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Released by: Blue Underground
Released on: 10/26/2004
Director: Giulio Berruti
Cast: Anita Ekberg, Paolo Morra, Joe Dallesandro, Alida Valli, Massimo Serrato, Daniele Dublino
Year: 1978
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The Movie:
Swedish sex bomb Anita Ekberg (La Dolce Vita, Fangs Of The Living Dead) plays Sister Gertrude, a nun who, since having a tumor removed has suffered a chemical imbalance in her brain, causing her no shortage of pain in her cranium. This has resulted in a pretty serious morphine addiction, as she uses the drug constantly to ease the soreness in hear head. Unfortunately for those who come into contact with Sister Gertrude, while it may ease her pain, it also causes her to go on murder sprees every once in a while.
One day, while assisting a doctor with an operation, things go wrong and she's all of a sudden finding herself compelled to axe the plug out of the patient's life support. After talking to her roommate, who may or may not be a lesbian, Gertrude decides to leave the solace of the convent and venture into the outside world. When she's finished outside doing her thing and committing every sin in the book, she returns to the convent the bodies start dropping like flies and Gertrude may be the one responsible for the current state of mayhem.
I have a confession to make (pun intended). I love nasty nun cinema. There's something implicitly taboo about seeing a hot chick in a habit doing things she shouldn't be doing and seeing as that is more or less the concept upon which most nunsploitation films are based, they're generally right up my alley. I'm not sure why the cause that reaction in me, but they do. So I suppose I'm biased in that I sit firmly and unabashedly in the pro nasty nun camp.
With that out of the way, Killer Nun is a pretty good film even for those who don't normally enjoy the blasphemous antics of the nympho nuns that haunt the hallowed halls of exploitation. The film provides pretty much all of the basic elements one could want from the sub-genre and sets them in a very easy to follow plot that serves merely as setup for the next set piece. Other films would do a better job of making you think or even of titillating you but Killer Nun does a very good job of entertaining, even if it isn't really all that intricate.
Ekberg has a great screen presence and director Giulio Berruti does a great job of making sure that the film places her in all manner of lusty predicaments. The film also benefits from some very nice cinematography that gives the film a slightly classier edge than it would have had otherwise. The quirky score by Alessandro Alessandroni (who also scored The Devil's Nightmare) suits the tone of the film quite nicely and further accentuates the feel that the cinematography creates with a sort of progressively classical sound.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Killer Nun receives a nice 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. While the image is pretty stable and free of compression artifacts and edge enhancement problems, there is a drop out during the opening credits (which look like they've been video generated, but don't quote me on that) as well as a fair amount of grain. Colors are decent and there's a nice level of detail present throughout. Once the credits run their course the print does look cleaner and seems to be in better shape. Overall not a perfect transfer, but a good one.
Aside from one scene towards the end that is in Italian with English subtitles, Killer Nun is presented in a clean Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono mix. While the dubbing does hamper the film in the respect that it looks obviously faked, the clarity of the track is fine and there aren't any problems with hiss or distortion, even if at times it sounds a little flat. Much like the video presentation, the audio is good, but not great.
The biggest extra feature is an interview with writer/director Giulio Berruti entitled From The Secret Files Of The Vatican that runs about fifteen minutes in length. This is an excellent, informative and enjoyable discussion in which Berruti gives us some background on his Catholic upbringing, how he convinced a convent to let him shoot his film on their grounds, and how the film had to deal with various problems involving the censors not only because of its content but also because of its marketing campaign. This interview is presented in anamorphic widescreen.
Aside from the interview, there is also an English language theatrical trailer (also in anamorphic widescreen) for the film and a few different still galleries that exhibit various promotional posters, photos, video cover art and even the complete pressbook for the film.
The Final Word:
Killer Nun benefits from a great performance from Anita Ekberg and enough sleaze to keep most exploitation fans interested. Blue Underground gives the film a solid though not quite perfect DVD release with some okay extra features.