Oh boy, am I glad I picked up "The Killer Nun" during Deep Discount's recent sale. I'm glad both because I'd hate to have paid more for this stinker and also because it's so awful that I kind of love it.

A brief, spoiler-free synopsis:
A nun (Anita Ekberg) with a morphine habit (?!), tons of mascara, and drawn-on eyebrows that would have made Divine jealous, checks out of the nunnery once in a while to smoke, wear couture, and have sex with strange men before stocking up on morphine (and make-up, I would imagine, and lots of it) and heading back to church. The nunnery is part of some sort of hospital and Ekberg abuses the patients in fits of, well, something fitlike and abusive. Meanwhile, patients are bumped off and Ekberg's frequently naked lesbian nun roommate tries to seduce her. Um, Joe Dallesandro turns up and does NOT have a nude scene. Now that I think about it, all he really does is show up. The same goes for Alida Valli, though I'm not sure Valli actually DID show up so much as phone in some nun-on-the-phone footage.

Regarding the Blue Underground disc, the image looks good (good enough for me, but I'm no color pro). There is one short scene in the film that has Italian dialogue and English subtitles while the rest of the film is dubbed. The dubbing is atrocious, so I'm inclined to think an Italian dub might have worked a little better, probably because I DON'T speak Italian. Unless my ears deceive me, Ekberg and Valli did not do their own dubbing though I think Dallesandro did.

This grade D giallo is fine if not great fun on a camp scale (Anita Ekberg as a nun, Dallesandro, and pink gloves instead of the requisite black ones) but anyone wanting straight-faced quality might be understandably hesitant.

-Dean

I don't like this film much, I think it wastes a great cast. Lou Castel, looking as grumpy as ever, turns up as one of Ekberg's patients (he's great!). Plus there is Joe Dallesandro and Anita Ekberg, looking a lot heavier then she use to. I found the whole thing pretty boring to be honest, but then I'm sure a lot of people could say that about other Euro B films that I like.

Hey Dean, actually, Joe Dallesandro did NOT do his own dubbing. His distinctive New York monotone isn't present. I don't think he dubbed many of his European films.

I'm with Chris, I really dislike this film. It has its gory moments and some great Ekberg overacting, but it's a major letdown. And I don't think BU's disc was that hot, to be honest. It looks OK...

I think the movie's subject matter is the cause for all the hubbub. I showed a brief clip of the film to a class last week for a graduate film course I'm proposing in European Exploitation. The audience (graduate students) were shocked to find that there was actually a sub-genre of "nunsploitation" films and quite fascinated at the themes presented. With that said...your right it isn't the world's greatest film but for the general public it might be a good jumping off point into the subgenre.

This is the first nunsploitation film I've seen and, for me, one is plenty. If not for Ekberg, Dallesandro, and Valli, I probably wouldn't have bothered even with this one. I never said this was a good film, but I sure did enjoy it, tacky mess that it is.

Danny, you might want to consider a different film to introduce your class to nunsploitation. I would suggest Jess Franco's LOVE LETTERS FROM A PORTUGUESE NUN or Walerian Borowczyk's BEHIND CONVENT WALLS. LOVE LETTERS is available on a nice NTSC Region 0 disc, and remains my favorite of this particular subgenre.

KILLER NUN does manage to get all the bases covered in terms of "nasty nun" behavior, though: you've got murder, lesbianism (hinted), psychotic outbursts, repressed sexuality and of course my favorite scene, Ekberg smashing the teeth of a patient. Maybe I should give this a rewatch...

OH! And where is this class going to be taking place? In my neck of the woods, I was lucky to find an Art of Film course to take! I really drool at the thought of going to classes on American Exploitation Film and European Exploitation!!

Thanks Caseyfor the interest! The class I proposed was a final project for my film class at the University of Florida under Dr. Mark Reid. He actually returned the syllabus to me yesterday saying that it would be GREAT if you we could get a course like this on the books. He was especially interested in the works of Mario Bava and the Giallo. He is going to see what we can do about getting the course next fall. This spring they are offering a class in "trash" cinema. If your interested in looking at what I proposed let me know and I'll send you the syllabus. Having students like you in classes like this would be of great benefit.

BTW, If I do get hired at a University near you (after the Ph.D is done..of course) , I plan on offering the course as part of my "package". I really think that classes like this whether it be in film studies or mass communication will continue to grow in popularity.

Well I'll be a dissenter here, as I just watched the film and enjoyed it quite a bit. It's no classic, or even really technically good at all, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The plot actually kept me awake throughout, which can sometimes be a problem in cult European films.

Ahem...

Might I also add that FLAVIA THE HERETIC is, IMO, one of the better "nunsploitation" flicks out there. I've always loved it... that's why we put it out on DVD!

Yeh, own it :)

Can never have too much nunsploitation. Call it revenge of a Catholic who resented being forced to go to sunday school(dodged the Catholic school bullet though).

Don, For the week in we study "Nunsploitation" I OF COURSE put "Flavia". (They are required to view one movie in class per week and one on their own time) along w/Killer Nun! It may be of interest to know that for the S/M week I put "The Image" (along w/L'Histoire D'O), For a week we study french Exploitation is have "Les Rasins de le Mort" as one AND for a week for Female revenge pics.. Thriller.. You company continues to put the best product out there and I for one will certainly do my part to get people more interested in these films...Keep up the good work!

count me in as a pretty serious nunsploitation fan....with over 25 titles in my Nasty Nun section. I need more and have a few more titles coming via big brown sometime before Christmas.

a few of my personal faves:

Kloster der 1000 Todsunden
Die Nonne von Verona
Les Demons(I have 4 coverart editions)