- Alida Valli as Mother Superior to Sister Gertrude in Killer Nun (1978).
And suffer - oh boy does she suffer!
You see, a "series of unfortunate accidents" are plaguing the hospital of Sister Gertrude, her staff and patients. In other words, a pink-gloved assailant is carrying out vicious murders - Could Sister Gertrude be committing these atrocities? Is she going crazy?
Anita Ekberg stars in this outrageous "nunsploitation" brain-damaged gem of a movie, based on the true-life events of a homicidal nun. She plays the moon-faced, morphine addicted Sister Gertrude, who has come a long, loooong way from her vivacious and sexy fountain frolicking in La Dolce Vita. Ekberg also sports the most amazing, extreme eyebrows since Divine and moans, whimpers and falls apart emotionally before our eyes (and our gaping mouths)!
This movie is full of memorable scenes, dialogue and violence. Everything you could possibly want out of a movie titled Killer Nun, is here. We have a standard murder plot sprinkled with giallo influences; i.e. the off screen, gloved maniac, a Lucio Fulci-esque acupuncture-torture murder and disorienting, rapid-fire editing.
One of the most hilarious and jaw-dropping scenes is the insane denture-smashing scene, where Anita berates an old woman for taking her teeth out during dinner. "Josephine! If I've warned you once, I've warned you a hundred times. I will not have you taking your teeth out at the table! It's disgusting! Disgusting! DISGUSTING!" A minute before this insanity ensues, Anita reads to her patients out loud the story of a saint who is tortured by having her teeth extracted and subjected to painful facial piercing - eat up, everyone!
The music is also particularly memorable; from the opening, ominous choir-chanting classical piece (the same one used in the opening scenes of The Shinin), to the tweaky, nerve-jangling theremin music played during one of the Sister's many freak-out moments.
Also in the cast is hunky Andy Warhol star, Joe Dallesandro, as the young, new doctor at the hospital (minus his Bronx accent; everyone in this film is dubbed!) and Italian horror and Dario Argento regular, Alida Valli, as the candy-eating Mother Superior.
You'll also be subjected to some pre-Misery abuse of the handicapped, an octogenarian version of the twins from The Shining, a sudden shift from dubbing to subtitles in some scenes, and the most visually memorable and grotesque cast of extras this side of John Waters.
To top off this divine sleaze classic, it was all filmed on location at a genuine convent and promoted as an expose from the "secret files of the Vatican" (the Vatican pulled the film from distribution after four screenings)"! During filming, the production crew and director kept the subject matter and title secret, pretending to lay down cable and engage in other boring activities whenever the priests and nuns would stop by to visit.
Blue Underground has produced another remarkable DVD release of a rather obscure, exploitation masterpiece, taking the care to give it the best presentation possible. The disc includes a revealing interview with the director, who shares lots of fun information about the cast and production as well as subsequent reaction to the film; a terrific gallery of poster art, publicity stills and press and, of course, the theatrical trailer.
Watch this film or get down on your knees and give me three Hail Marys!
For more information about Killer Nun, visit Blue Underground.
by Eric Weber
