Classic Horrors Club

Not nearly as sordid as the synopsis reads, School of Death aka El colegio de la muerte (1975) is nevertheless unsettling at times. It reminds me a bit of The House That Screamed aka La residencia (1969); however, while I enjoyed the former more than I expected, I didn’t adore it like I do the latter.

The story surprised me when a character I suspected of being involved in the mayhem actually was, just not in the way I predicted. About an hour into the movie, this character seemed to be cleared of any potential wrongdoing. I focused my attention on other red herrings, of which there are several.

It’s 1899 in London and the “students” at the Saint Elizabeth Refuge are groomed for job placement with well-to-do, God-fearing families. Directors Grandfield (Tito Garcia) and Miss Wilkins (Norma Kastel) rule with an iron fist and turn a blind eye on the cruelties enacted on the young women by stereotypical taskmistress, Collins (Estanis Gonzalez.)

Sylvia Smith (Victoria Vera) “graduates” and leaves while her friend, Leonore Johnson (Sandra Mozarowsky) is locked in a soundproof room for punishment. The plot evolves from here as Leonore is later told that Sylvia died, yet she passes her on the street. Dr. Edward Brown (Dean Selmier), the physician that regularly visits the refuge, conveniently encounters Leonore on the same street and becomes her ally in solving the mystery.

Since the opening scene features a young woman strapped to a table at her chin and forehead while a mysterious surgeon slices into her left temple, it’s not a spoiler to say the when the women leave the refuge, they undergo operations to “incapacitate” their brains so they can become willing prostitutes for gross rich men.

Already, as I’m thinking about School of Death and typing my thoughts, I’m leaping over plot holes everywhere. I didn’t notice them while watching the movie, though, so my advice is to not worry about the pesky details. Enjoy the ride as Leonore inevitably heads toward a cruel fate similar to Sylvia’s.

It’s not long until we learn that the mysterious surgeon is Kruger, played by someone whom I won’t reveal here. (When a major character is not listed in the credits, you know there’s something fishy about it.) Ten years ago, he discovered the brain incapacitation procedure by experimenting on humans. After a fire in the lab scarred him, he was apprehended. Seven years later, he escaped…

…with his partner in crime, Bob Wilcox. (Avoid IMDb before watching School of Death.) Bob seems to be orchestrating the entire operation, calling the shots from the shadows. What with Leonore’s discovery, though, it’s a house of cards and Inspector Coldman (Angel Menendez) manipulates reporter George Allen (Carlos Mendy) into helping bring it down.

I watched School of Death on Amazon Prime; however, it made me long for a restored version. As luck would have it, our friends at Mondo Macabro released one in 2022! It’s available for around $30. If I’m going to learn anything about the making of the film, I’m going to have to buy it and hope for special features, because I can find no information anywhere else.

Feedback about the movie on Amazon.com are mostly favorable except for some guy that gave it a one-word review, “Boring.” In his defense, he apparently ordered the wrong movie. Nevertheless, I disagree, and the day after watching it, I’m going to raise my obligatory rating by one star… one-half for Letterboxd.