Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

'Satan's School For Girls' really looks like a cool vintage seventies satanic horror-thriller, but regardless its über-cool title, that doesn't necessarily make it a great movie. When Elizabeth Sayer's (Pamela Franklin, delivering a decent performance) sister commits suicide, she works her way into the private school her sister went to. It doesn't take too long for her to discover other girls have been dying too. The concept is nice and it's not a boring watch, but the mystery is a little weak and the denouement is underwhelming. Features a bunch of good-looking seventies beauties, but no skin and no blood. Some ladies do die, and those scenes are pretty much the only shocks this film has to offer.Interesting trivia: during the '70s, legendary producer Aaron Spelling ('The Love Boat', 'Dynasty', 'Beverly Hills 90210', 'Melrose Place',...) produced several made-for-TV horror movies, and with having watched at least one more of them (the amusing 'Cruise Into Terror', 1978), I strongly suspect they all might be enjoyable watches. So is 'Satan's School For Girls' to some extent, even if it's a quite forgettable film. Makes me curious to see what the remake from 2000 (also made-for-TV and produced by Spelling) might have turned into.

Satan's School for Girls (1973)** (out of 4) Made-for-TV flick about Elizabeth Sayers (Pamela Franklin), a woman who checks herself into a college under a fake name after the suicide of her sister. Elizabeth doesn't believe her sister would kill herself so she goes to the college to see what's really going on and sure enough other girls have killed themselves or is something much darker going on? Yes, the title pretty much tells you what's going on in this Aaron Spelling flick that has some good performances and nice atmosphere but very little else. At 78-minutes the film seems twice as long and the main reason why is that every single scene just keeps dragging on and on to the point where you simply stop caring about what's going on. It also doesn't help that the director seems to think that you're going to come to the film scared and that he doesn't need to do anything except having strange looking actors playing male parts and have scary music constantly going on the soundtrack. Just check out the opening scene where we get a couple males who just look creepy and yet this is supposed to make us scared. This trick happens throughout the movie as every male role is either played by an elderly man made to seem weird or of course there's the one good looking guy and you know what that means. There's a nice music score here but it gets played to death so much that you really can't help but roll your eyes and wish someone would hit the pause button. Even though it's not creepy at all, the film at least contains some nice atmosphere but I've found most TV movies from this era, no matter how bad they are, to have this one quality. Another good thing are the performances with Franklin doing a nice job in the lead role. The supporting cast includes strong performances by Jo Van Fleet and Kate Jackson as well as a very good turn by Cheryl Ladd in an early role. SATAN'S SCHOOL FOR GIRLS offers very few shocks, no scares and there's really not too much going for it. In a decade full of Satanic films you can find much better ones to spend your night with.

Following the mysterious suicide of her sister, a young woman enrolls herself in the girl's college she was attending to investigate what really happened. This 70's telefilm can sort of be looked at as an earlier, far less extravagant version of "Suspiria". After a strong opening, emphasis is firmly placed on the investigation aspect. We get a solid cast, as was often the case in these old TV efforts. Pamela Franklin, so good in "And Soon the Darkness" and "Legend of Hell House", plays the lead role of investigating sibling. Also present is the lovely Kate Jackson, as well as Cheryl Ladd under a different name. It's interesting seeing these two together before they would later go on to star opposite each other in "Charlie's Angels". Not too surprising when you consider that both this movie and that show were Spelling productions.There are some good moments here, but a few too many scenes of exploring dark corridors slow the film considerably. The ending is predictable, but I suppose that's to be expected given the title. It's worth a look, but don't expect one of the better TV horrors.

Can someone take on the challenge of restoring and preserving all those 'made for TV' movies from the 60's and 70's? Here we have a curious masterpiece... a young woman goes snooping at a spooky American private girls' school in 1973, and gets more than she bargained for.Pamela Franklin plays like a prototype Winona Ryder, short and short-haired amidst the tall, long-haired 'California' girls. Having spent much of her career playing skewed or disturbed British girls, here she is the 'straight' heroine, years before all those current Britishers took on the dialogue coach.She confronts not one but TWO Jacksons, Kate and Jamie Smith-. Both were striking and imposing, both tall and long-haired... and when contrasted with poor Cheryl Stoppelmoor, both quite fascinating. Jamie is quite captivating playing the freaked and frightened Debbie. Kate is a mess of contradictions - beautiful yet straight-laced (check the night-gowns - Jamie sports a slinky red number, Kate is buttoned up in high neck and frills)... one Jackson sadly retired (as did Franklin - why?), the other unwisely shyed away from unsympathetic roles and found fame as a glam' detective (in polo-necks and neck-covering scarves).Ultimately not the best entry in 1973's TV movie offerings, yet in the 21st century it's worth a look for the fantastic casting choices!