The Nun and the Devil

Directed by Domenico Paolella (The Prey/The Story of a Cloistered Nun), The Nun and the Devil AKA Le Monache di Sant'Arcangelo is a headily erotic tale of seduction and persecution detailing the sinful practices which spill out of a 16th century convent. When the psychotically ambitious Sister Julia (Anna Heywood) vies to take the place of a dying Mother Superior by any means possible, other inmates start to lose their way, indulging in heterosexual flings and lesbian coupling. But things take a nasty turn when the nuns are subjected to a violent inquisition and their existence becomes one of torture and degradation.

Made just two years after Ken Russell’s notorious The Devils (1971), this 1973 film sought to offer a corruption of the innocent style plot which monopolised on the short-lived wave of nunsploitation features, incorporating graphic horrors, soft-pornography and historical drama. Loosely based on authentic records, this sordid tale of religion and power will delight lovers of extreme Italian exploitation cinema.