Sacred Flesh

One has to have some justification for watching a film like this. Surely, we cannot be just voyeurs, are we? This is probably the ultimate in nunsploitation films. I am certainly not through investigation, but I cannot imagine something more perverse than this one.

So, we have to follow along with the writer/director who apparently wanted to justify the sumptuous feast of nun flesh in this film by having not one, but two or three philosophical discussions going on about mean and women, nuns, and satisfying your carnal desires. Bugger! Just fast forward through all that and get to the action.

And, what action you will see in this film. It stretched the line between soft and hard core porn so far that I actually felt it may bust through if there was one more scene. Full frontal nudity was the norm, and those none were certainly passionate about satisfying each other - or themselves if no one was about to help. A nunnery full of bodacious babes and all there for us to enjoy. Even the priests got in on the act somewhat as they wanted to make sure that a particular nun knew what she was sacrificing.

Whew! I am just overwhelmed at what goes on behind those walls.

Nigel Wingrove cocks a snook at the then recently retired James Ferman for his banning of 'Visions Of Ecstasy' a decade earlier.

A feature length shot on video imbroglio of cosmetically enhanced and fully shaven nuns doing close-up 'penance'.

Yes the scenes of the devilish succubus reciting arch dialogue are amusing, in a Lair Of The White Worm type way. But they are few and far between, and if you're not into the heavy breathing stuff, it's too boring waiting for them.

Very poor stuff all round. Redemption was so much better than this in the beginning when they got so many of us into obscure foreign horrorsploitation.

Nigel Wingrove's less than spectacular try on the nunsploitation genre is quite ridiculous a film indeed, on every level. A Mother Superior is suffering from an extreme form of horniness-induced delirium brought about by her reading the carnal confessions of her fellow sisters, who invariably are silicone pumped sex fiends prone to succumbing to the callings of their young flesh. She descends into a hallucinatory limbo where Mary Magdalene herself encourages her to stop the mortification of her flesh and instead save her sanity by giving in to her innate sexual frenzy. Whipping, masturbation, lesbianism and group sex follow, as they should.

This film sucks, but in a good way. Acting is terrible, costumes laughable and the soft-core sex scenes tame, poorly performed and devoid of any illusion of feeling whatsoever. I've always imagined the real sex life of nuns to be much dirtier, perverse and more demented.

That's not to say the time spent on this flick was wasted. In a right state of mind, with the right company, watching this piece of garbage can be an exquisite pleasure.

Recommended for true connoisseurs of the poopier side of cinema.

I saw this in London. There were five people in the audience. I think the intent was to make an arty euro porn film, but it looks like it was shot on beta and suffered from dropout and poor colouring. The story goes nowhere, just a tempted mother superior and various nun couplings. I really made the effort to see this one after enjoying the far superior RAZERBLADE SMILE, but Eileen Daly is truly wasted in this mess. Pity.

What we have here is a film designed to shock. Anyone who goes about making a film about the repressed sexuality of nuns realises and no doubt encourages the fact that some will be shocked by this. In my opinion this film makers tangle with this has left nothing but a laughable piece of amateur soft porn hoping to fool people into thinking it has deep, important themes by topping and tailing the sex scenes with terribly written and awfully acted discussions about the morality of sex and sexual repression. 'The Devils' walked the line between exploitation and art but due to the superb performances and clinical direction managed to avoid desending into voyerism, something this film can not claim.

I am sad to see that some people commenting have actually been taken in by the "moral arguments" that run through the film. All I see is a very weak device to allow a group of soft porn scenes to run their course. The rapid editing and camera movement does little to disguise them for what they are either.

The acting is terrible. I got the impression that the actors either had no clue what they were saying and therefore lacked any sort realism or were trying their hardest to remember the reams of dogmatic nonsense they spewed - which had much the same affect.

One hilarious element are the performers in the scenes of "sexual gratification". Most appear to have breast implants, full make up including lipstick, eye make up and nail varnish, and some even have pierced tongues, belly button rings and tattoos not to mention their incredibly neatly trimmed pubic hair. I'm no expert but I doubt that these things would have been common place in most Convents. This does not add up to a high level of realism and is just another example of the fact the film-maker's intentions were as far from high art or art house as you can get.

Avoid this film, if God exists he'll help you resist.