Killer Nun

Suor Omicidi

The Killer Nun

Italy

D: Giulio Berruti

P: Enzo Gallo for Cinesud Produzioni//St & Sc: Giulio Berruti & Alberto Tarallo//DP: Tonino Maccoppi//E: Mario Giacco//M: Alessandro Alessandroni//Art D: Franco Vanorio//Makeup: Mauro Gavazzi.

Cast: Anita Ekberg, Alidi Valli, Massimo Serato, Daniele Dublino, Laura Nucci, Alice Gherardi, Aeede Barriault, Antonietta Patriarca, Sofia Lusy, Nerini Montagnani, Franco Caracciolo, Lou Castel & Joe Dallasandro.

A nun confesses to a priest that, because she was raped as a child, she wants revenge on all men. Meanwhile, Sister Gertrude works at the hospital where she cares for the elderly and sick. She thinks she has cancer and has already survived a brain tumor. She becomes more and more violent as she crushes a patient's dentures and slaps others around. When some of her charges begin turning up dead, she's afraid she may have killed them during one of her blackouts. The film builds to a depressing conclusion where the guilty are punished and the innocent set free.

This may be a bad film, but it's bad in a very entertaining way. Anita Ekberg was far too overweight and old to play Sister Gertrude, yet director Giulio Berruti (KILLER NUN was his second and last film) allows her to dress like a hooker and try and seduce a man in a bar. Didn't he realize what a hideous mistake he was making? No doubt such judgement led him to miscast Ex-Warhol protege Joe Dallasandro as a concerned doctor who works at the hospital. Then there's poor Lou Castel, who is so contemptful of his part he appears to be drunk (watch him trip over objects such as his crutches and tables for no apparent reason).Paola Morra, who plays Sister Matill is a real looker and her nude scenes certainly help a woefully inept production such as this. The murders are quite nasty which helps contribute to the overall trashy mood. A movie for when you want to wash away that "arthouse" experience from your pallette.