Les amours interdites d'une religieuse

Images in a Convent (1979)

*** (out of 4)

Joe D'Amato's notorious nunploitation film is considered by many to be the most disgusting and brutal. At a local convent nuns find themselves possessed by Satan, which soon gives them the temptation of sex. As is to be expected, this film certainly delivers in the nudity/sex department, although it never gets too hardcore and the reputation is a tad bit misleading because this is actually a fairly well made film. D'Amato, who also served as the DP, makes the budget look a lot higher than it actually is and the story is entertaining, or at least the sexual nuns are. Not nearly as trashy as some of its ilk.

Yes friends, D'Amato does it again with another sleaze film that is sure to burrow it's way into all TRUE trash lovers hearts...IMAGES IN A CONVENT is that rare kinda film that D'Amato is sooooo good at. A good mix of atmosphere and filth that works well on both levels. I found the story a little convoluted, but here goes:

A girl is brought into a convent against her will to keep her Uncle from abducting her. Around the same time a wounded male traveler is allowed to stay in the convent to recuperate from his wounds. He tries to bone everyone in sight. There's a Pan-like statue that means something - maybe it's the Devil, maybe it's not. The nuns all touch each other inappropriately. A head nun is sent to fetch a Father to expel the Devil and is raped along the way. The Father comes to the convent anyway because he "felt" that he was needed and all the nuns try to screw him...The End.

Honestly, I couldn't really make heads or tails of the storyline, but there is enough tits, ass, and 70's puss-fros to not really care what the hell is going on plot-wise. The dual assault on the traveling nun is suitably sleazy as she's subjected to some graphic forced fellatio. The nuns all going' buck at the end is cool as one of 'em is ravaged with a wooden dildo. I don't know if this film had any real "point" - but it sure delivered some "goods". Not as "well-done" as some of the other nunsploit films, and doesn't quite beat out my favorite, SCHOOL OF THE HOLY BEAST...but it comes close if for nothing else than pure sleaziness. I love you Joe D'Amato...8/10

(1979) Images In A Convent/ Immagini di un convento (In Italian with English Subtitles) ADULT DRAMA

Adapted from the novel "La religieuse" by Denis Diderot, cinematography, co-written and directed by Joe D'Amato that has countess of Lignate, Isabela (Paola Senatore) brought to the monastery of nuns so that she can be converted. In charge of converting her is Mother superior, Sister Angela (Nana Aslanoglu). And it is not long before Isabela infects other nuns with perverted thoughts beginning with Sister Licinia (Marina Ambrosini) after she hears Isabella chanting out her uncle's name while lying on her bed, touching herself. She would barge in before she makes out with her. And when Sister Marta (Marina Hadman Bellis) notices this, and Licinia pleads her to punish her. She does this by whipping her while she is fully named other than the stockings and the head gear she has on before she too seduces her.

All of this is just an excuse to showcase many of the big breasted women to put in some compromising positions to which none of them are really that old- full frontal and back and front. I must admit there were times I was a little aroused to see that many beautiful women. All they had to do was remove the devil statue to another location and then problem solved. Like, what is a devil statue doing in a convent of nuns in the first place.

The jury is still out as far as nunsploitation and I are concerned; it's not that I don't appreciate sleaze in movies, just that the idea of a load of God-fearing women living behind convent walls doesn't really appeal to me all that much. It's lucky, then, that cult cinema God Joe D'Amato is on hand to spice this theme up a little, with a load of nymphomaniac 'nuns' getting up to all-sorts with each other and any man that that happens to stop by. It's obvious that D'Amato was far more interested in making a porn movie than a film about nuns and their beliefs, and this shines through as the focus is always on the sexual antics, and any whisper of a plot line exists only to string more sex scenes together. There is a plot, however, and it follows a convent full of nuns. After taking in a wounded man against all the convent rules, the nuns soon find themselves making this man the focus of all their desires. However, he has also brought with him the devil (in the form of a statue), and this leads the local priest to visit the convent in order to expel the demon, only he ends up featuring in the nuns' desires also...

At first, I didn't think this movie was going to work as a porn film because the first couple of sex scenes are far too rigid and it seems like the actresses are just doing what they're told. However, D'Amato soon bucks this trend with a plethora of tender and perverted scenes that feature some of the most buxom nuns I've ever seen! D'Amato makes great use of his actresses' bodies, and this is a big bonus for the film; as it's much more full on than a lot of the nunsploitation sleaze. Despite the fact that this is a low quality sleaze movie, the production values are really good! The picture is crystal clear, and most of the acting is passable even when they've got their clothes on. The soundtrack courtesy of Nico Fidenco is infectious, and helps to make the overall film more erotic. This film is also bound to appeal to anyone that loves sleazy trash movies, as D'Amato is happy to go a little further than just showing your basic sex scenes, and the film also features lesbians, rape and wooden dildo's... Overall, Images in a Convent is a surprisingly good slice of nunsploitation and comes highly recommended to fans of this type of movie.

A young woman (Paloa Senatore), who is involved in an incestuous affair with her uncle, is sent to a convent and quickly realizes it is a hotbed of carnal lust. While she is sleeping her first night and having an erotic dream about her a uncle, another young nun comes in and performs oral sex on her! Then the young nun is caught coming out of her room by the Mother Superior, who takes her off to another room and whips her (naked, of course), which leads to yet another lesbian scene. And this is BEFORE they all get possessed by Satan! The satanic possession involves a creepy statue of a grinning satyr and a mysterious injured man they let convalesce in the convent (and his idea of convalescing is to screw all the nubile initiates and try to do the same to the Mother Superior). Too late, the church tries to intervene.

This is kind of a supernatural "Exorcist"-influenced "nunsploitation" movie, perhaps closer to insane Mexican nun films like "Alucarda" and "Satanic Pandemonium" or Jess Franco's off-the-wall version of "Love Letters of a Portugese Nun" than it is to the earlier more serious Italian nun films. It's also a Joe D'Amato film, so it has great cinematography, even better music, and, of course, a WHOLE lot of sleazy sex. There might actually be TOO MUCH sex. (I like sex in movies the same way I like salt on my food, but D'Amato has a way of taking the top of the salt shaker and just pouring the whole thing on). There's even a brief hardcore sequence,which is not that graphic, but it's a rape sequence where one nun (Marina Hedman) is accosted by randy highwaymen. This scene is potentially offensive,but only if you can buy hardcore porn star Hedman (who looks like fifty miles of rough road) as an innocent virgin.

Paola Senatore is prettier and a much better actress than Hedman (she too did one hardcore film some years later when she was allegedly hooked on heroin in real life and several months pregnant--but even I'm not depraved enough to want to see that). She has a rebellious and particularly ambiguous character, who might or might not be in league with the satanic forces. The satanic forces themselves are pretty ambiguous (it could just be the group hysteria of the nuns). But in the end D'Amato goes for the sleazy nun sex and doesn't delve too much into this. This could have been better, but it's OK guess