Suor Omicidi/Killer Nun

God, sex, drugs, killing!

Many of my fellow reviewers seem to have very poor opinions of this film, but believe you me Suor Omicidi, AKA Killer Nun does deserve a second look and I'll tell you why.

 

What plot there is (loosely based on actual events) concerns Sister Gertrude (a still luscious Anita Ekberg), who was once a respected nun, but is spiraling into madness due to a post brain surgery addiction to morphine. However, this does not stop her from getting a job into a hospital for the retired that is apparently run by a catholic sisterhood of nuns.

Before long she's abusing her patients, neglecting her duties, seducing her young room mate Sister Mathieu (Paola Morris)and turning a host of ordinary objects (lamp bases, needles, wads of cotton) into implements of death for anyone who dares stand in her way, while stealing their stuff to support her habit.

Her devotion is not God.

Looks like this will kill you.

As an added bad taste bonus, we also get Sister Gertrude having anonymous sex in an alleyway and admitting a fetish for humiliation and silk stockings during Sapphic trysts.

Unlike most other nunsploitation fare, this movie isn't as explicit as it could be (on the interview on Blue Underground's recent DVD this was revealed as a gesture of respect from director to his star), but it doesn't suffer too much for it, as there is plenty of suggestive and evocative imagery.

Ekberg doesn't show much of her famous curves, but nails a cruel seductress hauteur that does plenty to suggest what the character is capable of. Wheather surveying the residents for her next victim or prowling a café for a sexual conquest, there's something distinctly predatory behind those blue eyes, like a hungry cat looking for something small and helpless to torture.

 

mmm, I want to diddle a skiddle!

Hey you! come and fuck me!

Her drug mania scenes are also beautifully shot, with visual references both psychedelic and sacrilegious. Several scenes use sly visual references to Catholic Mass as a way of indirectly connecting religious ecstasy and the more base and carnal kind.

 

As the story develops, things start to look creepy and you feel like you are actually getting doped along with sister Gertrude because her killings are mere visions that are unclear. The rest of the nuns and doctors decide to keep an eye on the sister because, they obviously think her drug addiction can be the reason of the killings. Luckily, our lead sister is not alone, as young sister Mathieu is always behind her trying to comfort her and drive her towards the path of God. However, how good is sister Mathieu if she's in a lesbian relationship with Gertrude and fucking with most of the male characters that work at the hospital?

 
By the time the story reaches its climax, sister Gertrude can't take it anymore as her drug addiction has taken control over her mind and body completely. Moreover, Everyone in the hospital has officially targeted her as the mysterious murderer they've been looking for but, in The Matrix terms, "appearances can be deceiving Mr. Anderson"

 

Is this menstruation? or is it something nastier?

Sister Gertrude's youth.

All in all, "Killer Nun" is a stylish slice of delightfully trashy exploitation, worth the hour and a half of your time and 7 stars.

 

Here's the movie trailer: