The Convent

The horror genre is undoubtedly more diverse than any of cinema's other genres, and while that does mean that there's a lot of different and original horrors; it also means that any good idea liable to be done more than once. This has become a big problem for the modern genre with the recent wave of remakes. The Convent isn't a remake by name; but it could easily be a remake of the eighties classic Night of the Demons as the basic plots are more or less identical - but at least enough of it has been changed to ensure that it gets away with being a different film. This is how remakes should be done! Anyway, anyone that has seen the aforementioned eighties horror will recognise this story instantly. The film begins with a cool sequence that sees a young girl brutally execute a bunch of nuns with a shotgun. Fast forward fifteen years and a bunch of school kids are planning to break into the convent where it all happened to see if it really is haunted by the dead nuns...

It has to be said that this film isn't a piece of high quality film-making. The acting is largely ridiculous and the special effects are so bad that they make the majority of the cast look on par with some of the greatest performances of all time. However, the film was clearly never meant to be seen as great horror; and thankfully it does work as a fun, trashy horror comedy. There's always plenty going on and the film never really has time to get boring, which is certainly to its credit. The majority of the characters are rather dull, and this is not helped by the fact that the most interesting one is killed off towards the beginning; but the loss of her presence is somewhat made up for the appearance of a couple of bumbling 'Satanists' that provides the laughs. The film also features a few cameo appearances; we've got rapper Coolio and Bill Moseley as a couple of coppers; and even better Adrienne Barbeau as motorcycle riding demon killer. Overall, I really wouldn't recommend anyone goes out of their way to see this film; but it's fun enough for what it is and people that enjoy this sort of film surely wont be too disappointed.

Usually I don't try and tell people NOT to see a movie. We all have different tastes, and someone might actually like a film I hate. I already saw a review title which gave this movie a good vibe. In my opinion they are WRONG. I just wouldn't feel right if I didn't warn you about how incredibly disappointed you'd be!!!!!!! Lousy special effects, a bad script, a crappy story line... and the fact that you can't even recognize David Gunn..... that just was too much to handle!!!!! The plotline could've worked if they just hadn't totally BLOWN it from the very beginning... seriously... I only rented it because David Gunn was in it, and he turned out to have such a bad role that it made me run into the bathroom and bow to the porcelain god. He was far better in "Vampire Journals". Then again, he was the hero in that movie. In this one he's a fasletto-ed nobody who thinks he's somebody! Seriously, stay away from this movie!

The Convent is a Underrated Comedy Horror Splatter. This Movie is fast paced and there is much gore and some really funny moments. The only issue that I have with this Movie it is too short ( without End credits only 69 Minutes ). This Movie deserves more credit especially in the Horror Community. The Main Actress and Adrienne Barbeau was solid too. Fully recommended

"The Convent" is a very UNoriginal but fun splatter-horror flick with the usual formula of dumb teenagers awakening an ancient type of evil they can't possibly deal with. The very cool and mood-setting opening sequence shows a young girl gunning down a bunch of nuns and a priest before setting fire to the convent/boarding school they're living in. The urban legend says that this girl – Christine – went insane after a forced abortion and that the convent is haunted by the restless souls of the nuns ever since. Now, 40 years later, a group of crazy college students breaks into the abandoned convent to play fraternity jokes, but soon they get possessed by demons in nuns' clothes and they're recruited to assist in performing virgin-sacrifices to Satan almighty. There's few tension or atmosphere but the script luckily enough inserts a lot of OTT-humor and ingenious ideas (a bunch of unbelievably clumsy devil-worshipers!) that makes this routine horror flick worth watching. The make-up effects are quite grotesque and nasty, with blood spurting out of every body hole and heads that are chopped off by the dozen. The dark and ramshackle convent makes an excellent horror location and the nun-costumes are really terrific. The true heroine of this film is Adrienne Barbeau ("The Fog", "Escape from N.Y") as the skilled demon-killer who comes to save the day. There equally are splendid cameo appearances for rapper Coolio and Bill Mosely ("House of 1.000 Corpses"). "The Convent" isn't exactly fundamental viewing, but it's good and unscrupulous horror-entertainment that fans will surely appreciate.

Ahhh, this movie is in every way completely ridiculuous. The Actors seemed to have a good time, and so did I. It's very reminiscent of the better low-budget 80's stuff, with cheesy acting, cheesy dialog, and cheesy humor. But I love that kind of stuff. And clocking in at about 1 hour and 12 mins., it's very fast-paced. I noticed that the male characters were incredibly stupid, while most of the females were pretty smart. I thought this was hilarious and made the film kind of a parody of the aforementioned 80's flicks. If you like stuff like "Night of the Demons" or maybe "Return of the Living Dead," "The Convent" is in the same spirit. You get to see lots of goofy stuff, but the monsters are pretty cool, and sort of serious, and it's got a pretty good bloodflow. And Adrienne Barbeau is a blast as the vet demon killer. My only complaint is that the ending seems a bit rushed, and poorly edited. But Mr. Mendez is one to watch.