Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory (1961)

I used to see information about Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory in horror movie books when I was very young. I always wanted to watch it, but the movie never seemed to show up on the hosted shows in my area.

Hearing the title, you might assume Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory is a silly quickie from American International Pictures. A fun but featherweight little number like Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow or Teenage Caveman. In fact, the original title is Lycanthropus. It was renamed upon the movie's American release. A campy rock and roll ditty, "The Ghoul in School", was added to give Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory a little pizzazz. However, this movie isn't some teenage romp. It's a gothic thriller with a lot of atmosphere and some surprisingly effective scenes of gore.

Werewolf in a Girl's Dormitory is a joint production from Italy and Germany. The Italian horror market was exploding thanks to the international success of Mario Bava's brilliant Black Sunday. The Giallo wave was just ahead, and Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory is a forerunner of the movement.

Giallo films were directly influenced by Edgar Wallace-style krimi thrillers. Werewolf in Girls' Dormitory has strong elements of both type of pictures. There are red herrings galore, a knife-wielded hand administering a lethal injection, a pillow suffocation scene, and lots of beautifully-shot footage in an Italian school campus.

You have a lecherous school official being blackmailed, a new teacher with a shady past, a bevy of virginal schoolgirls, and just maybe a real live werewolf.

There's some mumbo jumbo science and psychiatry doubletalk, and a lot of unbridled passion and frustration. Add in old fashioned lust, greed, and corruption and you get a satisfying thriller that almost classifies as classy.

If that isn't enough, a very cool werewolf is running around stalking the students. Or is it a human murderer trying to cover his tracks by lycanthropic subterfuge? You'll have to enroll in the dormitory to find out.

I loved this movie. It's far from perfect, and there are language difficulties from the cast and crew, resulting in stilted dialogue. It lags a little here and there, but overall Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory is a great little stepping stone that paved the way for dozens of stylish Italian horror movies. You can see Argento and later Bava movies in the foggy shadows of the school grounds.

I used to see Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory included in those fifty movies for ten bucks box sets floating around. I'm glad I waited and got the Severin DVD. I was able to see it with subtitles. I hear the dubbing is especially bad in this movie.

Written by Mark Sieber