KILLER NUN: EARLY NUNSPLOITATION

There are more than one category when it comes to the exploitation genre. Certainly the oldest is sex followed by gore and then later by the various kinks and fetishes of people around the world. Nazisploitation combined Nazis with sex starved female prison commandants torturing and sexually abusing their prisoners. And then there was the nunsploitation films.

The nunsploitation films were popular in the 70s and didn’t last long as a genre but they did make an impact at grindhouses at the time. The stories circled around nuns who due to celibacy usually ended up in sexual situations that their vows were definitely against. Not only did they find a way to have sex but for the most part it was what most would consider some deviant form of sex.

One of the earliest films in the genre was KILLER NUN. Perhaps what makes this film stand out among the genre is that the star is Anita Ekberg, an actress who was known for her career making roles in films like LA DOLCE VITA, WAR AND PEACE and 4 FOR TEXAS. For someone of her stature this was certainly a step down. And yet fans of the genre were probably getting more than they bargained for with someone of her caliber.

Ekberg stars as Sister Gertrude, recovering from a brain tumor she had an operation from and running a geriatric hospital. Insisting she isn’t well enough to go on, the Mother Superior in charge basically tells her to buck up and deal with her life. Instead Sister Gertrude finds ways to get more morphine and eventually heroin to help her cope with her day to day routine. Not only that she finds comfort and assistance from her roommate Sister Mathieu (Paola Morra), another nun who’s attracted to her and eventually begins a lesbian love affair with her.

Driven to psychotic rages Sister Gertrude takes out her frustrations and disabilities on the patients being left in her care and those around her. She stomps the dentures of one patient for taking them out at the dining room table. She reports a doctor on charges that are false. She has random sex with men outside of the hospital. Eventually it all leads to murder.

While watching the film I found myself wondering what the attraction was for this film. Perhaps the salaciousness of the film would hold more value if I was Catholic, so involved in my religion that the taboo aspects of this would make it arousing instead of exploitative. As a film on its own it was well made but felt forced rather than a movie that told a story in a straight forward manner.

With all the histrionics going on here it’s difficult to call any performance as worthy and well done. The end result is a movie that fans of the genre will like but others might find themselves scratching their head over. And yet I’m still glad to see someone like Arrow Video releasing this film and saving it from disappearing for all time. Once more they treat the film as if it were something special and for film historians, exploitation fans and movie fans that in itself is cause for cheer.

Arrow is including several nice extras with the film as well. They include a new audio commentary track with film connoisseurs Adrian J. Smith and David Flint, “Beyond Convent Walls” a new video essay by Kat Ellinger, “Starry Eyes” a new interview with director Giulio Berruti, “Cut and Noise” a new interview with editor Mario Giacco, “Our Mother of Hell” a new interview with actress Ileana Fraia, the original Italian and international trailers, an image gallery and a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Daryl Joyce.

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