "respectable commercial cinema". Miguel Marías of Nuestro Cine found the film disrespectful to cinema and audiences, stating that financial support for such films that "insult her/him, and consider her/him a retard whose subnormality needs to be fed". Marías also critiqued film critics who supported the film.