Le scomunicate di San Valentino

Until the annual Quentin Tarantino film fests began in Austin a couple of years back, I must admit to being naive with regards to the Italian Horror genre.

I enjoy, from time to time, a little mindless entertainment shall we say, and The Sinful Nuns of Saint Valentine could hardly be more mindless. Lots of naked nuns and plenty of the mentally disturbed highlight this 93 minute epic. Don't let me give away the big entombment finish.

Not for all tastes, but if you want to try one on (Italian Horror) this benign little foray is a good starting point. Take on Mario Bava at a later date.

At risk of sounding sleazy, I do like 70/80's exploitation flicks. I just can't get enough of the weirdness that they offer.

Coming across a film with a title like this could and should be a reason to rejoice. If only it lived up to it's name.

During Inquisition-era Spain, a man is wrongly accused of a crime. In his attempt to flee he is injured and takes refuge in a convent. This convent also happens to be the same place his beloved has been put by her father, who wants to keep the love birds apart. All looks like it might turn out well, until our female lead's room-mate turns up dead and she is the prime suspect.

Given name and set-up, one would imagine all sorts of sacrilegious sexual goings-on, but instead the film takes itself really seriously and sexual encounters are limited to some (relatively) brief nudity and all of one sex scene, which itself is pretty tame.

It fails miserably at being a 'real' film and isn't all that good at being exploitation either.

3/10

Lucita is a young girl who's banished to a convent by her over-protecting father, so to stop her from marrying her flame, Esteban. Accused of murder, Esteban is set upon by some soldiers of the Inquisition, but he escapes with some injuries and seeks refuge at the convent where Lucita happens to be. While, wanting to clear his name of this foul play. His lover is mistaken for the killing one of the nuns, but she admits to the murder, where she is to be executed. Although, Esteban finds out that the convent's Abbess has more to do with Lucita's misfortune.

An often-told tale (known as Romero and Juliet of course) features very prominently in this watered down Italian nunsploitation flick. While even though there is constant nudity (mainly topless) and some lesbian scenes amongst the field. The factor is, that it doesn't explore the exploitive angle of its material with any vigour and prowess. It starts off decent enough, but hit's a flat spot midway through before reaching its somewhat flipped-out final instalment involving nuns' slowly losing their marbles. The plain and one-note story was very dreary and at times quite automatic, but it managed to scrummage up some surprising developments to cover up its shortcomings and lack of punishing action. Sergio Grieco's direction is pretty conventional and lacks real style, but he captures the detail of the period perfectly and does his job adequately in keeping this a curious piece. The film did have an intrusive look to it because of the camera-work that gets up and close to the act. Now what caught my ear was the seductively faint music score that whispers along rather beautifully and is one of the film's strong points. Acting by the cast is particularly sound, even if there are one or two stilted performances. Jenny Tamburi is very glowing and quite strong as Lucita and Paolo Malco brings a determinedly, courageous edge to Esteban. Also Françoise Prévost is excellent as the sternly, tainted Abbess.

"The Sinful Nuns of Saint Valentine" is a modest effort that's not terribly satisfying, but still I found it to be persistently watchable despite being considerably subdued.

I seem to be in the minority here. I actually enjoyed this film. Or maybe more accurately, I was pleasantly surprised. The reason I stand in the minority camp here clearly seems to be because I have very little knowledge of the genre known as nunsploitation. My lack of experience in this most specific of exploitation genres has perhaps saved me from disappointment. While seasoned fans of this type of flick bemoan the lack of full-on sleaze here, I truthfully never noticed and was instead pleased to see a film with good production values and a surprisingly coherent storyline. The only other title from this sub-genre that I can remember ever seeing was Ken Russell's delirious shock-fest The Devils. Although I haven't seen Russell's excellent film in at least a decade, I certainly remember it well enough. Who, in all honestly, could forget something like that? Now, while The Sinful Nuns of St. Valentine is nowhere near as good, it clearly derived inspiration from Ken's classic, sharing, as it does, the somewhat specific feature of a whole convent of nuns being declared servants of Satan by the religious establishment and then subsequently going temporarily deranged in a sex-crazed fashion.

Set in Spain during the Inquisition, the story is about the trials of a young couple who are in love. The girl's father disapproves of the relationship and sends his daughter to a convent, while denouncing her lover a heretic. After a series of unfortunate events, the Inquisition denounces the whole convent of nuns and seals them inside their monastery alive. This leads the girl's lover on a quest to save her.

The above synopsis is a really abridged account of what happens in this film. Although the story is quite expansive, it is, unusually for Italian cinema, a coherently told affair. Acting is of a good standard too with no one really letting the side down. The cinematography, soundtrack and period detail are all of a very good standard too. So really when you take all of the above into account The Sinful Nuns of St. Valentine is a pretty well put-together affair. I guess it all comes down to expectations; hardened fans (no pun intended) of this sub-genre want more sleaze basically. And although I am certainly not one to argue with that, I enjoyed this as a nicely put together exploitation movie.

'The Sinful Nuns Of Saint Valentine' is a mildly entertaining slice of 70s European nunsploitation. While it never reaches the demented heights of my fave the sensational 'Killer Nun' ('Suor Omicidi'), it's not a bad way to spend 90 minutes.

What we have here is basically a cheap cash in on Ken Russell's superior 'The Devils'. The background is the Inquisition, and the basic plot concerns a pair of lovers from feuding families ala Romeo and Juliet. Esteban, accused of heresy and murder, seeks sanctuary after being wounded in the convent where his lover the beautiful Lucita is being held. Lucita's father has forbidden her to marry Esteban and has banished her to this kooky place ruled over by a wicked Abbess. Esteban must try and save Lucita from taking Orders and clear his own name before he is captured and executed. Events get even more complicated when Lucita is arrested for the murder of a fellow nun, and must face the evil Inquisitor.

Sadly there isn't half as much "sin" on screen as you would expect. A whipping, some lesbianism, a few topless shots, that's about it. The actress who plays Lucita (Jenny Tamburi?) is stunningly beautiful which makes this mediocre movie much easier to sit through, but you can't help but be disappointed with this fairly innocuous, and not all that exploitative exploitation movie. Things finally start to heat up with a mass semi-naked nun freak out in the last 15 minutes, but it's too little, too late. Jess Franco doesn't have much to worry about from Sergio Greco. Very average, but worth a look if you don't get your hopes up.