School of Death aka El colegio de la Muerte is a Spanish horror thriller about a mad doctor lobotomizes women for sleazy purposes. The film was an obscurity for quite some time and after watching it, it should have stayed in the land of obscure films.

Taking place in London in 1899, an orphanage sends teenage girls to the hideously scarred Dr. Edward Brown (Dean Selmier, The Blood-Spattered Bride) who operates on their brains and wipes their memories clean from a memory-draining operation and become a type of zombie. They are then used as prostitutes for wealthy men.

The film to me was forgettable with a cast of relatively unknown actors, save for Dean Selmier and Sandra Mozarowsky who was in Night of the Seagulls and some other Spanish horrors. The effects of tame, and wasn’t as gory as plenty of other great Spanish horrors. The acting and story was vapid with the only positive things about the School of Death is that it did have some atmospheric moments and some great cinematography by Antonio Ballesteros. The set designs, filming locations, and costumes the actors wore stood out and are beautiful to look at.

School Of Death has debuted on Blu-ray from Mondo Macabro, in its 1:66 aspect ratio given a new 4k scan from the original 35mm negative. The colors are bold and robust, with the scenery looking clear with lots of detail and rich textures. Black levels are also strong. Skin tones look natural and accurate throughout with great details to the faces in close-ups.

Both English and Spanish language options are provided in DTS-HD 2.0 mono audio with optional subtitles provided in English for both tracks. Both tracks are clean, with dialogue and other action sounds without any issues with drop-offs, hissing or distortion.

Film historian Kat Ellinger provides a thoughtful, thorough commentary about School of Death. Fans of the film should give this a listen. The commentary track is the lone extra outside of the usual Mondo Macabro promo reel.

I think School of Death is more for die-hard fans of Spanish horror that want to see everything. Personally, I didn’t dig it as much as I had hoped. The audio and video presentation for this release is superb to go with the commentary track and Mondo Macabro should be commended for brining such a rare film out of obscurity so fans can enjoy it!

School of Death

Director- Pedro Ramirez

Cast- Dean Selmier, Sandra Mozarowsky

Country of Origin- Spain

Distributor – Mondo Macabro

Number of Discs – 1

Reviewed by – David Steigman

Date – 4/9/2022