Villain(s)  Werewolf

Actor(s):  Barbara Lass, Carl Schell, Curt Lowens, Maureen O'Connor

Brief Description  Werewolf in a Girls’ Dormitory (originally titled Lycanthropus) is a 1961 Italian-Austrian horror-mystery film directed by Paolo Heusch (credited as Richard Benson) and written by Ernesto Gastaldi. Blending a gothic whodunit with a moody, atmospheric setting, the 83-minute black-and-white feature follows a wave of savage murders at an isolated European reform school for troubled young women.

Plot:
The story is set inside a strict, secluded academy and reformatory for troubled adolescent girls. The fragile peace of the institution is shattered when a female student named Mary is brutally stalked, slashed, and murdered in the nearby woods. Local authorities and school officials initially attribute the gruesome attack to wild wolves roaming the surrounding countryside. Against this tense backdrop, a brooding and secretive new science teacher, Dr. Julian Olcott (played by Carl Schell), arrives at the academy hoping to outrun a shadowy, troubled past. As classes resume under a cloud of fear, a sharp and inquisitive student named Priscilla (Barbara Lass) starts looking into Mary’s personal belongings. Priscilla uncovers evidence that Mary was mixed up in a lucrative and dangerous blackmail scheme targeting someone high up connected to the school.

As the body count rises with additional savage mutilations, suspicion shifts frantically. The local townspeople set traps for wild animals, while the school populace points fingers at the newly hired Dr. Olcott, a creepy and crippled handyman/caretaker named Walter, and Sir Alfred Whiteman, an older faculty member known for illicitly lingering around the female students. When Priscilla herself is stalked and violently assaulted by the clawed, snarling monster on campus, she manages a narrow escape. The narrative culminates in a tense resolution exposing the true identity of the lupine killer and the scientific/psychological explanations behind the curse before a tragic finale. The makeup for the title monster—created and worn by actor Curt Lowens—features exaggerated fangs, heavy hair, and dripping saliva, making for a ferocious visual that heavily graced monster movie magazines in later decades.