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Released by: Severin Films
Released on: December 14th, 2021.
Director: Sergio Bergonzelli, Domenico Paolella, Joe D'Amato, Bruno Mattei
Cast: Toti Achilli, Magda Konopka, Vassili Karis, Gerardo Rossi, Catherine Spaak, Suzy Kendall, Eleonora Giorgi, Paola Senatore, Angelo Arquilla, Paola Maiolini, Zora Kerova, Mario Cutini, Paola Corazzi
Year: 1972/1973/1979/1980
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Nasty Habits: The Nunsploitation Collection - Movie Review:
Severin Films offers up four fables of nasty nuns doing nasty things in their appropriately titled nunsploitation Blu-ray collection, Nasty Habits. Here's a look at how this all plays out…
Cristiana Devil Nun:
The first film, also known as Our Lady Of Lust, was directed by the infamous Sergio Bergonzelli in 1972. The film introduces us to a promiscuous young woman named Cristiana (Toti Achilli) just as she's getting some action from her boyfriend, Luca (Gerardo Rossi), in the middle of the coach section of a passenger jet. Her friends are into it, clearly enjoying the show that she's putting on, while the nuns a few seats over are less than pleased with this public display of affection.
When the plane starts to go down, however, Cristiana she repents then and there, pleasing with God to save her life and promising that should this happen, she'll become a nun. When they wind up surviving the ordeal, Cristiana keeps her word and decides to join a convent despite the protestations from her friends. Cristiana takes to life in the nunnery quite quickly, befriending foxy Sister Eleonora (Magda Konopka) and almost as quickly hopping into bed with her. Having still not put the fire that burns between her legs, Cristiana then takes a ride on a painter who comes by to do some maintenance on the building. It isn't long before Cristiana is bold enough that she decides to sneak her boyfriend into the nunnery, at which point things get weirder than you might expect!
Complete with some pretty wacky model airplane 'effects' used to show the jetliner in the midst of a terrible storm, Cristiana Devil Nun is pretty zany stuff. You'd expect nothing less than zany from Bergonzelli if you're familiar with his work, of course, but hey look, hardcore inserts. Didn't see that coming. The movie definitely benefits from a great song played over the opening and end of the movie, and some weird narration here and there, and it makes good use of some nice location photography.
Toti Achilli is pretty solid in the lead here, really throwing herself into the role with a lot of energy but handling the occasional more dramatic moment quite well. She's got good screen presence and looks great in the part. Magda Konopka is quite good here too, and Gerardo Rossi is fine as the boyfriend and the love of Cristiana's life (at least when the movie starts - they're literally yelling it at one another while on vacation before boarding the plane!).
Story Of A Cloistered Nun:
Considered by many to be the film that kick-started the 'nunsploitation' sub-genre of exploitation movies that were popular in the seventies, Domenico Paolella's 1973 art-trash hybrid The Story Of A Cloistered Nun isn't nearly as trashy or base as the films that would follow it but still has the power to disturb thanks to a few powerful scenes - especially if you've had a Catholic upbringing.
When the movie begins, we see the parents of Carmela (the gorgeous Eleonora Giorgi) arrange for her to marry the son of another wealthy family so that when they are of age they'll join the two families together resulting in considerable wealth and power for both side. Of course, when Carmela grows up she's not interested in her arranged marriage and instead falls in love with a peasant boy named Julian (Antonio Falsi). When she refuses to deal with the marriage, rather than deal with the shame that would befall both sides her family decides to force her to join a strict convent of nuns out in the countryside.
Carmela isn't sure what to think of things when she arrives. She's placed in solitary for a while and fed only occasionally until the powers that be feel her sense of self has been sufficiently demolished. It's then that she's let out into the general population of the convent. As she begins to mingle with her fellow Brides of Christ she befriends the sultry Sister Elizabeth (Catherine Spaak) who at first seems to be quite sincere in her friendly intentions but who soon shows her true colors. The Mother Superior (Suzy Kendall) takes a bit of a liking to Carmela but is soon forced to punish her for her inappropriate behavior.
Eventually, Julian shows up in Carmela's life again and Sister Elizabeth helps her to escape the convent so that she can spend some time with her beloved under cover of the night. When Carmela returns, Elizabeth professes her love to her in hopes of taking her as her lesbian lover but Carmela has eyes only for Julian. Angered by the rejection, Elizabeth sets into motion a plan to get her revenge on Carmela, but it doesn't necessarily end the way that you think it will.
Also known as The Diary Of A Cloistered Nun, this early entry in the annals of nasty nun cinema really set the stage for a lot of the imitations that would soon follow (Joe D'Amato's Images In A Convent - more on that in a bit - being a prime example as it follows a very similar formula). Interestingly enough it features three of the ladies who would either go on to become or had already become some of Dario Argento's best known female leads but the movie has a lot more to offer besides some interesting Euro-cult casting.
Director Domenico Paolella cut his teeth directing sword and sandal epics during the sixties and that experience with lavish sets and costumes shines through nicely in this film. The movie is a bit slow in spots but it builds nicely to a surprisingly sweet finale that, although it borrows very heavily from Spartacus, is surprisingly upbeat for a movie of this kind. Rather than end on a down note, Paolella's film offers hope and redemption for all parties involved. While along the way the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church of the time takes a few shots, ultimately the film is a testament to those of strong faith and of the human spirit - you won't see that in very many nunsploitation films!
While the movie offers a few of the expected sleaze set pieces - highlighted by a naked whipping and scene where one of the sisters is forced to lick the floor from the back of the church up to the alter - the production values are slick enough and the performances and story are played straight enough that this is as much an art-house film as it is an exploitation movie. This might not work for those hoping for serious titillation and, on the flip side of that coin, the harsher scenes might irk those who want a serious drama but Paolella's film is unique (and therefore worth seeing) as much for the restraint it shows and for its message as for its exploitation elements. The fact that it is supposedly based on a true story makes it all the more interesting.
Images In A Convent:
Written, directed and quite lushly photographed by Joe D'Amato, 1979's Images In A Convent is set in the Italy of the nineteenth century. At a local convent named Santa Fiora, the Mother Superior (Nana Aslanoglu) decides to take in an orphan girl named Isabella (Paola Senatore), offered up to the nuns by her father in order to protect the girl from her predatory and unscrupulous uncle.
It isn't long before Mother Superior and the rest of the nuns realize that Isabella's presumed innocence isn't quite the reality they're now faced with. Clearly a bit of an exhibitionist, after having some rad lesbian sex with one of her fellow nuns and getting whipped, Isabella is delighted when the nuns take in a wounded man named Guido (Angelo Arquilla) found nearby in hopes of reviving him and then sending him on his way. Unhappy with life behind convent walls, Isabella decides to use the man to aid in her planned escape but his presence in the convent quickly turns into something far more stranger than any of the nuns could have anticipated, making some of them wonder, as they shed their morals in favor of carnal pleasures, if he isn't actually Satan himself resulting in a priest (Donald O'Brien) being called into exorcise the entire convent!
Set to a very cool, if entirely derivative, score from composer Nico Fidenco, Images In A Convent is as decidedly sleazy as you'd expect given its director's reputation. Filled with graphic Sapphic couplings, whippings, degradation and a fairly brutal rape scene, it's a film that cares not for subtlety and leaves very little to the imagination. In short, there's a lot of sex in this movie, some of it crossing the line into hardcore territory. It's also very nicely shot and costumed, though some of the nuns' hairstyles and one actress' clearly 'enhanced' breasts do take away from the period detail that is kind of key to all of this. Borrowing elements from Story Of A Cloistered Nun and Ken Russell's The Devils, D'Amato paces the film pretty well, even if not much of a plot exists until the second half of the movie, and casts it with quite an attractive bunch of female cast members.
The odd supernatural angle to the story helps to set it apart from the pack a little bit, and the performances from pretty much everyone in the cast are never less than impressively bold! D'Amato's camerawork is a big selling point here, as despite the heavy grain and frequent use of soft focus photography Images In A Convent is a really good looking movie. The lesbian scenes, which take up a fair bit of the running time and are almost always performed with at least part of the traditional nun wardrobe on (definitely worth noting as that does tend to be part of the more fetishized appeal of nunsploitation pictures!), are shot with some obvious care and nice framing, and the lighting is always really good here too.
The True Story Of The Nun Of Monza:
Directed by Bruno Mattei in 1980, The True Story Of The Nun Of Monza will seem a little familiar to those who have seen a few nunsploitation films before, as it follows Sister Virginia de Leyva (Zora Kerova) who toils away in a convent along with her fellow Brides of Christ. After the death of her father (Giovanni Attanasio), things start to get strange, particularly when the current Mother Superior (Franca Stoppi) starts to look a little worse for wear.
When the Mother Superior dies, Sister Virginia is brought in to take her place but will she have the faith and the courage to handle the job? Things have changed in the convent recently and not everyone is happy that Virginia has landed the position. To make matters worse, there's a maniac running around with his eyes on her, and a priest who is up to no good. When she starts to have impure thoughts and the kinds of dreams that nuns are not supposed to have, it looks like Virginia's armor might be starting to crack which, it would seem, is just what the other nuns are after.
It's a little difficult to take the film seriously when you know Mattei is behind the camera but the movie does have its moments. It's actually a very well shot film with the cinematography doing a fine job of capturing the locations used for the film. The convent makes for an eerie and sometimes almost desolate setting and the shadows and age that characterize the building really accentuate this even more. As such, it's got some atmosphere and some mood that it wouldn't have otherwise. Zora Kerova, immortalized in Cannibal Ferox and Anthropophagous, definitely looks good in the part, and somehow the habit works for her. Those who enjoy a little sin with their skin will be happy to find out that the film has definitely got its share of naughtiness and that Mattei doesn't shy away from the seedier side of the narrative.
The movie, like most nunsploitation films, plays around with the theme of Catholic guilt in spots, though much of this simply seems to be here as an excuse to show various acts of penance on screen. The exploitative qualities of the film are stronger than whatever artistic merits that may have bubbled up underneath the surface elements. This isn't a bad thing for most of us, after all it's rare that fans of nunsploitation movies really expect much more than some softcore hijinks and the odd torture scene, but it is definitely a nice surprise when there's more to it than that. Those exceptions to the rule do make for better movie making, though that's something that Mattei never seems to have learned given the quality of the output he was responsible in the last few years of his career. In the end, The True Story Of The Nun Of Monza is enjoyable enough for what it is - a European trash film intent on waving some taboos in the face of the viewer. If you keep that in mind going in and expect nothing more than some cheap thrills and nice camerawork you'll be okay with the results. It's not a classic of the genre but it delivers on the expected staples and it's definitely entertaining enough in its own trashy way.
Nasty Habits: The Nunsploitation Collection - Blu-ray Review:
As far as the presentations go, Severin Films presents each film on its own Region A locked Blu-ray disc and things shape up like this:
Cristiana Devil Nun is presented in MPEG-2 encoded 1080p and framed at 2.35.1 widescreen in a transfer taken from the only known 35mm print of the U.S. X-rated version of the film, using a title card that reads Loves Of A Nympho. Taking up 23.9GBS of space on a 50GB disc, while this doesn't look as good as something taken from pre-print elements would (or something given a more updated encode), it's more than watchable. Contrast looks a little hot and colors less than reference quality but the source used for the transfer was in decent enough shape. We get nice detail, depth and texture here, a good amount of natural film grain and a transfer free of any issues with compression, noise reduction or edge enhancement. Not a reference quality picture, but certainly a decent one given the available elements.
The 24-bit DTS-HD English 2.0 mono track, which comes with optional English SDH subtitles, has a tiny bit of hiss present but is otherwise just fine. The track is properly balanced and there aren't any problems with it. The song used in the beginning and end of the film sounds really strong here and the dialogue is clear and easy to follow.
Story Of A Cloistered Nun arrives in AVC encoded 1080p high definition scanned in 2k from the original 35mm negative and framed at 1.85.1 widescreen, the transfer using up 29.6GBS of space on the 50GB disc. Picture quality is quite strong here, with colors looking very nice and natural and the picture showing good shadow detail, which is important given that much of the film takes place in dimly lit interiors. Skin tones look great and there's nice detail present throughout. No problems with any obvious compression issues to report and the image appeared free of noise reduction or edge enhancement. The elements used were clearly in great shape as the picture is very clean, there isn't much visible damage here at all.
16-bit LPCM 2.0 Mono tracks are provided in English and Italian language options with English subtitles that appear to translate the English track. Both tracks sounds clean and clear, with maybe a tiny bit of light hiss audible from time to time that most won't notice if they aren't specifically looking for it. The English track was used for review purposes and on that track, dialogue sounds fine, the score has decent range to it and the levels are properly balanced throughout. A sampling of the Italian track demonstrated very similar qualities.
Images In A Convent is framed at 1.85.1 widescreen and presented in AVC encoded 1080p high definition using 30.9GBs of space on a 50GB disc. Scanned in 2k from the original negative of the uncut version (the previous domestic DVD release from Media Blasters was missing some footage, this version appears to be complete), this is a pretty grainy picture but the transfer typically handles this well. Detail handily rises above the older DVD release and colors look better and more natural here as well. Some small white specks can be spotted here and there but overall, the picture is pretty clean. D'Amato employs what would appear to be some intentionally soft focus fairly regularly in the picture, so detail obviously wavers a bit when this happens, but overall this looks quite good.
Audio is offered up in a 16-bit Italian language 2.0 mono track with English subtitles and it sounds quite nice, especially the score which benefits from the additional depth that the lossless track affords it. Dialogue is clean and clear and the mix is nicely balanced. There's a fair bit more depth in general here than you might expect for an older low budget exploitation picture. No problems to note here.
The True Story Of The Nun Of Monza is framed at 1.85.1 widescreen and the MPEG-2 encoded 1080p high definition transfer is presented “scanned uncut in HD from the original negative.†Taking up 24.8GBs of space on the 50GB disc, this is the weakest of the four pictures, it's on the soft side and the compression frequently struggles with the heavy grain and may have had some noise reduction applied. On the positive side, colors are handled well and both black levels and skin tones are fine. Detail isn't as strong here as it is on the other pictures but it does best the past DVD edition by quite a margin, even if it leaves quite a bit of room for improvement (it looks mushy).
The only audio option on the disc is a 24-bit DTS-HD 2.0 Italian mono track with optional subtitles offered up in English only. There's a bit of hiss present throughout and some occasional sibilance noticeable in the dialogue (certain scenes also have an odd hollow quality to them, the conversation between the two nuns around the ten minute mark being an example). It's a serviceable enough mix that doesn't do a bad job with the score, there's some decent range in this arena, but as it is with the video, so too is it with the audio and it just isn't as good as the other three discs in the set.
Extra features are spread across the four discs in this set as follows:
Cristiana Devil Nun:
The main extra on the first disc in the inclusion of the extended Italian cut of the film, available in Italian or with optional partially dubbed English audio. This version is compiled from "a rare 35mm Italian release print - which includes an additional 10 minutes of footage - and the U.S. version." Slight damage and color loss is noticeable, due to the "ungodly conditions under which the Italian print had been stored for 45+ years." This version runs 1:41:42 compared to the U.S. version at 1:32:04 and it uses a title card that reads 'Cristiana Monaca Indemoniata (la vocazionae).' This version is also presented in AVC encoded 1080p high definition and framed at 2.35.1, taking up 23.6GBs of space on the disc, the Italian track in 24-bit DTS-HD 2.0 Mono and the English option in Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono. Despite the dip in quality when the footage from the Italian print is used, this is still a very watchable presentation. This cut of the film does run longer but omits the hardcore footage and some of the other racier bits of copulation present in the default version of the movie playable off the main menu.
The disc also includes a video essay by Lindsay Hallan entitled Sisters Of Vice And Virtue: The Marquis de Sade And Nunsploitation that lasts for just shy of thirteen minutes. It covers the origins of the nunsploitation genre and its impact on Italian filmmaking, the influence of Ken Russell's The Devils, the frequent use of literature and real historical events in many of these films and the influence of The Marquis de Sade's writing on his films. The Marquis' penchant for sex and violence and how it worked its way into a few specific nunsploitation pictures is the focus of the bulk of the piece, with various clips used from pertinent films to back this up (lots of nuns getting whipped and stuff like that!), including in the feature on this disc (which ties into de Sade's Justine).
Story Of A Cloistered Nun:
Down The Well is an interview with actress Martine Brochard that lasts for eleven minutes. She talks about the importance of the year 1973 for her personal life and her career, some of the important roles that she had prior to Story Of A Cloistered Nun, what it was like working with her co-stars, accepting the role mainly because she wanted to work with the DP, thoughts on her character in the film, the challenges of shooting the water scene, playing a character who doesn't really speak much, her thoughts on the director and his style and his meticulous attention to detail and more.
Actress Eleonora Giorgi is up next in the A Nun's Story, which runs twenty-three minutes. She talks about how she got into acting as she was finishing school, starting with commercial work, connecting with the film's producer after meeting him dressed like a flower child, some of the early roles that she had at the onset of her career, learning from the crews that she worked with, thoughts on the character she played in the film and parallels to her own persona, filming the love scene in the feature, what her co-stars were like, what it was like doing her first nude scene, her thoughts on the film and its cult status, running away when perused by Alain Delon and other details about her work on this film and her career in general.
Camera Operator Daniele Nannuzzi appears in the third and final featurette on the disc, Within A Cloister, which runs for sixteen minutes. This piece goes over how he was just a 'focus puller' in 1973, learning a lot during the shoot, trying to keep things slightly classy despite the content, the beauty of the actresses in the picture (he's clearly really into breasts!), the quality of the costumes and sets in the film, working with the director, how his father was the director of photography on the set, trying to get out from under his father's shadow while still learning lots from him, the cameras that were used on the shoot and why those models were chosen, his thoughts on the casting, what was shot on a soundstage and why and other details from the shoot.
An English language theatrical trailer for the feature closes out the extras on this disc.
Images In A Convent:
The main extra on the third disc is an audio commentary with Kat Ellinger, author of Daughters Of Darkness, that goes over D'Amato's career and how his work isn't as well regarded as many of his contemporaries, the cultural context that needs to be considered when evaluating his work, the use of Pan as 'the unknown god' in the film and the significance of that, the use of sex in the film and how it ties into the sexual frustration of some of the characters, how filmmakers competing with television were more than willing to up the amount of sex and violence in their films, the influence of nunsploitation on later day filmmakers like the UK's Nigel Wingrove, the taboo aspect of combining sex and religion, the influence of The Exorcist and The Devils, notes on the different cast and crew members that worked on the picture and plenty more.
The disc also includes twenty-five minutes of deleted scenes available with optional commentary, once again by Ellinger (this material had no sound elements). Taken from a 16mm single-strange original negative that included more than twenty minutes cut from the original movie, it's quite interesting to see this material as it does alter some of the characters'' motivations in the film and change the ending a bit as well. There's also a character here that helps out in some sort of medical role who appears here a fair bit but who is not in the finished version at all. Ellinger's commentary explains the context of the material, notes what was omitted from the feature version of the film, talks about how the context of key scenes is changed by some of this material and more. There's also some really nicely shot sequences here that show off the convent, show the nuns at worship and some more 'running naked through the woods' footage in here too.
The True Story Of The Nun Of Monza:
There are two featurettes on this fourth and final disc, the first of which is The Cross And The Sin, which is an interview with screenwriter Claudio Fragasso that lasts just under twenty-seven minutes. He goes over who really came up with the story and the importance of an abandoned convent near his location when he was writing it, working on this and The Other Hell at the same time, getting to know Mattei during the making of this movie and the partnership that was spawned from this collaboration, how he was initially ashamed of working in genre cinema, focusing on the erotic aspects of the plot, what the different cast members who he worked with on the picture were like off camera, Mattei's penchant for letting his casts over act, the popularity of 'racy pictures' when this movie was made, putting a lot of his own Catholic education into this film, the success of the film in Italy and abroad, wanting to make movies like Herzog and Fassbinder and doing his best to succeed at that and realizing that wasn't his strong point and then coming back to genre cinema and embracing it.
The second featurette is Sister Zora, an interview with actress Zora Kerova (with a guest appearance from a rad dog) that runs for just under twenty-nine minutes. She speaks here about the early days of her career, getting her roles in this and Cannibal Ferox through her agent, thoughts on the real life version of her character as well as the fictionalized one, improvising during her rape scene, thoughts on meeting and working with Mattei for the first time, working with Fragrasso, shooting on location in an old empty convent, thoughts on her co-stars, memories of being whipped on camera and how she's personally a bit of a masochist, her thoughts on doing nudity in film, the blasphemous scenes in the film and her thoughts on those as well as religion in general, her own conversion to Catholicism later in life, seeing the movie in a theater for the first time and her thoughts on the film overall.
The packaging for this set is also quite nice. Each disc sits inside its own individual black keepcase and features front cover sleeve art unique to its title. This cases then fit inside a top loading, rigid cardboard box similar to the one used for Severin's Christopher Lee boxed set earlier this year, the high contrast red, white and black artwork on the outside of the box really popping quite nicely.
Nasty Habits: The Nunsploitation Collection - The Final Word:
Despite some quibbles with the encoding on two of the films, Severin Film's Blu-ray release of Nasty Habits: The Nunsploitation Collection is a good one, presenting four of the better entries from this most notorious of subgenres completely uncut and with a pretty solid array of extra features as well.
Click on the images below for full sized Nasty Habits: The Nunsploitation Collection Blu-ray screen caps!
