THE OTHER HELL (1981)

 Bruno Mattei is one of my favorite directors not because he actually makes "good" films but because he just seems to throw a little of everything into in his movies. Of course most of the times it seems like his ideas are just borrowed from other movies but that's besides the point. This here nunsploitation movie takes Ken Russell's THE DEVILS, ROSEMARY'S BABY and whatever random ghost movie you want to pick and mixes them in a blender of gross-out horror. It all starts out with a dead nun having her vagina cut out before the credits even roll, then the mother-superior of the convent(Franca Stoppi, who looks way too young to be in this role) gets a little stabby with another nun and then things start to get weird. There's a gardener(Franko Garafalo, who's that guy who does that stupid dance in Mattei's NIGHT OF THE ZOMBIES) who keeps a bunch of dogs for some reason which leads into some "when animals attack" action, a mute nun who goes nutzo,there's stigmata, the Devil shows up looking like a prop from a Dio concert, lots of haunted house, or in this case haunted convent, shenanigans and it all ends with some revived corpses zombie action. There are a few lulls in between all this which throw the pace off at times but still a good time for horror whackos. The one thing Mattei oddly doesn't include in this is any sex or nudity which is normally the standard for these types of flicks. So shave off a few points if you're just looking for sleaze.

 AKA THE PRESENCE and GUARDIAN OF HELL

 

LOVE LETTERS OF A PORTUGUESE NUN (1977)

 This might be the best-looking film I've seen so far by Spanish Eurosleaze director Jess Franco. It's also a pretty big downer of a film for the most part. The plot deals with a young gal(Susan Hemingway, who as far as I can tell was only 14 or 15 when this was filmed due to it actually being completed in '75 but not released until '77) who gets sent away to a convent only to find out is is in fact run by a group of Satanists. Herbert Fux shows up as a rapey Satan, William Berger is our pervy priest and you get a bunch of nuns who like to flash their boobs during rituals and practice lesbian antics. A great entry in the Franco oeuvre akin to something like THE DEVILS but on a smaller scale.
 Lead actress Susan Hemingway also starred in Franco's later WOMEN IN CELL BLOCK 9, so I guess she specialized in being a young naked girl who only appeared in Uncle Jess' films and spurred on controversy due to her age.

STORY OF A CLOISTERED NUN (1973)

 Judging by that bloody Australian VHS-cover image up above you would think this might be one of those super grimy Jess Franco naughty nun extravaganzas but it's not really. I guess because this is one of the earlier examples of this women-in-prison-like sub-genre it's way more on the artsy-fartsy/tamer side of things. We do get a little lesbianism, some mild whipping and nun suicide but nothing is very explicitly shown outside of all the perky boobies. This is not to say it's a terrible film. It is a bit slow in spots but overall it's worth a look if you can deal with a drama on a snowy Saturday morning and if you've already seen all the wilder nuns-humping-nuns classics. If not check out SCHOOL OF THE HOLY BEAST for a great Japanese version of this weirdo fetish. AKA UNHOLY CONVENT and DIARY OF A CLOISTERED NUN




The actual movie poster gives you a better look at the actual content of this film:

BEHIND CONVENT WALLS (1978)

 Director Walerian Borowczyk made the amazing and bizarre film THE BEAST in 1975 and this artsy nunsploitation flick in '78, and, yeah, I know he made a bunch of other stuff also but these are the only two films of his that I've seen so far.  This one is based on a novel which seems strange since there doesn't really seem to be much of a story at all. It's more of a collection of pervy scenes involving naughty nuns. I was hoping it would be a but more insane than that but it's pretty standard stuff for this sleazy subgenre. There's a dildo carved out of wood with Jesus face on it, lots of nude yoga and the expected lesbianic romping. Besides this though it's just artsy nunsploitation. I have to say I'm more of a Bruno mattei fan when it comes to the sleaze flicks so this one didn't really dazzle me much but if you like naughty art give it a watch. AKA WITHIN A CLOISTER and SEX LIFE IN A CONVENT

THE DEMONS (1973)

 I've seen this called Jess Franco's version of Ken Russell's THE DEVILS but it doesn't really have all that many similarities with that and is really just a kinda crappy nunsploitation movie. Since it's a Franco you get a lot of sex scenes thrown in which manage to stall the plot a bunch and take away from the story which is about a couple of twins who turn out to be the daughters of a witch that was burned at the stake but it does add lots of boobs and euro-bush! It turns out witches actually do have magical powers in this so I'm not sure who the good guys are supposed to be. Howard Vernon might be one of the few characters who seems to have any good intentions. While morally-ambiguous plots are usually a plus for me this one is a little too much of a muddled mess for me to really get into it. Also Franco had already made the superior BLOODY JUDGE with Christopher Lee which kinda makes this feel a bit unnecessary.
 The version I watched of this seemed to be an uncut version that jumped from English to French a lot so I'm thinking that a shorter cut may actually work better but I don't think I wanna watch this again to find out. AKA SHE-DEMONS & THE SEX DEMONS

You're mother was a witch:

SCHOOL OF THE HOLY BEAST (1974)

 Sex, violence and body fluids. When you think of the nunsploitation genre you would probably think of Italy first and other European countries next but this here film is a rare example of a Catholic-nuns-gone-wrong tale from Japan and I would put it up there among the best Eurotrash naughty nun films as a look at the evils of organized religion. It starts out with a hockey match, which is another one of the last things I ever thought I would see in an Asian film and from there it tells the tale of a young gal who's sent off to become a nun instead of going to an insane asylum. One of my favorite things about this movie, besides the ample nudity on display, is the way it thematically runs the gamut from serious drama featuring photos from Nagasaki after the atomic bombing to THREE STOOGES-like slapstick to bondage reel to beautiful art film to horrific horror film complete with a secret trap-door and acid bath. They jam so much into one movie that it's hard not to at least appreciate the effort. In this way I think it even tops most of the similar European nun flicks by adding those extra-insane Japanese elements. If you don't care about any of that stuff it still has hot nude Japanese gals being whipped with roses, nun wrestling, a rapist priest and Christ getting pissed on. Hard to go wrong with all that. AKA CONVENT OF THE SACRED BEAST

THE DEVILS (1971)

 THE DEVILS is the point where the art-flick meets nunsploitation.  It's also a sort-of bigger budgeted version of MARK OF THE DEVIL and uses it's larger scale to great effect.  The story itself deals with the ideas of religious insanity and more so with the inevitability of those in power to abuse their authority for whatever purposes benefit them.  I'm sure this film was quite shocking to anyone lucky enough to view it back when it was released, though because it was censored so heavily by the powers that be at the time I'm not sure too many people got the chance to view the version director Ken Russell intended.  This is a shame because this film does a beautiful job of depicting the evil insanity of organized mob-mentality i.e. church-mind.  The most censored scene contains a group of nuns accused of demonic possession raping a statue of Jesus and if there ever was a more fitting depiction of the absurdity of religion put on film I'm not sure what it would be.  You also get some more typical inquisition-style torture and naughty nun orgies.  Probably the best made movie in this blasphemous sub-genre and really deserves a nice Criterion release at some point.

ALUCARDA (1977)

 No one in this movie seems to notice that one of the little nun-in-training girls in the convent has a name that's A DRACULA backwards but then again logic is not the biggest asset this film has going for it and certainly not the reason I love this film so much.  The reason to watch this is to see 70's Satanist hi-jinks with plenty of nudity, crazy gore-filled goings-on, priests chopping off devil-zombie heads, evil hunchbacks that may or may not be the devil himself and nuns whipping themselves silly.  This just might be the perfect movie to watch at 3 A.M. as long as you don't worry about keeping the neighbors up due to all the screaming going on.  This was made in Mexico which is kind of hard to believe because it has such a strong Eurotrash vibe running through it.  I would put this up there among my favorite Satanic movies as well as one of the better nunsploitation flicks.

THE SINFUL NUNS OF SAINT VALENTINE (1974)

A Valentine's Day movie that has nothing to do with Valentine's Day except for the title.  As far as naughty nun flicks go this one is pretty mediocre at best.  Nothing really all that shocking happens and it's basically a love story between a woman who was sent to a monastery and a fellow accused of being unchristian.  There is a lot of naked nun-flesh on display, a whipping and a hint of lesbianism here and there and that's about as shocking as it gets.  I did enjoy the brief appearance of a ranting Satanic witch.  Too bad she didn't have a bigger part.  I also like how this film, like most everything else in this genre, shows organized religions immense capacity for evil.  For way more insane stuff go with some Bruno Mattei nunsploitation or even Ken Russell's THE DEVILS which this seems to be a sort of takeoff on.

Thing I learned while watching this- Apparently when you brick up nuns in a convent a bunch of them take off their tops and then they go crazy and start killing each other!

THE TRUE STORY OF THE NUN OF MONZA (1980)

Bruno Mattei is one of my favorite directors of  Italian exploitation films.  In such films as RATS: NIGHT OF TERROR and NIGHT OF THE ZOMBIES he shows an over the top abundance of ineptness that translates into a so bad it's good vibe.  Even in his later shot-on video stuff I always find him entertaining in his eagerness to give the viewer shocking scenes amidst a sea of stupidity.  That being said this nunsploitation flick from the 80's is a relatively subdued viewing experience from the master of sleazy thrills.  There's the expected nun lesbianism and some whippings here and there but it never goes to the murky depths of depravity that Mattei usually wallows in.  I guess he took this material more serious or something.  Maybe for historical reasons since this was a remake of 1969's THE NUN OF MONZA which was one of the first nunsploitation movies ever.  This TRUE STORY OF THE NUN OF MONZA stars Zora Kerova, who gore fans will recognize as the chick who gets hooks through her boobs in CANNIBAL FEROX, as a naughty nun who gets power hungry and then has to be punished.  You get some footage of horse fucking stolen from Walerian Borowczyk's THE BEAST and not too much else that's all that memorable.  I prefer Mattei's other nun epic THE OTHER HELL at least in that one you get some crazy hi-jinks from Satan himself.  

No Satan at all in this movie just this ass-clown:

THE NUNS OF ST. ARCHANGEL (1973)

 "You are judging me for corruption and cruelty. Am I more corrupt than you?"

This Italian made nunsploitation flick set in in the 16th century plays out for the most part like a typical historical political drama concerned with the appointment of a new mother superior after the old one kicks the bucket.  There are some little bits of the expected lesbianism on display but the main thing that saves it from being a waste of time is the really powerful ending complete with supposedly historically accurate, inquisition-style torture devices plus a pretty strong indictment of the brutality of Christianity of old.  It really stands out from the more common sleazy naughty nun movies of the time and is a well made piece worth watching if you can deal with the heavy plot throughout and lack of nudity or exploitation elements up until the climax.
AKA THE NUN AND THE DEVIL, INNOCENTS FROM HELL and SISTERS OF SATAN

IMAGES IN A CONVENT (1979)

"Governments like to hang a free-thinker"

What starts out as a surprisingly well done, classy-looking, very artsy type film from Italian cult film director Joe D'Amato (better known to horror fans for making low-down dirty trashy gore-classics like ANTHROPOPHAGUS and PORNO HOLOCAUST) shifts about halfway into more familiar territory of sleaze and debauchery.  The movie is indeed packed with naughty imagery in a convent and you can see why D'Amato would go on in his later years to make hardcore porn since this movie could almost be considered porn itself (there's even a rape scene with cocks and a graphic blow-job that I wasn't expecting).  Not having been raised Catholic I never had a particular fetish for nuns though hot, pent-up naked ladies spells a good time in any outfit they wanna wear or none at all.  Check it out if you dig sleazy filthy nun antics teetering on full out fuck film status.

Groping tits for Satan!: