Rating: 2/5
Hooptober 6.0 | 3/32 | film from before 1966 3/6
CW // Misogyny, Blood, Murder, Animal Abuse
“The Ghoul in School” plays over the opening credits.
Doctor Julian Olcott is a new teacher at a girls’s reformatory. Leonore MacDonald takes Julian to see Director Swift. Olcott starts a confession, but Swift stops him, saying he knows all the details and that it won’t interfere with his job.
Women fear night outings due to wolves in the area. But Mary is determined to see her secret beau and sneaks out.
Eyes watch Mary from the woods. Sir Alfred Whiteman emerges. Mary tells him to help her break out of the reformatory like he promised, or else she’ll show his letters and expose him.
As she heads back to her dorm, a werewolf emerges from the woods and chases after her.
With Mary dead, everyone tries to figure out who (or what) did it. Those who know Alfred’s secret affair with Mary think it was him. Another girl finds out about Julian losing his license because of a young girl dying under his care. On the other hand, there are wolves outside.
The plot is soapy, with every development strung out of convoluted conversation. Everyone has a different secret, but only one will reveal who the werewolf is. Waiting for them to figure it out is a slog.
The dubbing of the leads is solid, but the minor characters are pretty awful. The performances are better than the dubbed words coming out of their mouths.
The camera work is pretty good! The sets also have gothic notes that do a fine job of establishing the atmosphere.
Overall, the surface flaws make this a hard sell. If you can see past them, the movie’s biggest problem is that it’s boring.