Death of a Nun (1980)

Director: Robert J. Avrech

Starring: Ellen Barber, Philip English, Sam Gray, Bobo Lewis, Jocelyn Javlis, Rita Fliegel, Noah Parks, Rufus Smith, Joseph Sullivan, Trude Stone

More info: IMDb

Tagline: What she doesn't know...could kill her.

Plot: Marie (Barber) is an unlucky-in-love Catholic girl who hopes that John (English), the new man in her life, will turn out to be 'Mr. Right'. Unfortunately, she soon discovers the deadly obsession that has lived within him since his childhood corruption at the hands of the wicked Sister Mary. Now she must escape before she becomes the next victim of her lover's murderous habit.

My rating: 3/10

Will I watch it again? No.

Part of the Nunsploitation Project (July & August 2013). Click here for more naughty nun insanity!  

I love, Love, LOVE the cover art.  Too bad the picture doesn't come close to delivering what the art promises.  The opening notes of the score (by Carey Gold, who's sole IMDb credit as composer belongs to the TV soap opera, RYAN'S HOPE (1975), which makes a lot of sense now that I've seen this picture) and credits scream TV movie but it's not.  There's swearing and the teensiest bit of nudity.

The acting fits the bill for your average TV movie at the time, too.  Woof.  The biggest offender is the pacing.  There's an awful lot of time of Marie snooping around John's house trying to find out what his big secret is.  OK, the more I think about it the music smacks of late 70s TV with that distinctive bland flavor and that hurts the film as well.  The conclusion of the flick reveals the truth and by that time it was too late.  I hadn't cared for at least an hour...but I gave it a shot.

Is that really a flaccid penis faucet?

Surprisingly, this film has got quite a pedigree including Robert M. "FRANKENHOOKER (1990) (I LOVE that movie)" Baldwin as the director of photography, Rick "THE INCREDIBLE HULK (2008)" Shaine as the editor, and writer Robert J. "BODY DOUBLE (1984)" Avrech, who also directed this picture, his only film as director.  Despite all of that this picture fails to ignite on any level except maybe a Lifetime channel movie of the week if they existed thirty-something years ago.  The copyright credit at the end of the film (see, I actually watch these things all the way through to the last drop.  I never give up on a film no matter how bad it is) is 1979 although IMDb has it as 1980.  I find it hard to believe this film was released anywhere but you never know.

This is hardly what I'd consider a Nunsploitation flick but it does have a tiny bit of it so it's going to be added to the Honorable Mention section of the Nunsploitation page.