Being a fan of low-budget horror/science-fiction films from the 1950s-60s, John P. Finnegan wanted to make his own. He raised $100,000 from a group of friends to fund his independent project, but he didn’t know the technical side. For the crew, Finnegan held a talk at NYU to recruit film students to work on his new horror film. Under the title The Portrait, Finnegan gathered his cast and crew to film for four weeks in Philadelphia. Given that most of the cast and crew came out of film school, this would be their first professional credit. Since many horror movies back then had blood and gore, Finnegan avoided those to make his film stand out. After post-production wrapped, Finnegan took the film to New York, where Troma bought it for distribution. However, Troma edited new gore scenes into the movie and released it as Girls’ School Screamers.
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Synopsis
Seven students from Trinity College, an all-girls school, must stay at the Welles mansion to catalog an old art collection. Among them are Jackie (Mollie O’Mara), Elizabeth (Sharon Christopher), Kate (Mari Butler), Karen (Beth O’Malley), and Susan (Karen Krevitz). Alongside Adelle (Marcia Hinton) and Rosemary (Monica Antonucci), they work on cataloging with Sister Mary Urban (Vera Gallagher) watches them. That night, the girls hold a seance to contact Jennifer Welles, a former student who supposedly died in the mansion. Unfortunately, the seance seems to awaken some kind of ancient evil in the manor as the girls get picked off. Jackie’s boyfriend Paul (Peter Cosimano) and his friend Bruce (John Turner) arrive to help, but they too fall victim. After stumbling across a portrait of Jennifer, Jackie learns more about her and discovers a horrible secret about her death. But just who or what is killing her fellow students?
Review
While it’s not technically terrible, Girls’ School Screamers is a woefully uninteresting watch, which might be worse. Granted, it’s not as insufferable to sit through as Igor and the Lunatics, but it isn’t hilariously awful either. None of the girls stand out in any way, and you’ll have difficulty remembering their names. I had to go to the movie’s Wikipedia page to remind myself which girl was which. Also, once the girls get to the mansion, it grinds to a halt as they wander through the hallways. It’s not until the last 20 minutes or so that things start to pick up. Even then, it’s hard to care since nothing has happened for the previous 60 minutes. I can see what the filmmakers were going for in trying to create a suspenseful mystery/ghost story. Unfortunately, the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
However, that’s not to say that this movie lacks any positive qualities, as there are a few noteworthy aspects. For one, the location they picked out looks excellent and almost feels like a character in its own right. There are also a few scenes where they build up plenty of suspense and tension to make them feel ominous. While some would view Troma’s reediting as backstabbing, I feel like the added gore scenes helped in the long run. These 28 seconds of violence caught my attention and got me invested in what was happening. Also, for all I said about the cast, it does feel like they’re trying their best as non-actors. Even if it’s not the most engaging film, you can tell the people behind it were putting in the effort. Overall, Girls’ School Screamers is a mess, but there are far worse ways to spend eighty-five minutes.
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