"Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory" surprised me by actually being kind of a good movie, with a nice creepy atmosphere reminiscent of the classic Hammer films of old.
I say it surprised me because it was part of a 50 movie DVD collection I bought for $15 and which contains mostly lamentable movies copied to DVD with the worst quality imaginable. But as I've been working my way through them, I every so often come across one that's half-way decent, and this film was one of those. It's part monster movie, part murder mystery. A new teacher arrives at a school for troubled young women around the same time that mysterious and brutal deaths begin occurring on school grounds. There are far more characters than such a short film needs, but they're introduced to be nothing more than suspects and distractions, filling time with plot until the true lycanthrope is revealed at the film's end. I do have to say that the identify of the werewolf did truly surprise me, and happened to be the last character I suspected, so in that sense the movie delivered quite nicely on its murder mystery promise.
The film looks like it was made for about $3, which it probably was, and you'll have to make do with dubbing, at least if you see the same copy I did. But the low budget actually helps a bit to add to the atmosphere, especially the eerie black and white photography.
Make no mistake -- this is still very much a bargain bin movie, and there are a thousand films I would recommend before this one, but if you happen to come across it know that it's not a waste of your time.
Grade: B-
I say it surprised me because it was part of a 50 movie DVD collection I bought for $15 and which contains mostly lamentable movies copied to DVD with the worst quality imaginable. But as I've been working my way through them, I every so often come across one that's half-way decent, and this film was one of those. It's part monster movie, part murder mystery. A new teacher arrives at a school for troubled young women around the same time that mysterious and brutal deaths begin occurring on school grounds. There are far more characters than such a short film needs, but they're introduced to be nothing more than suspects and distractions, filling time with plot until the true lycanthrope is revealed at the film's end. I do have to say that the identify of the werewolf did truly surprise me, and happened to be the last character I suspected, so in that sense the movie delivered quite nicely on its murder mystery promise.
The film looks like it was made for about $3, which it probably was, and you'll have to make do with dubbing, at least if you see the same copy I did. But the low budget actually helps a bit to add to the atmosphere, especially the eerie black and white photography.
Make no mistake -- this is still very much a bargain bin movie, and there are a thousand films I would recommend before this one, but if you happen to come across it know that it's not a waste of your time.
Grade: B-