Satânico Pandemonium

I found this film rather interesting. It's as cheesy and campy as it could be, acting is rather bad, poorly plotted and special effects are simply ridiculous. However, I got hooked by it. It is a top expression of exploitation cinema (I mean, here in Mexico this flick was named "La sexorcista") full of fake blood, male audience oriented soft core lesbianism and ludicrous dialogs that seem to be copied from a Siglo de Oro play (Spanish Renaisence Theatre).

If you like exploitation films, give this one a try. It has its "artistic" aspirations but, as the director might have, you will forget them rather quickly. Fun fact: Here in Mexico, actor Enrique Rocha has grown a respectable reputation as a prime soap opera actor. By the way, one thing that really impressed me in this one was the lighting. For a 70's Mexican movie it is incredibly well lit!

SATANICO PANDEMONIUM is a "good nun gone bad" film from Mexico about Sister Maria (Cecilia Pezet), who, after an encounter with the Devil (Enrique Rocha), goes on a mad spree of sexual deviance and bloody homicide.

The main reason for this film's notorious reputation is due to Maria's lusting after an underage boy. This was pretty shocking for its day, but is less so in this era of desensitization via the internet and trash TV. Whether she's inside or outside of the convent, Maria is relentless in her search for debauchery, ultimately committing several murders to cover up her sins. It's fascinating to watch her transform from a Julie Andrews / Audrey Hepburn-type nun, into a full-on, eeevil maniac!

Unfortunately, the ending is a swindle, tacked on to placate the church and the censors...

There's a bit of unintended notoriety connected with the title of this film. You have to see the 1996 Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez writer-director collaboration From Dusk Til Dawn, an un-P.C. film if ever there was one, to get it. The movie's characters have set up shop at a trucker's and biker's bar, the Titty Twister, to cool their heels. The M.C. announces a new entertainer for the stage, a woman named Santanico Pandemonium. The voluptuous actress Salma Hayek steps out draped with a huge snake and little else, and proceeds to rock her hips to the delight of every man who can see her. It's a stunning moment toward the middle of a not very striking flick.

Satanico Pandemonium isn't only exploitation; it belongs to a genre called "nunsploitation." The place is Spain and the time is most likely pre-1834. Sister Maria (Cecilia Pezet) is a devoted nun who finds herself visited by visions of Satan, or Luzbel. The devil appears as a man to Sister Maria, and using obvious Biblical symbolism, tends to carry a bitten-into apple. Sister Maria is startled and horrified by the series of temptations that happen to her via the film's faulty special effects. As another user has pointed out, this is an obsession scenario by an external devil.

One important observation should be stated. The actress playing Sister Maria is very beautiful with warm, bedroom eyes, and many of us (meaning men) wouldn't mind watching her getting robbed of her virtue - as well as tormented by particular sins. But what happens is with a little influence from Beelzebub, Sister Maria soon indulges in lesbianism, child seduction and heresy. The film has a church-like quality to the way it moves slowly and harps upon moments of less-than-dramatic value, and with its fantastic logic, Sister Maria turns into hell in a headdress. One scene in particular is actually quite disturbing, with Sister Maria covering her naked, bloody body with her uniform.

The flick isn't entirely baldfaced exploitation though, and has interesting questions about faith in its dialogue. That aside, the flick's appeal seems rather obvious. In life, most of us want what we cannot have, and the fantasy of despoiling such a person (i.e., a nun) can be very powerful. Satanico Pandemonium uses its subject matter effectively, and despite an unsatisfying story resolution, it packs quite a wallop.

Like most of these once-shocking exploitation movies, the buzz surrounding them today on IMDb comments and online forums is more captivating than the film itself. Blame it on our desensitized 21st century sensibilities but, for whatever reason, if this movie was shocking once, it's not any more, save for perhaps a few sheltered souls that are easily impressed. That's not to say it's a bad film. I just hate to see so many people seek these little known gems out with false expectations.

Another reviewer here says the main character (the nun who falls from grace) engages in "lesbianism, child seduction and heresy." Well, the first part is true, for what that's worth. The last part is a given, but then again heresy committed by a nun is not exactly a tall order. As far as "child seduction," well, here we have the reason why these films are so trumped up: modern day, brow-beaten, "politically correct" types who'll get their feathers ruffled at pretty much anything. There's no child seduction in this film, unless you consider a mildly attractive nun trying to seduce an shy and timid teenage boy who unrealistically rejects her purely for plot's sake, i.e. just to make the nun look even more lecherous.

The film moves slowly, the nudity is brief (and the protagonist's body is not exactly a knockout), the effects, though cheap, are well done, the one brief scene of lesbianism is almost arousing, and that's about it.

The film is worth watching for someone interested in a "study" of a nun's internal repressions and how they affect her view of the outer world (you are never quite sure if the events are happening or if she is deluded) but for anyone expecting some kind of feast of debauchery, ya better forget it. Unless, of course, you're a "politically correct" sissy like so many commentators here.

"Satánico Pandemonium" is probably best known as the name of yummy Salma Hayek's character in Robert Rodriguez' "From Dusk Till Dawn". What remains unknown to many, however, is the fact that when writing the script, Quentin Tarantino adapted the name from the title of this ingeniously deranged piece of Mexican Nunsploitation Horror. The main protagonist, a sexy nun, by the way, does things that easily compete in weirdness with feeding on bikers and truckers, I may add. People interested in Horror/Cult-cinema will sooner or later find out that Mexican Horror cinema has a very specific charm. This is especially the case with the fistful of weird Mexican Nunsploitation flicks, most prominently "Alucarda" (1978). And while "Satánico Pandemonium" of 1975 is not nearly as ingenious a film as "Alucarda" it is definitely a wonderfully deranged little film that is highly recommendable to Exploitation-lovers. "Satánico Pandemonium" delivers the elements we love about Nunsploitation cinema - lots of female nudity, lesbianism, all kinds of perversions, occultism, violence and gore, and, not least, an enormous portion of religious nastiness - all that in a highly bizarre manner. These elements are highly entertaining for my fellow Exploitation fans, and can easily make the viewer forgive that the plot is almost non-existent and most of the performances are awful. "Satánico Pandemonium" is about the kind-hearted nun Sister Maria (Cecilai Peztez) - certainly the sexiest nun I've ever stumbled upon - who, after the lord of the flies appears to her, changes her pious behavior radically... The film delivers all the sleaze and weirdness one could desire in a Nunsploitation flick. In-between it sometimes gets quite boring, however. Still the film is deranged and bizarre enough to be a delight to genre-lovers. Overall, "Satánico Pandemonium" is not one of the best Nunsploitation films I've seen (it has the coolest title though), but it is weird enough, and more than recommended to fans of deranged Exploitation. My rating: 6.5/10