User Reviews

A prolific horror writer and filmmaker as well, Taboada left an indelible mark in the Mexican cinema industry. Even without being aware of it, because many of us, as merely spectators -at least me and some other persons I've spoken to-, didn't realize for many years that El libro de piedra (1968) and Más negro que la noche (1975), were part of Taboada's film history.

Though i dig more El libro de piedra to a level as considering it his masterpiece, Hasta el viento tiene miedo (Even the wind's scared) it's such a powerful ghost story, that happens in a boarding school for girls. Since the beginning, the film warns you about what you're going to see because of a creepy start, that involves a sleepwalking girl on the outside in a windy night, attending a call made by another girl from the bell tower of the school's chappel. She starts climbing upstairs and the next thing you see, it's a pair of hanging feet and the sleepwalker awakening in a scream. Even on these days, the memories of the voice chanting like wind "Claudia, Claudia" in a whispering full of anguish, gives me the creeps. The first half of this story is told in such a brilliant way, that can only be surpassed by El libro de piedra in a whole; with good acting by names like Marga López, Norma Lazareno and Maricruz Olivier, Hasta el viento... moves around a girl whose dead, a bunch of brat student girls, and a mean school director. As I said before, the first half is brilliant in many ways. Taboada surely knew the sources of primal fear and took them to cinema extends, making you jump with scenes that has the ability to caught unaware, or leading tension into almost unbearable levels. Hope you can see it some time because it's well worth the feelings of anguish and fear caused by the sense of terror that we're led into while watching. Unfortunately, the second half falls on it's lap as a formulaic chain of events that leads to a cliché ending.

Even so, most of Hasta el viento... it's a live picture of Taboada's art. He knew how to grab you by the neck and never let go. With his movies, you can feel the greatest fear running all over the body and you don't want to stop watching anyway. That was and still is magic; it was great cinema that depended only on the subconscious manipulation of terror. In fact, I owe Taboadas some of the greatest fears from my childhood, like never watching at the curtain's end at night, or to a window when there's a storm.

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!

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.

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.

Creepy and colourful ghost tale from Mexico and set in a girls school. The girls, in their bright red blazers are administered by a rather officious headmistress and a more sympathetic assistant. Tensions mount and it becomes clear that something terrible happened in the past that is affecting the present. What this film does particularly well is make us feel uneasy about a particular character that we previously saw as perfectly normal. Being Mexican there was always going to be something slightly different here and for me that something is the most extraordinary striptease sequence that comes out of nowhere and is a weird mixture of excitement and embarrassment. An assured ghost story with some great scenes. Recommended. (One amusing aspect of the subtitles on my print is that on several occasions, the rather prim and proper headmistress is ticking off her girls and telling them that this or that is 'nonsense' but this is translated as 'bollocks' which seems a little harsh!)

It'd seem to be a cliche -haunted school, scared girls in uniforms... but 'Hasta el viento tiene miedo' is more than that. With some good actresses, but more than that, a smart script and a clever direction, it has unexpected moments and really scaring scenes. Highly recommended!

In a boarding school run by the evil and cruel Director Bernarda (Marga López), the student Claudia (Alicia Bonet) has a nightmare with a student hanged in a locked tower in the school. When her friends and she find the tower unlocked, they go to the place, but they are caught by Bernarda and punished, having to stay at school during their ten-day vacation. They unsuccessfully try to use Bernarda's assistant, the teacher Lucía (Maricruz Olivier), to call off their punishment, but they are obliged to stay. Soon they find that Claudia's nightmare is with the former student Andrea (Pamela Susan Hall), who died at the tower a couple of years ago, and now is seeking revenge.

"Hasta el viento tiene miedo", a.k.a. "Even the Wind Is afraid", is an atmospheric ghost story se in a few locations. The plot is very well written and development and has not aged regarding the horror, only the 60's costumes (clothes, hair and behavior of a woman). This Mexican film is a must-see for horror fans, with a consistent story. Unfortunately, this film was only recently released on DVD in Brazil. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Até o Vento Tem Medo" ("Even the Wind Is Afraid")

It's been over thirty years since I've seen "Hasta el Viento Tiene Miedo" but I still think it is the best thriller movie ever...I can still picture some of the scenes. If you want to be scared without being grossed out, this is the film to see. When I saw it, I thought it would be the usual campy type scare film. But, instead, it turned out to be one of the best I've ever seen. The suspense builds throughout the film and brings to mind the thrillers by Hitchcock. The actors were wonderfully natural, not the usual "kid" actors and the scenery was frightfully eerie. The sound effects were also good, you could feel the wind blowing throughout. I would love to see it again...does anyone know where I could buy a copy?

It is necessary to mention that the dialogs of this movie are not very intelligent, the history is developed of flat form and a bored point...! but that I say... we remember that the 70's entered in Mexico, and we came from a matriarchal, where alone cinema they were histories of towns, ranchers, of the abandoned mother and histories of love. Until the wind he/she is afraid (version of 1968), he/she comes to also give a turn in the cinema goods that it was developed in Mexico, with a cast of first actresses, as Marga López, Norma Lazareno, and several more. I don't know if it is of cult, but I consider it one of the classics of the Mexican cinema, since they are few the films of this gender in Mexico that you/they are able to convince.

Nowadays, I am rather bored with the same movies about spiteful little ghosts of teenage girls or resentful children who want to give someone a message or simply punish their murderers. Especially if we are talking about those Asian movies that always have a similar ending. Don't get the wrong idea about me, I am not trying to be rude or offensive, but horror movies nowadays tend to be way too similar when it comes to the whole "vindictive ghost" subject matter. Obviously, it is almost impossible not to base a movie on prior ideas and that is not the blameworthy thing I'm trying to point out. Basically what really annoys me about contemporary ghost flicks, is that they try so hard to shock the audience or provide something new, that they usually end up messing it up and worst of all, the ending is still predictable. At least that is my humble opinion. Fortunately, we can always rely on a good horror gem from many years ago and that is the case of "Hasta el viento tiene miedo". A simple and yet stylish horror movie that provides all the necessary elements, without trying so desperately to fill an hour and a half. It may be a little bit predictable in a way, but at least it's highly enjoyable and it doesn't try to mislead the audience with pitiful and superfluous situations.

In "Hasta el viento tiene miedo", a group of boarding school girls suffer from the torments of a authoritarian and conniving headmistress called Bernarda, who seems to unload of all her anger on the girls. In contrast, Lucia, the vice-headmistress, tries to be as easy-going as possible to make up for Bernarda's unkind behavior, earning that way, the girls' friendliness One night, Claudia, a student from the boarding school, suffers from a nightmare, in which she hears a ghostly voice that calls her name from the heights of a tower that is situated in the school garden. When she goes in and walks up the stairs, she opens a red door and finds the body of a blonde girl hanging from the ceiling. Claudia's classmates become so fascinated with that dreadful nightmare that they all go together to the tower to reveal the mystery, even though Mrs. Bernarda had forbidden the girls to go up there. Before they can reveal any mysteries, the headmistress arrives and catches the girls who were trying to disobey her rules. As a consequence, all the girls are punished and forced to spend their winter vacations at the boarding school. Furious with their headmistress, all the girls complain about their vacations, without realizing that something even more awful is about to happen. There's a ghost seeking for revenge and one of them is going to be chosen as a messenger and living avenger.

"Hasta el viento tiene miedo", is a well made Gothic horror gem, that not only frightens more than once, but also offers a lot of amusing scenes that work as some kind of humorous relief, without turning the whole movie into a comedy. Naughty winks and yet naïve situations that probably caused a little bit of controversy back in the 60s, when the film came out. For example, the scene in which the ill-disciplined and naughty student named Kitty performs a striptease for her classmates and teaches them how to do it, I think that's one of my favorites. Not so much because of the striptease itself, but mostly, because the other girls look at her as if she was killing someone right in front of their eyes. There's also the scene in which all the girls force the prude girl to dance along with them and then jump all over her, like barbarians and take off her clothes as a way of revenge for being such a gossipy. The chemistry between actresses who played the schoolgirls (some of them were almost in their 30s) was simply flawless. Marga Lopez, as the evil headmistress, probably offered one of the best performances in this film. Her character, Mrs. Bernarda, reminded me of those days when I used to go to school and I would feel a shiver up from down my spine, every time I saw an intimidating teacher or headmistress. Definitely not a pleasant feeling, which means she did a good job. The well known Mexican composer Armando Manzanero was in charge of the music, which is also an extra point. His work, is also one of the main elements that contributes to make this film so atmospheric. "Hasta el viento tiene miedo" probably even delivers a hidden message regarding the severity of school authorities back then and the fact that violence can only produce more violence. Now, the question is: is there really a hidden message or am I just overreacting and giving the film more credit than it deserves?. I suppose that's up to each one to decide. Either way, hidden message or not, I highly recommend this film.

After hearing from neighbors and friends about a Mexican movie that sure will scare you, and also that the story was happening in a school, i was waiting for Televisa to show this movie, without any luck i had to wait about 7 years to find this movie on DVD and finally Watch, i would say the wait was worth it , sure is a 60's movie and the image, picture and sound is not that great, but the way the history is deliver will make you watch until the end. The film despite having a simple script, captivates and put the viewer in the story, and has been blamed for taking out dreams to two generations that followed and saw on television more than films. With an exceptional cast and successful, the film is full of subtle horror, fine and perhaps therefore highly effective, unlike anything he had done before.

I began watching this Mexican horror film, a thriller set in a girl's school, with some excitement since I had read nothing but praise for it. Now that it is over, I do not see what all the fuss is about. Perhaps one has to see Hasta el Viento Tiene Miedo young, before watching many horror movies. Otherwise, it is just not an especially memorable horror movie.

The first problem is the film's slow pace. The first forty-five or fifty minutes is all set up. It's a lot of wind blowing, cats jumping out, and "did you see that strange girl" type discussions. All of this becomes tedious after awhile. The film does not produce any surprises or action until its final third. By that time, many viewers have given up.

A second problem is the tameness of the whole film. I do realize that a ghost story is built upon mood and atmosphere rather than shock scenes, but, really, this is a horror film for one's grandmother. I find the film's scares all old hat for 1968. That was the year of Night of the Living Dead, the year of Targets, the year of Naked You Die, a much better school girl mystery.

Hasta el Viento Tiene Miedo does have a few surprises. The film takes an unexpected turn in the final third. The striptease scene is colorful and sexy in a PG way. There is also some nice interaction between the girls. Despite these pluses, the film is not worth the time. The movie is further ill served by a flat ending. Those interested in seeing a late 1960's mystery set at a girl's school would be better off checking out Naked You Die or The House that Screamed from 1969.

"Hasta el viento tiene miedo" is a good offering of Mexican horror. It takes place in a boarding school for girls. Five years ago a girl that studied there committed suicide. At night, when the wind whistles.....

This film is a horror film with touches of comedy and it manages to create a good supernatural atmosphere (night, the wind blowing, the leaves trembling, the tower..). It reminded me somehow of "Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory" an Italo-Austrian film made in 1961, that also took place in a girls boarding school. But "Hasta el viento tiene miedo" is the better film.

"Hasta el viento.." tells the story in a very straightforward way, no room for ambiguity is left, so it becomes predictable and this takes away some of the film's edge. The girls, though, are very charming and add eye candy to the film.

You can't compare it to the Italian Gothic films ( by Bava, Margheriti, Freda, Caiano..) with their visual grandeur (lighting, decors, camera work ..), and their magnificent soundtracks.

Anyway "Hasta el viento...." is an interesting film - I think that it won't scare the modern viewer, but it offers in return a well-crafted atmosphere, with touches of suspense and comedy. It is charmingly naive and romantic. It was released in Mexico in 30 May 1968. Some months later a hard wind blew and even the wind was afraid.

I think there will never be a movie like this.. why? because it was made a masterpiece without any special effects at all. The wind sound is scary as itself, and the voice saying "Claaaaaaaudia" is the best!

Carlos Taboada had very clear the effect that this sub-rated film would have through the time.. he didn't use something with lights or shadows... the simple and peaceful image of Andrea standing in the middle of the woods chills you out, or Diego, saying that when the wind is like that... he knows she's around.

What I don't know exactly about this film is that my husband says there are two endings... one that shows the feet in the window, and the other that it doesn't. Is that true?

in three words.. It's awesome!

'Hasta el viento tiene miedo' is a supremely atmospheric Gothic horror gem from the gifted Mexican maestro of understated, eerily ethereal chills, Carlos Enrique Taboada. He takes a prosaic Gothic plot, the haunting of a all-girls school, and effectively turns it into sublimely unsettling cinematic art, and it becomes apparent fairly swiftly that Taboada is a master of malign mood. Sadly, for reasons I simply don't understand, there are a great number of fright fans entirely unaware of Taboada's magnificent genre cinema. The deliciously unsettling opening gambit of 'Hasta el viento tiene miedo' is inordinately creepy, sinisterly subtle, and deftly reveals a great mastery of camera that brings to mind the visionary macabre genius of Mario Bava's 'Kill Baby Kill', or maestro Jack Clayton's eternally nightmarish 'The Innocents'.

'Hasta el viento tiene miedo' is a genuinely unnerving ghost story that resolutely clasps you in its grievously glacial grip right from its bravura first act to the heart-rendingly diabolic, ectoplasmically thrilling dénouement! This is quite demonstratively one of the more important examples of genre cinema, whose chilling Gothic motifs easily rivals that of 'Black Sunday', 'Night of the Living Dead', and 'Carnival of Souls', and it remains a profound injustice to enthusiastic genre cineastes everywhere that Taboada's moodily majestic, tantalizingly penetrating visions of fear aren't more recognized for the landmark films that they so clearly are.

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.

I watched this movie when I was a little kid with my mom a long time ago, I never thought too much about it, I just considered it a decent horror movie with a pretty good title. Seeing it again after all these years I realize just how good it is.

Its as classic of a horror story as you can get, a ghost in a school, its relatable and familiar, a bit cliché by now but what makes you forget about how much this concept has been used is its execution, this is a genuinely eerie film, it doesn't use the usual cliché "scary faces" or "creepy sounds", however, it uses elements that are often used in classic horror like darkness, the wind, lightnings and cries (this is the first time I found someone crying in the dark of the night to be scary) but uses this elements at the right time, it doesn't waste them trying to scare you every so often, it builds the mood and the setting in such an astounding way before something scary actually happens in the story.

Taboada is often considered to be the master of Mexican horror and I agree, while there have been other great directors who have made horror films, Taboada is the only director who worked consistently in the horror genre and not only that, but his movies are always great. He also understands the genre very well, he knows that in movies like these the special effects wont be effective, he knows that characters, mood and execution are priorities. Taboada knows that ghosts aren't evil entities but souls in pain who look for redemption.

An amazing film that deals with many interesting themes and subjects, this is probably one of the movies I would like to re watch soon if I find the time to do it.

When the students at an-all female boarding house are forced to stay on campus during a holiday break, they find themselves in the middle of a suspected haunting that has ties to those in charge and try to stop it before it gets deadly.

This was an utterly enjoyable and engrossing Mexican horror effort, with one of the better and more entertaining ghost stories around that make for some incredibly enjoyable times around. Filled with lots of atmosphere in the gigantic facility, a perfectly captivating mystery and the right amount of tension-release, from cheesy dance numbers and slight lesbian undertones to the gang's night-time investigations and the interactions with the headmistress make for some somewhat slow-going but still decent-enough interludes from the haunting action, and while it's not a real go-for-the-throat style of haunting where it constantly reinforces it's there but contains enough set-pieces to make it consciously part of the film. The last half is a little too cheesy to mesh with the classic first-half, but it's still a great old-school ghost story and a highly entertaining one at that.

Today's Rating-Unrated/PG: Violence.

I saw this movie when I was young, since I live close to the Mexican border it continues to be shown on the Mexican television stations from time to time. The cast is great with the two leading veteran actresses Lopez and Olivier. Sadly, both actresses have past away leaving their great movies for us to view. All the young female actresses are EXCELLENT, each playing the perfect part, especially Kitty (Norma Lazareno) doing her trashy strip tease, which almost steals the show!! Leading the scary roll, is Claudia (Alica Bonet) possessed by the ghost of Andrea, played by the beautiful Pamela Susan Hall. Oddly enough she did not pursue a career in movies. The rest of the young girls continue acting in Mexican soaps and movies to this day. Interestingly, there are only 3 male actors with the story, since the story deals with a private school for girls. The screechy owl on the tree, the haunting sounds and the whistling-eerie wind are scary enough to scare anyone. The final touch to the movie, that everyone is forgetting is the great spooky music. Most of the special effects are done in camera, no digital or cheesy effects here. I have bought this DVD and always look forward to seeing it again and again. Somehow we like to be scared once in a while. Great Halloween flick. You don't have to be bilingual to understand the story.

You need to see a real horror-suspense movie? Don't miss this one. Hasta el Viento Tiene Miedo is 36 years old, and still is so fresh and captivating.

Carlos Enrique Taboada didn't need special make up, mutilated bodies, rivers of blood, FX nor a budget of millions of dollars to create the best horror-suspense Mexican movie.

No names to point, but in fact this movie is much better than many other popular horror movies you have seen.

To listen the spectral voice calling "Claudia...Claudia"; see her slowly go towards that voice; watching Claudia dead covered by a blanket and suddenly to see her arm moving under the blanket; still takes my breath away.

Yes, the final part is a cliché. However the first fifty minutes are worth.

Yes. That's right, "Hasta el viento tiene miedo" is the best horror movie ever made. The acting might be cheesy but it is forgivable considering this is a 60's movie. The story from this movie is superb and will chill your spine. If you can catch this movie on tv don't hesitate to put some popcorn in the mcrowave 'cause you will be about to witness horror at it's best.