A Nun named Sister Christina becomes lost in the skull and bone strewn catacombs under her Convent. Eventually she finds Sister Assunta who is currently embalming a dead Nun in what looks like a cross between a dungeon and Victorian laboratory with lots of bubbling test tubes and strange looking scientific equipment, hey this is Bruno Mattei and that's all you need to know! After some insane rambling about "the genitals are the doorway to evil!" Assunta mutilates the dead Nun's vagina, kills Sister Christina and dies herself soon after. Father Inardo (Andrea Aureli as Andrew Ray) tries to question the other Nun's in the convent but all his attempts are meet with silence apart from Sister Rosaria (Paolo Montenero) who tries to talk with Father Inardo and warn him, but starts to cough up blood and is taken away to be treated. Later that night, as Father Inardo performs an exorcism to rid the convent of evil, Sister Rosaria develops the stigmata (wounds on the feet and hands that resembles Christ's) and dies. Father Inardo reports back to the Bishop (Tom Felleghy) and says he feels the convent is rife with evil satanic forces. The Bishop thinks Father Inardo's conclusions are about as useful as a used tea bag so he appoints a 'special investigator' called Father Valerio (Carlo De Mejo) to take over and complete the rest of Father Inardo's work. Father Valerio thinks that the Nun's deaths are committed by someone who has a secret and will kill to hide it, and not by Satan. He begins to question the Nun's but finds them very hostile towards him which he thinks is because of Mother Superior Vincenza (Franca Stoppi) who is very dictatorial. Soon Father Inardo has an 'accident' and is killed. Father Valerio decides to take drastic action to solve the mystery, which after some detective work he does. The convents shocking truth is revealed but will Father Valerio live long enough to tell anyone about it?
Better known to English speaking audiences as The Other Hell this Italian production was co-written and directed by the notorious Bruno Mattei under the pseudonym Stefan Oblowsky. I personally thought that this film is more competent than most of Mattei's output that I've seen, but that isn't saying much. The script by Mattei again as Oblowsky and Claudio Fragasso is a bit of a mess and it's all rather stupid, we even get a zombie Nun at the end. And the way Valerio discovers the truth is totally ridiculous, a spirit possesses his projector and shows him the truth like it was a film! You have to see it to believe it. The revelation at the end is OK and ended things quite nicely, just don't think about it too much. There's surprisingly no nudity apart from a naked dead body and not much gore, someone is attacked by dogs and their throat is bitten out and a burnt corpse is about as nasty as it gets. There is also a sequence of the grounds-keeper Boris (Franco Garofalo as Frank Garfeeld) chopping the head off a live chicken with an axe, so animal lovers beware! The special effect that depicts Satan is poor, it has glowing red eyes that are obviously just lights that flash on and off. The exploitation elements we expect from a film such as this are sadly lacking. The acting is OK for this type of thing but they aren't helped but the predictably poor dubbing. My favourite part was the attic full of large dolls and mannequin's hanging from the ceiling which looked quite creepy and different, but why would a convent have an attic full of dolls and mannequin's hanging from the ceiling? Like many things in this film it's never explained. I also liked the catacomb scenes too, the walls are strewn with skulls and bones but again why this is part of a Nun's convent I don't know. The general atmosphere is pretty good as is the production design and photography by Giuseppe Bernardini is professional enough. The music mostly by Goblin appears to have been stolen from another film, which doesn't surprise me as it's not really suited to the on-screen action. It's OK overall but it isn't anything particularly special, just about worth watching if you like this type of Euro/exploitation film.
Better known to English speaking audiences as The Other Hell this Italian production was co-written and directed by the notorious Bruno Mattei under the pseudonym Stefan Oblowsky. I personally thought that this film is more competent than most of Mattei's output that I've seen, but that isn't saying much. The script by Mattei again as Oblowsky and Claudio Fragasso is a bit of a mess and it's all rather stupid, we even get a zombie Nun at the end. And the way Valerio discovers the truth is totally ridiculous, a spirit possesses his projector and shows him the truth like it was a film! You have to see it to believe it. The revelation at the end is OK and ended things quite nicely, just don't think about it too much. There's surprisingly no nudity apart from a naked dead body and not much gore, someone is attacked by dogs and their throat is bitten out and a burnt corpse is about as nasty as it gets. There is also a sequence of the grounds-keeper Boris (Franco Garofalo as Frank Garfeeld) chopping the head off a live chicken with an axe, so animal lovers beware! The special effect that depicts Satan is poor, it has glowing red eyes that are obviously just lights that flash on and off. The exploitation elements we expect from a film such as this are sadly lacking. The acting is OK for this type of thing but they aren't helped but the predictably poor dubbing. My favourite part was the attic full of large dolls and mannequin's hanging from the ceiling which looked quite creepy and different, but why would a convent have an attic full of dolls and mannequin's hanging from the ceiling? Like many things in this film it's never explained. I also liked the catacomb scenes too, the walls are strewn with skulls and bones but again why this is part of a Nun's convent I don't know. The general atmosphere is pretty good as is the production design and photography by Giuseppe Bernardini is professional enough. The music mostly by Goblin appears to have been stolen from another film, which doesn't surprise me as it's not really suited to the on-screen action. It's OK overall but it isn't anything particularly special, just about worth watching if you like this type of Euro/exploitation film.