Even the Wind Is Afraid

When a girl's nightmare stirs up old memories, the overbearing headmistress (Marga Lopez) of a posh boarding school and her assistant (Maricruz Olivier) are forced to face some forgotten ghosts, both figurative and literal.

Director Carlos Enrique Taboada is adept at spinning suspenseful mystery into his horror yarns. The girls are stuck in the school for vacation, due to rules violations, and this gives them a chance to be terrified and to do some sleuthing around. He also throws in a bit of humorous relief, in the form of an impromptu dance party. It gets interrupted abruptly, jolting us right back into the chills!

A classic of Mexican horror cinema with a perfect finale and epilogue...

Hasta el Viento Tiene Miedo, show us the story of a group of young ladies, that as a punishment, they have to stay in the boarding school for vacations. The ghost of a death schoolmate makes her appearance to unwrap a story with the most pure terror style. The movie it's great and although it follows the typical pattern of movies made during those times, it stills being frightening. It also shows a great perspective of the Mexican society and with the scene of the striptease, I believe that it goes a little beyond the times when it was released. Whether you like Mexican movies or not this movie proves that although the lack of resources which it was made, at least we can say that we have a great horror ancient film, a genre that isn't common at all in this industry.

Even the Mexican movie industry is short on horror films, this one stands out among the lot.

The story is about some girls who have to spend their summer vacations on the school due their cruel principal. What they don´t know is that the school is haunted by a ghost.

Although the story might not seem very original, director Taboada manages to keep it moving and adds a few twists along the way. The acting is somewhat irregular but the main cast is good, specially Marga Lopez as the only adult who takes the matter seriously.

Believe me, this film is so eerie that you´re going to be looking twice before entering a dark room for a long time.

This movie is a very good one, you have to check out Mr.Taboada´s directing,It´s ageless and even if its mexican oldstyle movie making, you can still feel the scary vibes he was aiming for. The movie centers around a group of girls that because of disobeying some orders stay stranded in their college all summer long, one of them starts having some weird dreams and theres a ghost rounding that college with a dark past. There´s a strip tease scene that can show some lesbian shadows on the girls, you have to see it yourself, spine tingling and horror at it´s best on this 70´s horror story.

While not as prolific as the USA, UK and Italy; Mexico is responsible for many great horror films; with the sixties in particular being something of a goldmine for the horror fan. Carlos Enrique Taboada's Hasta el viento tiene miedo has a great reputation amongst those who have seen it; and after having finally tracked the film down myself, I have to say that its reputation is completely deserved! The title translates into English as 'Even the Wind is Afraid' and as you would expect from a film with such a title; this is a macabre treat! Like the classics The House That Screamed and Suspiria, this film focuses on an all-girl boarding house. After a group of girls sneak into a restricted part of the school and are caught; their punishment (doled out by the head teacher nicknamed 'The Witch') is that they have to stay behind during the summer break! Naturally the girls are not too pleased, and things take a turn for the worse when a long dead student is sighted during the heavy winds, and seems to be after a student named Claudia...

The story is very much of the slow burn variety and while we do get plenty of horror; the film focuses more on building the characters, their relationships and the central situation. The horror is brought forward more through atmosphere and while the locations used are not as Gothic as those seen in similar Italian films; the film does deliver a great air of creepiness and the way that the wind is used provides one of the main highlights. The acting is very good, with adult performers Marga López and Maricruz Olivier delivering the standout performances as the two teachers. The younger performers are all very nice looking and while the acting is sometimes a bit cheesy; it doesn't harm the film too much. The plot does move slowly but it's always interesting and the film builds tension as we get closer to the end, with the film taking a rather unexpected twist half way through. It all boils down to an engaging and original (for the time) climax and overall; Hasta el viento tiene miedo may not be one of the best known horror films ever made, but it will certainly be of interest to horror fans. Recommended!