What with the release of the Sydney Sweeney starring horror film “Immaculate” I thought it’d be a great occasion to list five great nun-centric movies you could watch before or after “Immaculate” this weekend. While the library of movies centering on nuns is vast and diverse, these are five that I particularly enjoy.
Tag Archives: Exploitation
LA&M Finishes The 2023 FETISH FILM FORUM with CRISTIANA: DEVIL NUN
The Leather Archives & Museum is thrilled to continue Fetish Film Forum, a new monthly screening series about sex, relationships, and art. These ten erotic films spanning nine countries and six decades are stunning explorations of fetish, kink, leather, and BDSM.
Many folks in this world have made room for Christ, but we’re making room for Cristiana: Devil Nun. Sexually liberated Cristiana enjoys sex on a plane in front of the other passengers until a storm hits and sends them plummeting from the sky. She begs her higher power for help and promises to become a nun if their lives are spared. The pilot immediately regains control of the plane, and Cristiana soon enters a convent where sex remains an everlasting temptation….
This screening of Cristiana: Devil Nun is co-presented by Corinne Halbert, a psychedelic horror artist obsessed with 1970s cult films and vintage comics. She is also the creator of Acid Nun.
Trailer for Cristiana: Devil Nun can be found here.
Fetish Film Forum trailer can be found here.
Full synopsis and ticketing can be found on the LA&M’s website here.
Night of the Bastard (2023)
Erik Boccio’s horror survival thriller is a film that sets its foot firmly in the Satanic cult sub-genre. It’s “Straw Dogs” meets “Race with the Devil” but with none of the charm or creativity of the aforementioned. It’s not to say that “Night of the Bastard” isn’t a spirited effort, but the movie spends so much time propping up plot points that it never quite answers, and can also never quite get past the shaky performances and silly dialogue.
Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1973): Special Edition [Blu-ray/DVD]
Known as “Hooker’s Revenge,” and as “They Call Her One Eye,” Bo Arne Vibernius’s “Thriller” is the quintessential grindhouse revenge pic that begat so many after it. When you want to visit what helped influence Tarantino, “Thriller” (Vinegar Syndrome will debuting their own release of the film on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray with a different transfer and extras this summer) is where the template was established. While it suffers from narrative flaws here and there, “Thriller” is pure visceral exploitation revenge cinema that still feels about as grimy and gritty as “I Spit On Your Grave” in spite of its restoration.
Viva (2007)
Will screen on August 27th at the Los Feliz 3 theater in Los Angeles, California as part of the American Cinematheque’s new ETHERIA screening series. More information about the screening can be found on the American Cinematheque’s official website.
Your mileage with “Viva” may vary depending on how much you’re willing to play along with the film’s very subtle satire. About twenty minutes in to the movie is when I finally caught on to the gag, as “Viva” is as much a satire of sixties sexual dynamics as it is a tribute to the aesthetic of the sixties and seventies. “Viva” is a film in the tradition of Andy Warhol, and Russ Meyer, and exploitation gems like “Maid in Sweden” and “Score” where people open up (literally and figuratively) to sex and sexual exploration.
Switchblade Sisters (1975): Special Edition [Blu-Ray]
Jack Hill is back and taking on one of the sleaziest and yet entertaining pictures of his career. “Switchblade Sisters” is a thrilling gang picture that can be taken alongside “The Warriors.” It’s a tale of fracture love triangle, a gang torn asunder, and a pretty excellent adaptation of a classic Shakespeare tale. “The Switchblade Sisters” is exploitation, but cut from prime material as Hill is able to derive a lot from such a minimal budget. He also grabs some excellent turns from the cast, including the now iconic Patch, played by Monica Gayle.
Savage Streets (1984) [Blu-Ray]
After the excellent release of the limited edition 2018 print, Code Red delivers a wider and more broadly available upgrade for the highly deserving “Savage Streets.” The 1984 cult classic is still a marvelous gem of eighties exploitation. It channels the classic Youths Gone Wild films of the fifties, and is filled with gorgeous women, roughneck teenagers, and an insanely sexy Linda Blair wreaking pure vengeance against the men that victimized her sister. She does it all with a bitchin’ crossbow, to boot.