SDSDSVDSVSmoustache whowould have
looked at ease inFranco’s
cabinet, but who, on his 50th
birthday, plans onmurdering his
wife androbbing the bank where
he works.
Many of the episodes starred
Chicho’sown father, the wiry,
charismatic Narciso Ibáñez
Menta, blessed with dark, soulful
eyes and an unforgettable
boomingvoice.El Asfalto,
based on a short storyby Carlos
Buiza,was one of those. Its
climax, where the protagonist is
swallowed by the tarmac after all
the othercharacters ignore his
pleasfor help, sticks in the mind.
Its themes – social isolation,
the loneliness of the individual
in an increasingly fragmented
environment –resonated,
and itreceived the Golden
NymphAward at theFestival
of Montecarlo in 1967, putting
Spain on the map as a producer
of quality television content.The
TV executives were elated.
1968 would turn out to bea
landmark in Spanish horror, due
to the unexpected success of
La Marca del Hombre Lobo(aka
Hell’s Creatures), the unlikely
monster film that almost starred
Lon Chaney, Jr., but that instead
launched the career ofPaul
Naschy (seeFT259:54-55) as the
Spanish “Man of theThousand
Faces”.
Suddenly, the long-neglected
genrewas seen as profitable, and
able to make inroads into the
international market. By then,
Ibáñez Serrador’s persona had
become synonymous with horror,
so who better than him to deliver
the next commercial success?
La Residencia, known in English
asThe HouseThat Screamed, was
his first film andremained his
personalfavourite, a lavishly
Gothic slasher set in a girls’
boarding school in 19thcentury
France. Shot entirely in English,
with an international cast fronted
by the German LilliPalmer, it was
the mostexpensive Spanish film
ever made at the time, and the
highest-grossing film of 1969 in
its country of origin.
Even though censorship
policies hadrelaxedover time,
Ibáñez Serrador still had to
comply with the code.Thecensorswere moreworried
about obvious displays of flesh
than with any questionable
content thatwas merely hinted
at, so he delivere d a piece
brimming with psychosexual
tension:repressed lesbianism,
sadomasochism, incest.The film
is by no means standard Gothic
fare: the embroidery sequence
is a fineexample of his directing
skills, and the oddly melancholic
murder scenes made history,
since slow-motion had never
been used in Spanish cinema to
depict such an act of violence.
The censors labelled the film with
a ‘4’, the certificationreserved
for “seriously dangerous” films.
Months after itsrelease, people
were queueing outside cinemas
to see it.Almost a decade later, he
completed his masterpiece, the
bleak cult classicWho Can Kill
a Child?(1976). Long before
Children ofThe Corn, Ibáñez
Serrador presented a crowd of
sinisterchildren who takeover
the streets of an idyllic village in
an island off the coast of Spain.
The first part of the film, where
an unsuspecting British couple,
a loving husband and a pregnant
wife, arrive at the sunny holiday
resort and encounter a slightly
off-kilter scenario that soondescends into a maelstrom of
violence, is almost unbearably
tense.The unthinkable moral
dilemma of the title delivers a
punch to the gut whose effects
linger long after viewing.
Both of his feature films – he
only directed these two – lefta
clear mark in Spanish cinema,
but theywere only part of
Chicho’s legacy. In 1981 hewas
in front of the camera again, this
timeforMisTerroresFavoritos,
where he introduced hisfavourite
horror films: classics such asThe
InnocentsandWhatever Happened
To BabyJane? along with more
recent productions likeHorror
Express, Let Sleeping Corpses
Die,or10 Rillington Place.At a
time when filmsweren’t easily
available, he educated a whole
generation in cinematic scares.
Aside from the horror genre,
his biggest hitwas probably
the game showUn, Dos,Tres,
which premiered in 1972 and
was exported to severa l other
countries; its Britishversion was
3-2-1,shown on ITV between 1978
and 1988. But,even though he
produced manyfamily-friendly
entertainment programmes,
his public imageremained
associated with the horror genre
until his death.
HistoriasPara No Dormirwas
revived in 2005 asPelículasPara
No Dormir, or “Films toKeep
You Awake”.For this new series
ofTV movies, Ibáñez Serrador
recruitedJaume Balagueró,
Alex de la Iglesia, and severa l
other acclaimed genre directors.
He even directed one of the
films himself:La Culpa,his last
directing credit. But therevival
didn’t sitwell with audiences.
Recently,El Paísasked him
whyHistoriasPara No Dormir
resonated inFranco’s Spain.
“Maybe because the fear that the
film instilled inyou was larger
than the oneyou felt inyour
everyday life,” he replied.“Fear
on screen is always a refuge.
Feeling that there arewors e
things is a comfort.”2 MARIA J PÉREZ CUERVO
is a Bristol-based writer who
specialises in history, archæology,
myth, and mystery. She isa
regular contributor to FT.FT383 59ABOVE:Ibáñez Serrador attends a dinner at the Goya CinemaAwards at the Royal
Theatre, Madrid, on 14 January 2019.BELOW:Chicho’s masterpiece.CA
RLOS AL
VAREZ / GETTY IMAGESAGES
SinisterchildrentakeoveranidyllicvillageonaSpanishisland