The Killer Nun

This is an interesting film about nuns and murder that was shocking in it's day, but suffers in three areas.

First, it stars Anita Ekberg in her most skintastic role. No, you don't get to see her 40-23-38 body, just a brief flash of bun as she manages to get a quickie in town while she is stocking up on her drugs. Yes, she is a junkie nun and she also has a mental illness or brain disease. You never know which as everyone denies there is anything wrong with her. However, she is prone to fits of rage. Is she capable of murder? The murders starts when she returns from town. They are not particularly gruesome, and those looking for giallo will be disappointed.

Finally, there is a hint of lesbianism, but those looking for full blown nunsploitation should look elsewhere. Her roommate is Italian Playboy Playmate Paola Morra, in her first film. Now, Paola does swing both ways and does give full frontal. She is definitely something to see as she is incredible beautiful, but there is no action between her and Ekberg - you just have to imagine it.

The film was well directed and well written. It was an interesting work, but I feel that it will disappoint more than it will entertain.

Sister Gertrude (Anita Ekberg) is one of those fun nuns. She spends her days doing the Lord's work, which includes a strict regimen of prayer, shooting up morphine, and cruising for men. Poor Gert is also recovering from brain surgery. Thankfully, her astonishingly hot roommate, sister Mathieu (Paola Morra) sleeps naked, and is very helpful.

Most of the real action in THE KILLER NUN takes place in a rest home run by the church, where the residents are happy and content. That is, until they start dying in horrible "accidents". Has Gertrude finally flipped her habit? Has she decided to add murder to her list of favorite vices?

This film is a gloriously trashy bit of blasphemy. While rather tame by today's standards, it was quite a shocker in its day! Watch for the magnificent Alida Valli in a tiny role as the Mother Superior...

I have long wanted to see Killer Nun. The basic premise of a psychotic nun, plus the promise of some naughty goings-on in the convent, appealed to my baser instincts. I'd also heard it had some kind of 'cult' status. This isn't always a sign of quality, but usually means a film with an interesting style.

I regret to say this film isn't even bad enough to be good or funny, it's just a mess. What could have been suspenseful or thrilling is simply thrown away by poor character development and wooden acting (although the crude English dubbing doesn't help). Some situations are frankly unbelievable, such as Sister Gertrude having a 'day out' as a hard-drinking swinger before returning to her cell with an illicit stock of morphine. As for eroticism, I would have expected rather more than some very brief nudity, even in 1978.

To cap it all the ending is unforgivably confused - who *was* the killer nun? Unfortunately I can't bear to sit through this again to find out.

I'm really surprised at the lack of comments for this classic piece of Nunsploitation! This movie is really, really odd! Anita Ekberg plays a cancer obsessed Nun who works as a nurse. Old people start getting killed, and she starts flipping out. She stomps on an old lady's false teeth, shoots up morphine, picks up a guy and screws him, and gets sexually involved with a fellow disturbed nun. Is she the killer? Does she even know herself? Watch 'Killer Nun' to find out.

Warhol regular Joe Dallesandro appears as a doctor but isn't very memorable. Ekberg's lesbian lover is though! One of the hottest nuns you'll ever see!

Far better than I remember thinking on my first viewing but that was a while ago and now I think of it one of my first in this field. Probably not a good one to encounter first because it really is such a strange one. Pretty surreal with nuns drifting down corridors, gowns splayed out behind and the dreams, imaginings and nightmares punctuated with goring killings and lusty couplings. Ekberg is fine but so is everybody and they all play weird so that this also helps to give the film an unreal feel even though it is firmly set in a convent and supposedly based upon a true case. A stand out moment is the crushing underfoot of the poor old lady diner's false teeth, as we cut from the vicious trampling to the squirming old lady, hands to her mouth. Music is pleasant enough and effective if a little derivative and if Dallesandro seems the most normal person on the screen that just goes to show something about this true one off.