Claudia (Alicia Bonet) is a student at a Mexican boarding school for girls. Just before the school is to be closed for holiday, Claudia wakes in the middle of the night to the sound of someone calling her. She looks up and sees a girl hanging from the rafters. She screams and faints. Dr. Oliver (Enrique Garcia Alvarez) is called. He tells the school’s assistant principal, Miss Lucia (Maricruz Olivier), that Claudia had a panic attack from a nightmare and just needs some rest. The principal, Miss Bernarda (Marga Lopez) believes that Claudia is just trying to get out of class, so she overrides the doctor’s orders and sends Claudia back to her studies.
Later, Claudia is walking on the school grounds with her classmates, Kitty (Norma Lazareno), Marina (Rita Sabre Marroquin), Silvia (Irma Castillon), Ivette (Renata Seydel) and Veronica (Lourdes Baledon), when they see the door to the school tower is unlocked. The tower had been locked for years, and it is forbidden to enter it. The girls decide to look inside. Once inside Claudia states that this is the room she saw in her nightmare. The girls are discovered by Miss Bernarda. As punishment for disobeying the rules the girls will not be permitted to go on holiday with their families and will stay at school to continue their classes.
The next night Claudia once again hears the voice. Sleepwalking she follows it outside heading for the tower. Two of the girls, Kitty and Ivette, follow her out. Claudia wakes up and sees a girl in the window of the tower. Kitty and Ivette also see her and race back to the dorm to tell the others.
The next day, in the lunchroom, Miss Bernarda confiscates a picture of Kitty’s boyfriend, Armando (Sadi Dupeyron). That night Kitty is determined to retrieve her picture. She finds it in Miss Bernarda’s desk. Also in the desk is a picture of a girl. Kitty recognizes it as the girl she saw in the tower window.
The girls learn that the girl was a former student, Andrea (Pamela Susan Hall), who is said to have committed suicide several years ago by hanging herself in the tower when she was not permitted to see her ill mother before she died. Now it seems that the ghost of Andrea is seeking revenge and plans on using Claudia as her weapon.
“Even the Wind is Afraid” AKA “The Wind of Fear” AKA “Hasta el viento tiene miedo” was released in 1968 and was written and directed by Carlos Enrique Taoada. It is a Mexican gothic supernatural horror film and considered a cult film in Mexico. A remake was done in 2007. Some people credit the movie for rejuvenating Mexico’s horror genre.
It is not the usual Mexican style horror film with unusual characters or strange plots. It follows the standard haunting premise, but it does it in an interesting way. It is a slow burning film, but easy to watch and not at all boring. In fact, it was quite good. It has sort of a giallo-esque feel to it but without the sex and violence. It’s very atmospheric and uses the wind as a pseudo character to enhance the eeriness of the film. The scares are mild but very effective.