Review by: Wizard Of Gore
Date: 2nd May 2008
The Marquis De Sade’s Justine (1977)
Here is yet another of the various exploitation flicks based on De Sade’s Justine (the best of
which are credited to the prolific Jess Franco). This one is an English production starring Koo
Stark, onetime girlfriend of Prince Andrew.
Set sometime in 18th Century England, two sisters, 16-year-old Justine and 17-year-old Juliette,
are expelled from their convent school after they are orphaned and can no longer afford the fees.
Juliette comes up with the brilliant idea of going to the London whorehouse where their cousin
works and learning the “tricks of the trade”, regardless of the fact they are both still virgins.
At the whorehouse the older and more worldly Juliette gets on fine and embraces the brothel
lifestyle while the naïve & innocent Justine can’t handle it and runs away back to the convent,
into Pastor John’s welcoming arms. Although, after the good Pastor has had a few wines he can
no longer contain his lecherous urges and attempts to rape poor, pure Justine. Luckily she
escapes with her virginity intact but Pastor John ends up dead and she is now wanted for murder.
Whilst escaping through the church graveyard she encounters a gang of graverobbers who kidnap
her and force her into their way of life - she becomes their bait for luring stagecoaches to a halt
so the thieves can rob & murder the occupants. Meanwhile, Juliette has become concerned by the
absence of her sister and sends her heroic aristocrat boyfriend, Lord Carlisle (Martin Potter of
Fellini’s Satyricon fame) out to search for her.
Lord Carlisle eventually catches up with the thieves as they use their ploy to rob his stagecoach
and murder all the occupants, only sparing him after Justine’s pleading. The two soon escape only
to be hunted down by dogs and brutally slaughtered (and in Justine’s case gang-raped).
Compared to De Sade’s original story (and indeed even Jess Franco’s adaptations) Justine is
pretty tame, there’s the odd splatter of blood, infrequent nudity and even some non-graphic rape
& necrophilia but overall - even with those acts included - there’s still not much for exploitation
aficionados to get excited about. The film focuses more on Justine’s plight and the eventual
tarnishing of her innocence.
Strangely enough this film is included as part of Redemption’s Nunsploitation box set but it’s only
really the first twenty to thirty minutes that are set in the convent - the rest is either in the
countryside or the brothel - although, aside from the downbeat ending and Justine’s surreal
catholic guilt nightmare sequences, the convent scenes are the best & sleaziest parts of the film,
with the usual forced lesbianism and debauched Mother Superior.
Redemptions R0 DVD presents the film in anamorphic 1.78:1 and the sound in Dolby 2.0 mono. The
picture is a little grainy at times but nothing too bad and the soundtrack is relatively clean.
The Sinful Nuns of Saint Valentine (1974)
The Sinful Nuns of Saint Valentine is a rather tame entry in the Nunsploitation genre starring
Jenny Tamburi (Suspected Death of a Minor, Seven Notes in Black) and Paolo Malco (House
By the Cemetery, New York Ripper).
Lovely Lucita is sent to a convent by her father after he discovers she is in love with Esteban, an
excommunicated heretic from the Albornos family. Lucita’s family, the noble Fuentes, have been
feuding with the common Albornos family for centuries and she has brought shame to the family
name (a la Romeo & Juliet).
Esteban, now on the run after being wanted for heresy and a murder he didn’t commit, is wounded
by some soldiers and ends up at Lucita’s convent where he is secretly taken in by a kindly male
servant. Not long after he gets word that Lucita has been framed for the murder of her cellmate
and is about to be tortured and executed, so he and her father join forces to prove her innocence
and free her from the evil clutches of the Inquisition.
Overall I found The Sinful Nuns pretty dull; there’s very little nudity, two ultra-tame sex
sequences (one lesbo, one hetero) and a non-graphic whipping… I mean this is meant to be a
Nunsploitation flick - where’s all the fuckin’ sleaze?! The only “saving grace” (kinda) of the film is
in the last 15 minutes or so when the nuns are imprisoned in the convent and they turn into raving
lunatics, removing their clothes (well, their top halves anyway), ranting about Satan as they to kill
each other. Other than that, this flick is pretty much a snooze fest. And to think this was banned
in Italy?!
Redemptions R0 DVD release presents the film in a letterboxed 2.35:1 and the sound in Dolby 2.0
mono with English subtitles. The film comes in part of a box set along with 2 other films The
Marquis De Sade’s Justine and Sacred Flesh.
Sacred Flesh (2000)
British imprint Redemption Films have been releasing obscure Eurotrash films since the early 90s.
Their early VHS releases of films such as Tombs of the Blind Dead, The Living Dead Girl and
Virgin Among the Living Dead were instrumental in triggering my love of cult cinema when I
discovered them at my local video store. In 1989 Redemption founder Nigel Wingrove made a short
film, Visions of Ecstasy, which was banned outright by the BBFC on grounds of blasphemy.
Wingrove fought the BBFC in court - losing his home and many of his possessions in the process
due to the hefty lawyer costs - but lost the case. To date, Visions of Ecstasy remains the only
film banned in the UK for blasphemous libel. Now it seems Wingrove has decided to stage a
“comeback” with another “blasphemous” film, again of the Nunsploitation variety.
The basic plot of Sacred Flesh centres around Mother Superior Elizabeth who is possessed by
devils. The convent’s Abbess is rightfully concerned about her and writes a letter to a local Abbot
requesting him to come and check her out and maybe exorcise some demons. That’s about all
there is plot wise, the rest of the film’s brief runtime is taken up with the Mother Superior’s
nightmarish visions, long monologues on sexual repression within the Catholic Church, and the
typical lesbo-nun action, flagellation, bondage-crucifixion, etc.
Mother Superior Elizabeth is torn by Catholic guilt, between the repression of lust she is taught,
and the sexual abandon she craves, her hallucinogenic revelations involve: on the one hand Mary
Magdalene condoning sexual freedom and condemning the Catholic Church, and on the other the
“Death Nun” extolling the virtues of chastity and threatening hellfire & damnation. I imagine in
Nigel Wingrove’s mind he is probably quite proud of himself for producing yet another artistic,
highly controversial piece of blasphemous filth but in reality this chunk of shot-on-video junk is
basically low budget soft porn masquerading as highbrow art. Mary’s rambling, awkwardly worded
anti-Catholic tirades come off as pseudo-intellectual bullshit, that’s just there as an attempt to
add some class to this low budget tits ‘n’ ass show.
For a medieval piece set in the early 1900s I find it strange that the nuns sport copious amounts
of whorish make-up and silicone, some even flaunt bellybutton & tongue piercings and freshly
shaved pussies. I wasn’t surprised then to discover that half of the cast are actually British porn
stars moonlighting as “actresses”.
Now, usually I’d really dig this (or any) kinda sleaze especially when there’s the added bonus of
skanky nuns, but I think what initially put me off here was the fact that Wingrove is trying so hard
to emulate the spirit of 70s European exploitation and completely fails (although the horrendous
acting and shitty script didn’t help much either). Trying to hide your lack of budget behind some
flashy editing and lighting then throwing in some didactic bullshit does not a good film make.
Redemptions Let Us Prey Nunsploitation boxset is a nice collection, the other films in it are The
Marquis De Sade’s Justine and The Sinful Nuns of Saint Valentine.
Date: 2nd May 2008
The Marquis De Sade’s Justine (1977)
Here is yet another of the various exploitation flicks based on De Sade’s Justine (the best of
which are credited to the prolific Jess Franco). This one is an English production starring Koo
Stark, onetime girlfriend of Prince Andrew.
Set sometime in 18th Century England, two sisters, 16-year-old Justine and 17-year-old Juliette,
are expelled from their convent school after they are orphaned and can no longer afford the fees.
Juliette comes up with the brilliant idea of going to the London whorehouse where their cousin
works and learning the “tricks of the trade”, regardless of the fact they are both still virgins.
At the whorehouse the older and more worldly Juliette gets on fine and embraces the brothel
lifestyle while the naïve & innocent Justine can’t handle it and runs away back to the convent,
into Pastor John’s welcoming arms. Although, after the good Pastor has had a few wines he can
no longer contain his lecherous urges and attempts to rape poor, pure Justine. Luckily she
escapes with her virginity intact but Pastor John ends up dead and she is now wanted for murder.
Whilst escaping through the church graveyard she encounters a gang of graverobbers who kidnap
her and force her into their way of life - she becomes their bait for luring stagecoaches to a halt
so the thieves can rob & murder the occupants. Meanwhile, Juliette has become concerned by the
absence of her sister and sends her heroic aristocrat boyfriend, Lord Carlisle (Martin Potter of
Fellini’s Satyricon fame) out to search for her.
Lord Carlisle eventually catches up with the thieves as they use their ploy to rob his stagecoach
and murder all the occupants, only sparing him after Justine’s pleading. The two soon escape only
to be hunted down by dogs and brutally slaughtered (and in Justine’s case gang-raped).
Compared to De Sade’s original story (and indeed even Jess Franco’s adaptations) Justine is
pretty tame, there’s the odd splatter of blood, infrequent nudity and even some non-graphic rape
& necrophilia but overall - even with those acts included - there’s still not much for exploitation
aficionados to get excited about. The film focuses more on Justine’s plight and the eventual
tarnishing of her innocence.
Strangely enough this film is included as part of Redemption’s Nunsploitation box set but it’s only
really the first twenty to thirty minutes that are set in the convent - the rest is either in the
countryside or the brothel - although, aside from the downbeat ending and Justine’s surreal
catholic guilt nightmare sequences, the convent scenes are the best & sleaziest parts of the film,
with the usual forced lesbianism and debauched Mother Superior.
Redemptions R0 DVD presents the film in anamorphic 1.78:1 and the sound in Dolby 2.0 mono. The
picture is a little grainy at times but nothing too bad and the soundtrack is relatively clean.
The Sinful Nuns of Saint Valentine (1974)
The Sinful Nuns of Saint Valentine is a rather tame entry in the Nunsploitation genre starring
Jenny Tamburi (Suspected Death of a Minor, Seven Notes in Black) and Paolo Malco (House
By the Cemetery, New York Ripper).
Lovely Lucita is sent to a convent by her father after he discovers she is in love with Esteban, an
excommunicated heretic from the Albornos family. Lucita’s family, the noble Fuentes, have been
feuding with the common Albornos family for centuries and she has brought shame to the family
name (a la Romeo & Juliet).
Esteban, now on the run after being wanted for heresy and a murder he didn’t commit, is wounded
by some soldiers and ends up at Lucita’s convent where he is secretly taken in by a kindly male
servant. Not long after he gets word that Lucita has been framed for the murder of her cellmate
and is about to be tortured and executed, so he and her father join forces to prove her innocence
and free her from the evil clutches of the Inquisition.
Overall I found The Sinful Nuns pretty dull; there’s very little nudity, two ultra-tame sex
sequences (one lesbo, one hetero) and a non-graphic whipping… I mean this is meant to be a
Nunsploitation flick - where’s all the fuckin’ sleaze?! The only “saving grace” (kinda) of the film is
in the last 15 minutes or so when the nuns are imprisoned in the convent and they turn into raving
lunatics, removing their clothes (well, their top halves anyway), ranting about Satan as they to kill
each other. Other than that, this flick is pretty much a snooze fest. And to think this was banned
in Italy?!
Redemptions R0 DVD release presents the film in a letterboxed 2.35:1 and the sound in Dolby 2.0
mono with English subtitles. The film comes in part of a box set along with 2 other films The
Marquis De Sade’s Justine and Sacred Flesh.
Sacred Flesh (2000)
British imprint Redemption Films have been releasing obscure Eurotrash films since the early 90s.
Their early VHS releases of films such as Tombs of the Blind Dead, The Living Dead Girl and
Virgin Among the Living Dead were instrumental in triggering my love of cult cinema when I
discovered them at my local video store. In 1989 Redemption founder Nigel Wingrove made a short
film, Visions of Ecstasy, which was banned outright by the BBFC on grounds of blasphemy.
Wingrove fought the BBFC in court - losing his home and many of his possessions in the process
due to the hefty lawyer costs - but lost the case. To date, Visions of Ecstasy remains the only
film banned in the UK for blasphemous libel. Now it seems Wingrove has decided to stage a
“comeback” with another “blasphemous” film, again of the Nunsploitation variety.
The basic plot of Sacred Flesh centres around Mother Superior Elizabeth who is possessed by
devils. The convent’s Abbess is rightfully concerned about her and writes a letter to a local Abbot
requesting him to come and check her out and maybe exorcise some demons. That’s about all
there is plot wise, the rest of the film’s brief runtime is taken up with the Mother Superior’s
nightmarish visions, long monologues on sexual repression within the Catholic Church, and the
typical lesbo-nun action, flagellation, bondage-crucifixion, etc.
Mother Superior Elizabeth is torn by Catholic guilt, between the repression of lust she is taught,
and the sexual abandon she craves, her hallucinogenic revelations involve: on the one hand Mary
Magdalene condoning sexual freedom and condemning the Catholic Church, and on the other the
“Death Nun” extolling the virtues of chastity and threatening hellfire & damnation. I imagine in
Nigel Wingrove’s mind he is probably quite proud of himself for producing yet another artistic,
highly controversial piece of blasphemous filth but in reality this chunk of shot-on-video junk is
basically low budget soft porn masquerading as highbrow art. Mary’s rambling, awkwardly worded
anti-Catholic tirades come off as pseudo-intellectual bullshit, that’s just there as an attempt to
add some class to this low budget tits ‘n’ ass show.
For a medieval piece set in the early 1900s I find it strange that the nuns sport copious amounts
of whorish make-up and silicone, some even flaunt bellybutton & tongue piercings and freshly
shaved pussies. I wasn’t surprised then to discover that half of the cast are actually British porn
stars moonlighting as “actresses”.
Now, usually I’d really dig this (or any) kinda sleaze especially when there’s the added bonus of
skanky nuns, but I think what initially put me off here was the fact that Wingrove is trying so hard
to emulate the spirit of 70s European exploitation and completely fails (although the horrendous
acting and shitty script didn’t help much either). Trying to hide your lack of budget behind some
flashy editing and lighting then throwing in some didactic bullshit does not a good film make.
Redemptions Let Us Prey Nunsploitation boxset is a nice collection, the other films in it are The
Marquis De Sade’s Justine and The Sinful Nuns of Saint Valentine.
| “Saying your prays, won’t do you any good when you watch this boxset” |
|
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|
Let Us Prey - The Nunsploitation Collection
BOXSET/APPROX. 260MINS/1974 - 2000/ITALY,UK R18+
BOXSET/APPROX. 260MINS/1974 - 2000/ITALY,UK R18+
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