Chicho Ibáñez Serrador, born in 1935 in Montevideo, is a pivotal figure in Spanish horror, known for his distinctive storytelling. He directed and wrote The House That Screamed (1969), a film that intricately weaves psychological tension with the conventions of the giallo genre. Serrador's work is marked by a keen understanding of suspense and character development, making his contributions essential to the cult film landscape. His influence extends beyond cinema, as he also shaped Spanish television with innovative programming.
The House That Screamed
In the Nineteenth Century, in France, the teenager Teresa Garan is the daughter of a single mother, who is a cabaret singer. She is brought to the boarding school owned by the headmistress Ms. Fourneau by a friend of her mother that pays one year tuition for her. Soon Teresa learns that the boarding school is also a prison for the girls since Ms. Fourneau keeps everything locked. Her protégé, the wicked student Irene Tupan, keeps watch over the other girls and uses her power to bully and torture them. Ms. Fourneau has a teenager son, Luis, who is a peeping Tom, and his mother secludes him from the girls. Ms. Fourneau tells that he needs to meet a girlfriend "like his mother" and that the students of the boarding school are worthless. Meanwhile the runaway students are vanishing and their school mates believe they are fleeing from the boarding school. What they do not know is that a serial-killer is killing them. When Irene discovers that Teresa is secretly meeting Luis, she tortures Teresa that decides to flee from the school in the middle of the night. What will happen to her?
