Nunsploitation - An Exhaustive Look At One Offensive-As-Shit Genre!

To celebrate this blog reaching 1,000,000 page views since October, 2007, for July & August I'm going to tackle one of the sleaziest subgenres of film, Nunsploitation!

Exploitation pictures explore little known areas that mainstream Hollywood rarely does.  The best will shock most viewers.  These are the pictures I want to see.  A couple of years ago I did something I'd been wanting to do for a very long time and that's see every Nazisploitation movie I could get my hands on.  In one month I watched 27 films.  They were filthy, raunchy and in INCREDIBLY bad taste. It was rough watching that many in such a short period of time because most of them were bad.  I know, surprise, right?  I did find some gems, though, and that's what I hope to see with Nunsploitation.  With the few I've seen over the past decade there have been some I really liked so I'm excited to exhaust this genre and in chronological order.

What is Nunsploitation?  Wikipedia defines it as:

Nunsploitation is a subgenre of exploitation film which had its peak in Europe in the 1970s. These films typically involve Christian nuns living in convents during the Middle Ages. The main conflict of the story is usually of a religious or sexual nature, such as religious oppression or sexual suppression due to living in celibacy. The Inquisition is another common theme. These films, although often seen as pure exploitation films, often contain criticism against religion in general and the Catholic church in particular. Indeed, some protagonist dialogue voiced feminist consciousness and rejection of their subordinated social role. Many of these films were made in countries where the Catholic Church is influential, such as Italy and Spain.

I've got over 50 films (!!!) so this may take a little while.

Here's the rundown for each picture in chronological order:

Title (Year) (Country) My Rating (out of 10)

Nunsploitation Documentary: The Real Blue Nuns (2006) (UK) 6.5/10
Holiday Homework (1920) (France) 7/10
Mr. Abott Bitt at the Convent (1925) (France) 6/10
The Nun of Monza (1969) (Italy) 6.5/10
The Decameron (1971) (Italy) 8/10
The Devils (1971) (UK) 8/10
Our Lady of Lust (1972) (Italy) 6.5/10
Sex Life In a Convent (1972) (Germany) 6.5/10
The Demons (1972) (France) 7/10
Naughty Nun (1972) (Italy) 7/10
Bawdy Tales (1973) (Italy) 8/10
The Nuns of Saint Archangelo (1973) (Italy) 7.5/10
Story of a Cloistered Nun (1973) (Italy) 7/10
Flavia the Heretic (1974) (Italy) 8/10
The Tempter (1974) (Italy) 6/10
The Castro's Abbess (1974) (Italy) 6.5/10
The Sinful Nuns of Saint Valentine (1974) (Italy) 7/10
School of the Holy Beast (1974) (Japan) 7.5/10
Satanico Pandemonium (1975) (Mexico) 6.5/10
Cloistered Nun: Runa's Confession (1976) (Japan) 6.5/10
Marquis De Sade's Justine (1977) (UK) 6/10
Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun (1977) (Germany) 5.5/10
Desires (1977) (Mexico) 3/10
Correctional Facility for Raped Girls (1977) (Brazil) 4/10
Nuns That Bite (1977) (Japan) 7/10
Sister Emanuelle (1977) (Italy) 7/10
Alucarda (1977) (Mexico) 8/10
Love Letters of a Nun (1978) (Spain) 4/10
Behind Convent Walls (1978) (Italy) 6.5/10
Sins of Sister Lucia (1978) (Japan) 8/10
Killer Nun (1978) (Italy) 6.5/10
Images In a Convent (1979) (Italy) 7.5/10
Wet & Rope (1979) (Japan) 6/10
The True Story of the Nun Of Monza (1980) (Italy) 5/10
Nun Story: Frustration In Black (1980) (Japan) 5.5/10
The Other Hell (1981) (Italy) 5.5/10
The Rape of a Nun (1983) (Greece) 5.5/10
Dan Oniroku: Convent Rope Hell (1984) (Japan) 6.5/10
Mean Nuns (1986) (Greece) 3/10
The Convent of Sinners (1986) (Italy) 6/10
Sacrilege (1987) (Italy) 6.5/10
Visions of Ecstasy (1989) (UK) 6.5/10
Demonia (1990) (Italy) 7/10
Legendary Panty Mask (1991) (Japan) 4/10
Il Confessionale (1998) (Italy) 4/10
Sacred Flesh (2000) (UK) 4/10
Sister Lulu (2001) (UK) 9/10
Run with Fear (2005) (Czech Republic) 4/10
The Nun (2005) (Spain) 4/10
Sister Mary Catherine's Happy Fun-Time Abortion Adventure (2006) (USA) 8.5/10
The Thirsting (2007) (USA) 6/10
Nun of That (2009) (USA) 8.5/10
Mark of the Whip 2 (2010) (UK/Poland) 6.5/10
Nude Nuns with Big Guns (2010) (USA) 6.5/10

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Captain Lust and the Pirate Women (1977) (USA) 6.5/10
Malabimba, the Malicious Whore (1979) (Italty) 7/10
Death of a Nun (1980) (USA) 3/10
Roller Blade (1986) (USA) 5/10
Axel (1988) (UK) 6/10

UPDATE: September 21, 2013 - I've finally finished.  There may be another Nunsploitation picture that crops up someday but for now, it's over.  Nearly three months and  59 films later.  Whew!  That's a lot of time hanging around nuns and, as an atheist, it's the only nun action I'll ever get.  One thing that struck me is how many of these films I enjoyed.  When you look at the 29 films made in the 1970s, I gave 15 of them a score of 7/10 or higher.  That's pretty fucking remarkable, I think.  After we left the 70s the quality went south. 

This sub genre crossed over into other genres (as they tend to do) which made it more enjoyable.  The funniest? NUN OF THAT (2009).  The scariest? ALUCARDA (1977).  The smartest? THE DEVILS (1971).  The strangest? Probably CONVENT ROPE HELL (1984). The sexiest?  Hmmmm, that's a tough one but I'll say IMAGES IN A CONVENT (1979). There were some great short films, too.  If you're new to the genre and want a good starting spot, I'd recommend FLAVIA, THE HERETIC (1974) as it's great all-around introduction loaded with great imagery, torture, and plenty of the sex.  It's also easily available to rent (I'm sure Netflix has it) or buy.  After that, just go through the long list of films above and figure out where you'd like to go next. 

Now that this commitment is over, I have no idea what the next big project will be.  I still have a few to finish but I do enjoy tackling a subject like this one and seeing it through in a short period of time.  Perhaps after the first of the coming year I'll look into it.  Any suggestions on what sub genre I should exhaust?