Killer Nun (1979)

Too much of everything

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

This show gets great hype from its being banned when it was released & it does cover murder, drugs, self-flagellation & lesbian sex. Since it's based on actual events the ban had more to do with "leave the church alone". This is way pre-altar boy trouble.Anita Ekberg & Paola Morra are the attractions here & the story line is just strong enough to carry the show when they are not on screen. A somewhat eerie feeling to this show. If a hint of blasphemy upsets you avoid this like the plague.If you like Anita Ekberg unclothed this is for you. PS: Paola is better looking than Anita but there is less flesh than you might think. Blasphemy was the reason for the ban. Joe Dallesandro stars here too. Check him out in Blood for Dracula & also in Flesh for Frankenstein along with a cast of nude cuties.

Swedish sex symbol Anita Ekberg plays Sister Gertrude, a veteran nun / nurse who is starting to lose her grip on reality. After she herself has been the subject of an operation, she has become a morphine addict, and she also goes about experiencing sexual satisfaction with a stranger. She even begins to take delight in being cruel to the patients in her care, with one memorable scene of dentures smashing. And to top it all off, the patients are now either having "accidents" or getting killed. Could Sister Gertrude be the one responsible?Full of striking imagery, director Giulio Berruti's sleazy and sexy combination of the Giallo and Nunsploitation genres is deliberately paced and very well acted by some of its cast. The co- stars include Paola Morra as the enticing young Sister Mathieu; the delectable Ms. Morra delivers a fine performance and does some full frontal nudity. Alida Valli ("Suspiria") plays the Mother Superior, Massimo Serato ("Don't Look Now") is the dedicated Dr. Poirret, Lou Castel ("The American Friend") is the cynical Peter, and Andy Warhol film graduate Joe Dallesandro, wooden as always, is Patrick Rowlands, the young man who replaces Poirret as the doctor.It's not exactly hard to figure out where all of this is going, but getting there is still reasonably fun. Supposedly "based on actual events that occurred in a central European country not that long ago", it works on the level of good trash, with a fair bit of gore, the aforementioned nudity, and an overall sense of surrealism. Standout sequences include the torture of one poor patient (it's guaranteed to make some viewers wince) and the struggle of the crippled Peter to make it up some stairs without the use of his crutches.People who enjoy Italian sleaze pictures will likely have a good enough time with this one.Seven out of 10.

While no devotee of the nunsploitation sub-genre, I am a fan of Italian horror and have also watched as many of the "Video Nasties" as I can find."Killer Nun" was ultimately a fairly disappointing experience. As a video nasty, one wonders why it was put on the list. The killings are hardly graphic and while there is nudity and sex scenes, they're not that frequent, extended, or graphic. We see boobs, a couple of shots of verdant 70s bush, and the flaccid penis of a morgue slab cadaver, but not much more. I suspect the name itself was enough to raise the ire of video store raiding bobbies; combined, perhaps, with the notion of a drug-addled, homicidal, lesbian nun! (Having typed all of that out, it almost seems like plenty of reasons to bother the censors! But really, the scenes are brief, not especially graphic or gratuitous, and few-and- far-between.)Highlights are an occasionally entertaining score by Alessandro Alessandroni, the presence of a curvaceous former Italian Playmate, Paola Morra, and some pleasantly surreal morphine hallucination scenes. Other than that, it's a pretty forgettable hour and a half; probably worth watching only by completists or die-hard fans of Italian B cinema. I've certainly seen plenty worse, but there are also many better...mind you, if lesbian drug-addicted psychotic nuns are your thing, maybe this is the one-stop film for you!

When I first heard about this movie it was in the video nasty list. As soon as I saw the name i thought oh my goodness that looks very good. and boy was i right. This movie has a very entertaining storyline which was based on a true crime which happened in Belgium. Anita Ekberg i think did the best role as this and she is a very very talented actor, for example when Peter asks her why did she kill Janoh she reacts in a way which i never would ever be able to if i was acting. For some odd reason people think that Joe Dallesandro shouldn't have been picked for his role because this movie isn't what he specializes in but i think it was one of his best roles yet. The sex scenes and the nudity are a bit pointless in this movie but i do feel that they have been placed appropriately through the movie. When you see Anita Ekberg in the rain looking at the old woman and man doing things to each other "wink" "wink". Her facial expression explains everything that is going on in her mind. She is filled with so much rage it looks like she is about to explode like in the movie Contamination. Now, when it comes to the end when everything gets explained. The musical score really put chills up your spine and "IT MAKES YOU BREATHE IN". Also just in the opening shot of the movie, the priest is actually the director of the movie. You must see this movie and if you don't you will go insane and take morphine and become a lesbian and kill the elderly patients in the hospital. Believe me this movie can never ever ever be missed.1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 out of 10.