Satanico Pandemonium: La Sexorcista

There's a bit of unintended notoriety connected with the title of this film. You have to see the 1996 Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez writer-director collaboration From Dusk Til Dawn, an un-P.C. film if ever there was one, to get it. The movie's characters have set up shop at a trucker's and biker's bar, the Titty Twister, to cool their heels. The M.C. announces a new entertainer for the stage, a woman named Santanico Pandemonium. The voluptuous actress Salma Hayek steps out draped with a huge snake and little else, and proceeds to rock her hips to the delight of every man who can see her. It's a stunning moment toward the middle of a not very striking flick.

Satanico Pandemonium isn't only exploitation; it belongs to a genre called "nunsploitation." The place is Spain and the time is most likely pre-1834. Sister Maria (Cecilia Pezet) is a devoted nun who finds herself visited by visions of Satan, or Luzbel. The devil appears as a man to Sister Maria, and using obvious Biblical symbolism, tends to carry a bitten-into apple. Sister Maria is startled and horrified by the series of temptations that happen to her via the film's faulty special effects. As another user has pointed out, this is an obsession scenario by an external devil.

One important observation should be stated. The actress playing Sister Maria is very beautiful with warm, bedroom eyes, and many of us (meaning men) wouldn't mind watching her getting robbed of her virtue - as well as tormented by particular sins. But what happens is with a little influence from Beelzebub, Sister Maria soon indulges in lesbianism, child seduction and heresy. The film has a church-like quality to the way it moves slowly and harps upon moments of less-than-dramatic value, and with its fantastic logic, Sister Maria turns into hell in a headdress. One scene in particular is actually quite disturbing, with Sister Maria covering her naked, bloody body with her uniform.

The flick isn't entirely baldfaced exploitation though, and has interesting questions about faith in its dialogue. That aside, the flick's appeal seems rather obvious. In life, most of us want what we cannot have, and the fantasy of despoiling such a person (i.e., a nun) can be very powerful. Satanico Pandemonium uses its subject matter effectively, and despite an unsatisfying story resolution, it packs quite a wallop.

One of the most faithful nuns in her convent, Sister Maria finds herself obsessed by the Devil. Obsessed, not possessed, because Satan is an external force in this film. A strapping and vampiric lad, the Devil brings out Sister Maria's inner desires for both sex and blood. Plagued also by her devotion to God, she tries to fight these forbidden desires and lusts with prayer and penitence only to have them come back ten fold. Sister Maria is suddenly caught between Satanic submission or death.

Satanico Pandemonium is a good nunsploitation effort in the vein of, the more celebrated, Juan Lopez Moctezuma'a Alucarda. It has sex, nudity, lesbianism, child seduction, self mutilation, blood, and death(not necessarily in that order, of course). The ending is clever and surprising following a bloody and ravenous climax. If you're a fan of nunsploitation and offbeat cinema, do yourself a favor and check out Satanico Pandemonium. You won't regret it.

I found this film rather interesting. It's as cheesy and campy as it could be, acting is rather bad, poorly plotted and special effects are simply ridiculous. However, I got hooked by it. It is a top expression of exploitation cinema (I mean, here in Mexico this flick was named "La sexorcista") full of fake blood, male audience oriented soft core lesbianism and ludicrous dialogs that seem to be copied from a Siglo de Oro play (Spanish Renaisence Theatre).

If you like exploitation films, give this one a try. It has its "artistic" aspirations but, as the director might have, you will forget them rather quickly. Fun fact: Here in Mexico, actor Enrique Rocha has grown a respectable reputation as a prime soap opera actor. By the way, one thing that really impressed me in this one was the lighting. For a 70's Mexican movie it is incredibly well lit!

Like most of these once-shocking exploitation movies, the buzz surrounding them today on IMDb comments and online forums is more captivating than the film itself. Blame it on our desensitized 21st century sensibilities but, for whatever reason, if this movie was shocking once, it's not any more, save for perhaps a few sheltered souls that are easily impressed. That's not to say it's a bad film. I just hate to see so many people seek these little known gems out with false expectations.

Another reviewer here says the main character (the nun who falls from grace) engages in "lesbianism, child seduction and heresy." Well, the first part is true, for what that's worth. The last part is a given, but then again heresy committed by a nun is not exactly a tall order. As far as "child seduction," well, here we have the reason why these films are so trumped up: modern day, brow-beaten, "politically correct" types who'll get their feathers ruffled at pretty much anything. There's no child seduction in this film, unless you consider a mildly attractive nun trying to seduce an shy and timid teenage boy who unrealistically rejects her purely for plot's sake, i.e. just to make the nun look even more lecherous.

The film moves slowly, the nudity is brief (and the protagonist's body is not exactly a knockout), the effects, though cheap, are well done, the one brief scene of lesbianism is almost arousing, and that's about it.

The film is worth watching for someone interested in a "study" of a nun's internal repressions and how they affect her view of the outer world (you are never quite sure if the events are happening or if she is deluded) but for anyone expecting some kind of feast of debauchery, ya better forget it. Unless, of course, you're a "politically correct" sissy like so many commentators here.

I watched this on Mondo Macabro's DVD of it, and the picture quality is very good - nice and sharp and colorful. For some reason it is a little scratchy in the last few seconds (perhaps appropriately enough, since Old Scratch himself is appearing at that moment).

A young pretty nun is wandering through the countryside picking flowers. She sees a naked man who greets her, and she runs away. When talking to a local boy, the man reappears in clothing this time, and he tries to get her to take a bite of a shiny red apple. She runs away again, and the devil (as he clearly must be) takes a bite of the apple while he watches her retreat.

The devil shows up against outside the convent window when the nuns are eating. He disappears, then appears as a small red thing (light, jewel, apple?), then even that disappears. The nun shows herself to be kind to the black nuns, who are discriminated against, and to be gentle and healing with animals.

When another nun comes to her room to declare her admiration and love for her, she immediately collapses on the bed accepting the seduction. Satan finally got to her. Her behavior becomes more satanic, as she seduces or kills people. Her clothing is frequently removed. Satan proves himself to be pretty powerful, while God seems absent.

The ending might have been a concession to censors, I'm not sure. There are a lot of nice extras on the DVD, including a short overview of nunsploitation and an essay on the subject, among other things. I haven't seen many such movies myself, apart from some weird nun movies like Alucarda, Dead Waters, and Demonia - hardly typical Catholic nuns.