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The Nun II (202 - Directed by Michael Chaves Killer Nun (1979) - Directed by Giulio Berruti

Horror movies about nuns play on the common fears and religious rituals many people experience throughout their lives, making them some of the best scary movies out there. More often than not, nuns themselves are not the ones to be feared, but when they become possessed by demons or devils within the fictional narrative, they become something much more sinister. Conversely, some of the greatest nun horror movies depict the dangers of religious fundamentalism and fervor that can turn violent at the drop of a hat.

Nun horror movies are gaining popularity again with the release of Sydney Sweeney's R-rated Immaculate, but the genre has always included plenty of stellar films. Horror movies are most effective when they transform everyday occurrences, objects, and people and ask the audience to imagine what would happen if...

Dubbed ‘The Sex Symbol of the silver screen’, Anita Ekberg, renowned for her iconic frolicking in the Trevi Fountain in Fellini’s ‘La Dolce Vita,’ delivers an amazingly unique barn-storming performance in ‘The Killer Nun.’ In an interview exclusive to this edition, Ekberg reveals her frustration with the ‘bombshell’ typecasting that followed, expressing a preference for working on films like ‘Killer Nun’ and she boldly declares, ‘This is the kind of film I like!‘

Originally banned as a Video Nasty, ‘Killer Nun’ is a true ‘Nunsploitation’ great, which uniquely crosses into the Giallo genre. Presented here uncut and pristinely restored from a 2K scan of the camera negative, this release finally does justice to the uninhibited and frenzied vision of its creator. With impressive high-style photography and vivid, deliciously surreal murders, it is superbly enhanced by the dreamy yet dystopian score of Alessandro Alessandroni (immortalised by his twangy guitar and...

Between The Nun II, Sister Death, Consecration, the upcoming The First Omen, and the newly released Immaculate, starring Sydney Sweeney, it’s safe to say that nuns are having a moment in horror. So often, fear thrives in the unlit nooks of the unknown, and for many of us, that includes those who dedicate themselves to religious orders. Shrouded in intrigue and literal fabric, the combo of unwavering religious devotion and rejection of various worldly pleasures makes nuns ripe for genre exploration. While nuns are certainly trending, this is by no means the first time horror has blessed us with terrifying tales featuring such religious women.

In Häxan (1922), possessed nuns mingle with witches as director Benjamin Christensen explores the connection between mental health and mass hysteria. With movies like Alucarda (1975), Ms. 45 (1981), and St. Agatha (2018), the subgenre of nunsploitation comes into play to further explore themes of religious and sexual oppression.

There’s nothing quite like a nun horror movie to remind us that the line between the sacred and the terrifying is thinner than a communion wafer. In this unholy listicle, we’re diving deep into the cloistered corners of horror cinema to bring you the ultimate guide to nunsploitation. So, whether you’ve taken your holy orders or you’re just a horror enthusiast looking for your next sacrilegious scare, join us on this divine journey through some of the most unholy tales ever told on screen.

From demonic possessions to gothic tales of madness and despair unfolding on hallowed ground, nun horror movies have a unique way of getting under our skin. Maybe it’s the way they juxtapose the purity of the habit with the darkness of the supernatural, or perhaps it’s just that nuns have always had a knack for knowing what’s lurking in the shadows.

On Tuesday, Monica Bellucci will receive the Torino Film Festival’s Stella della Mole Award for Artistic Innovation, followed by the world preview screening of Italian director Antongiulio Panizzi’s “The Girl in the Fountain,” in which Bellucci plays Anita Ekberg. The Swedish star immortalized in Federico Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita,” where her character decides to walk into the Trevi Fountain to the delight, and terror, of Marcello Mastroianni, has a “complicated” story, Panizzi tells Variety.

In “The Girl in the Fountain,” produced by Dugong Films and Eagle Pictures, and presented at the festival alongside Panizzi’s documentary “Piano Lessons: The Life and Art of German Diez Nieto,” Panizzi implies that the iconic scene turned out to be a burden for the actor, who got to experience what Rita Hayworth meant when she said that “they go to bed with Gilda; they wake up with me.”

“Anita was actually...

Lest anyone think Paul Verhoeven’s latest shocker was intended to be a serious look at sexuality in religious service, the promotional poster for the film plastered around the Cannes Film Festival — where “Benedetta” bowed in competition — depicts actor Virginie Efira dressed as a 17th-century Italian nun, her white habit pulled open to reveal an airbrushed nipple. This is an erotic film, full stop, and though “Benedetta” is smarter in various respects than such sisters-in-exploitation as “Put Your Devil Into My Hell” and “The Killer Nun,” in others, it’s much, much dumber.

Let’s begin with the wooden statue of the Virgin Mary that is young Benedetta’s most prized possession when she enters the Theatine convent as an 8-year-old novice, and that, by the film’s end, will have been whittled into a shape through which ecstasy is far more easily achieved. Everything is either obvious, vulgar or...

Arrow Video resurrects one of nunsploitation cinema’s greatest outliers with the Anita Ekberg headlined Killer Nun, a 1979 oddity about a morphine addicted nun whose bad habits lead to the murder of long-term patients housed within the hospital she works. Infamously listed as one of the ‘video-nasties’ during the moral panic of 1983’s list of violent horror cinema collected by the UK’s Director of Public Prosecutions, the second and last film directed by Giulio Berruti defies the conventions of both the giallo and nunsploitation genre it mimics. Neither as sleazy or violent as its packaging suggests, Berruti captures the indelible presence of a gone-to-seed Ekberg as a drug addict with repressed sexual tendencies for an unforgettable camp experience.…...

As we hit the midway point of October, we have a ton of new horror and sci-fi hitting Blu-ray and DVD this week, featuring a slew of new genre offerings and tons of cult classics. In terms of recent releases, Rob Zombie’s 3 From Hell arrives on Blu, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD this Tuesday, and if you happened to miss the latest from Alexandra Aja, Crawl is making its way onto both Blu and DVD (and is a film this writer highly recommends—perfect for some aquatic horror thrills this October).

Speaking of seasonal horror movies, Haunt comes home this week, and if you can’t get enough of Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House, Lionsgate is putting out a special director’s edition release that fans are definitely going to want to pick up.

In terms of classic horror, Häxan is getting the Criterion treatment (and...

Anita Ekberg in Killer Nun will be available on Blu-ray October 15th from Arrow Video

Aging blonde-bombshell Anita Ekberg gives a full-bodied performance as a sex-crazed sister with some seriously bad habits in the lurid cult classic Killer Nun.

One of the most notorious nunsploitation films, Killer Nun tells the sordid story of Sister Gertrude, a disturbed woman of the cloth who degenerates into a perverse mire of drug taking, sexual perversion, sadistic torture and murder. Joe Dallesandro, Alida Valli and the ample Paola Morra (Behind Convent Walls) offer spirited performances and able support to Ekberg, in this outrageous tale based on real events.

Boasting an incongruously classy score by legendary composer Alessandro Alessandroni (Women’s Camp 119) and stylishly rendered scenes of sex and murder, Killer Nun takes the viewer on a hair-raising journey from the heights of religious ecstasy to the depths of devilish degeneracy. Now Giulio Berruti s...

If nuns make you nervous, you’re not alone. Whether it’s their distinctive religious attire, their unwavering devotion to a higher power, or their reputation for meting out corporal punishment in Catholic school, it’s hard to deny that there’s something vaguely eerie about them at times. As the new supernatural horror film “The Nun 2” prepares to haunt theaters on Sept. 8, here’s a look at 20 other movie nuns that are guaranteed to give you the creeps.

Courtesy of New Line Cinema

The Conjuring 2 (2016)

Audiences first met the eerie title character of “The Nun” in the sequel to James Wan’s horror hit “The Conjuring.” Sporting a ghostly complexion, a bad attitude, and a mouthful of rotting fangs that would make Pennywise the clown jealous, the Nun is referred to by several names throughout the film, including the Marquis of Snakes, the Defiler, and the demon Valak.

The Climber (1976) is now available Blu-ray From Arrow Video

After shooting cult favorites Flesh for Frankenstein and Blood for Dracula in Europe, Joe Dallesandro spent much of the seventies making movies on the continent. In France he worked with auteurs like Louis Malle and Walerian Borowczyk, and in Italy he starred in all manner of genre fare from poliziotteschi (Savage Three, Season for Assassins) to nunsploitation (Killer Nun).

The Climber follows in the tradition of gangster classics such as The Public Enemy and Scarface as it charts the rise and inevitable fall of small-time smuggler Aldo (Dallesandro). Beaten and abandoned by the local gang boss after he tries to skim off some profits for himself, Aldo forms his own group of misfits in order to exact revenge…

Written and directed by Pasquale Squitieri (Gang War in Naples, I Am the Law), The Climber is a prime example of Italian crime...

Announcing an April 28th release, Death Waltz has revealed stunning packages for soundtracks to last year’s The Guest, Giulio Berruti’s Killer Nun and Fred Olen Ray’s Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers. The terrific scores from Steve Moore (The Guest), Allesandro Allesandroni (Killer Nun) and Michael Perilstein (Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers) are paired with art from Alan Hynes, Gilles…

The post Death Waltz Announces The Guest, Killer Nun & Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers Vinyl appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

Criterion brings British auteur Nicolas Roeg’s most famous title to the fold, 1973’s enigmatic Don’t Look Now, a title that has influenced generations of filmmakers since its successful reception, and marks the director’s fifth title to be included in the illustrious collection. A refracted dreamscape of symbols and motifs, the film is a brooding jigsaw puzzle that doesn’t insist on answering all your questions, and happens to feature an unforgettable finale that’s lost none of its affect (despite providing iconic fodder for famed parodies, ranging from memorable bits in “Spaced” to “Absolutely Fabulous”).

After the drowning of their preadolescent daughter, Christine, in the backyard of their estate, John and Laura Baxter (Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie) take off for Venice, where John accepts a job to restore some mosaics in one of the city’s many dilapidated churches. However, once there, the couple is introduced...

The BBFC have undergone a period of liberalisation recently and infamous banned works that we thought we would never see distributed on these shores have arrived shiny new in their DVD cases. I had a shock to see SS Experiment Camp proudly on display in my local DVD retailers. Yes, we can finally watch some big name censor baiting treats such as Killer Nun and Night Train Murders (courtesy of our friends at Shameless Screen Entertainment).

However, censorship is still in place, and recently the BBFC has had to deal with a slew of torture based films in which torture is a major plot device or theme in the film. Such titles as both the Hostel and Saw franchises fall into this group. But both of these franchises, while offering the ghoulish appeal of torture, have the good grace to couch their films with both a plot and characterisation, thereby achieving grudging BBFC approval.

Birthday shoutouts go to Tony Goldwyn (above), who is 53, Jane Wiedlin is 55, Ted Allen is 48, and Mindy Cohn is 47. In ratings news, The Billboard Music Awards had its biggest ratings in ten years, and Celebrity Apprentice was down over 30% from last season’s finale. Can Marc Carson’s murder have as much impact as Matthew Shepard‘s? Congrats to Chely Wright and Lauren Blitzer, who have welcomed twins. Jesse Tyler Ferguson has a message for his old high school.

A waiting game in Illinois.

Keep ‘em coming, Bryan! I want to see Colossus next.

Love. This.

Kevin Keller is getting his first kiss, and you can thank One Million Moms! Bwa-Ha-Ha!

Eurovision wrapped up over the weekend, and the winner was Denmark, with “Only Teardrops,” by Emmelie De Forest. It was a sweet and safe choice, and not want I want from Eurovision.

Now compare that with the Romanian entry,...

Get back in the Clip joint habit and help us identify the saints and sinners of the cinematic sisterhood

This week's Clip joint is by writer Nia Jones, who blogs at serenwibglambassador.wordpress.com.

Think you can do better than Nia? If you've got an idea for a future Clip joint, send a message to adam.boult@guardian.co.uk

Films portrayals of nuns usually play on stereotypical perceptions of the holy sisterhood. Some forays have been comedic, some intensely dramatic, some inspiring, gruesomely nightmarish or even musical. Why are film-makers in the habit of making nuns the subject of their movies?

1. The Devils (1971)

The Devils tells the story of Father Urbain Grandier (Oliver Reed), a 17th-century French priest who falls prey to the sexual obsessions of a nun, Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave). Containing gratuitous violent sexual acts, The Devils is a journey to the pits of depravity and a censorship minefield.

I have so much love for Warner Bros. right now. Their whole Warner Archive project has been an absolute home run for fans, and it isn’t just ultra-rare titles finally seeing video. The studio has started sharing images from the past, joining Universal in culling the vaults to shed further light on favorite faces, films, and events.

Today, Warner shared this stunning shot of actress Anita Ekberg. No location or date is provided, other than a note that it is from the fifties, but it appears to be some sort of promotional event.

Ekberg is no stranger to the Famous Monsters set, having appeared in Abbott And Costello Go To Mars (’53), Screaming Mimi (’58), Way…Way Out (’66), Fangs Of The Living Dead (’69), The French Sex Murders (’71), The Killer Nun (’79).

Not major news, but a little something to make today even more beautiful than it already was. Thank you Warner!