I first became aware of this via the Blue Underground DVD, though I was not intrigued enough by the online reviews to acquire it; however, coming my way recently while being in a "Nunsploitation" frame-of-mind, I could not very well let the opportunity pass me by (in hindsight, the English dubbing is atrocious even if the print reverted for a couple of brief scenes to the original Italian language). I have never been a fan of voluptuous Anita Ekberg and watching her as a demented, dope-addicted and sex-starved nun promised non-stop camp; with this in mind, obscure director Berruti lent the proceedings a matching deliriousness but, alas, the end result is considerably less than the sum of its parts. The rest of the cast is interesting but, apart from Paola Morra who, perhaps not to give the game away too early, effectively underplays her role as Ekberg's devoted 'room-mate' (incidentally, she would don the habit again that same year for Walerian Borowczyk's BEHIND CONVENT WALLS), clearly operating below-par: Joe Dallessandro (completely out of his element as a young doctor whom Morra effortlessly manages to keep in check at the climax if you get my drift), Alida Valli (literally phoning in her performance as the Mother Superior), Lou Castel (as a nosy crippled patient) and Massimo Serato (as the irascible elder doctor who, however, continually cuts Ekberg's clumsiness some slack because she was the most valuable assistant he ever had!). Mildly interesting is the fact that THE KILLER NUN is book-ended by two confessional scenes (the second of which abruptly terminates the film without a proper resolution!) in which each of the protagonists spit out their hatred of the male species; for what it is worth, though clearly unbalanced and given to foul-mouthed outbursts, Ekberg is not the homicidal sister of the title but a victim of circumstance and rejected affection. Noted for its blending the "Nunsploitation" genre with the typical Giallo formula, these elements ought in fact to have made for a doubly enticing proposition; yet the two styles never properly jell, so that the film is too often ludicrous as opposed to gripping (much less scathing). In its favor, we do get Alessandro Alessandroni's score which has an agreeable 'hard rock' vibe to it particularly redolent of Led Zeppelin's music! Unsurprisingly, the film is most memorable when it goes over-the-top such as the irate Ekberg crushing an old patient's dentures under her feet (with the latter expiring soon after!), all the murder set-pieces but especially the one where a nurse has needles painfully stuck in her face (years before Takashi Miike!), and its two risible sex scenes (an old wheelchair-bound patient being serviced out in the rain by a young nurse and Ekberg herself picking up a man at a café and then making love in the corridor of his apartment-building).
Review of The Killer Nun
