The Other Hell (1985)

From Claudio Fragrasso and Bruno Mattei, the creative genuises behind such trash classics as Robowar, Troll 2, Rats: Night of Terror and Zombie Creeping Flesh, nunsploitation flick The Other Hell completely misses the mark: it's dull, baffling, talky, and features absolutely no shower scenes or lesbian sex.The perplexing plot has something to do with a priest being sent to a convent to investigate the deaths of three nuns, but to be honest, I gave up trying to follow the messy story pretty quickly, hoping that the film would at least deliver enough sleaze to keep me from dozing off. It didn't.Despite a promising early scene in which a crazed nun mutilates a dead woman's genitalia, the bulk of the film is extremely boring. And confusing. Boring and confusing. Very boring and very confusing. What is it with that cat and those dolls? And the hair hidden under a floor tile? I took notes while watching the film, and I'm still none the wiser.1/10 - the one point is for a pretty good full body burn stunt. I might have added another point for the score by Goblin, but I'm pretty certain it's been cribbed from another film.N.B. Animal lovers might get their knickers in a twist over the decapitation of a live chicken.

Nunxploitation is often called the bottom of the barrel of exploitation genres because they're the cheapest to make and the most devoid of imagination and entertainment. Rent some nun costumes, use a church as your set, use classical public domain music, have some orgies of both blood and sex, cut print done in one take.The first thing to know about nunxploitation is that they ALL follow the same theme. The secret lives of nuns reveal that nuns aren't really nuns, or even Christians, they're really Satanists. They're also all lesbians, rapists, and murderesses. Yup, ALL of them in EVERY movie! Hence their lives aren't really secret since we all know what's coming.That's pretty much what 'The Other Hell' is. It offers nothing new as far as nunxploitation other than being directed by Bruno Matti. Let me guess, he's going to title the film 'Terminator 2' and claim it was based on a Peter Benchley novel.The plot: set in... whenever, it's never explained. Present day? The Spanish Inquisition? We never know. It opens with a young nun discovering that one of her sisters (not literally) has murdered their sister (not literally) because she became pregnant. The crazed killer nun has ripped the woman open starting with her vagina which she says is the "gateway to the devil." The most amusing element of the opening scene is the vast array of boiling chemistry beakers. Seriously! Dr. Frankenstein never had a chemistry set this elaborate. So is this a lab, has the killer nun been doing unholy chemistry? Never explained! It's clearly just more nightmare fuel to add to the set to make it look scary. The satanic imagery is understandable as the character is a Satanist but why the elaborate chemistry set? All she's missing is the Tesla coils.So anyway, after confessing to her crime she kills the young nun as well. The convent conspires to lie to the investigating priests that the deaths were accidents. Accidents? She's cut in half! This reminds me of the scene in 'End of Days' when a character is crucified and it's ruled a suicide! Even if someone did try and kill themselves via crucifixion it wouldn't work! They'd run out of hands!The killer nun is ruled to be possessed by Satan and must undergo an exorcism while a younger priest disagrees arguing the woman is just mentally ill. Either way, shouldn't she be in a padded room somewhere? Not remaining in the convent? Basically Bruno Matti spends the entire film throwing as much nightmare fuel on the set as possible without explanation. Bedrooms have life size dolls hanging from the ceiling from chains without explanation. Tons of satanic images. There are even pitbulls and Dobermans in cages. All that's missing are the Tesla coils or posters of Chairman Mao to make things scarier. Even the nuns acknowledge their convent is creepy. When a priest tries to bless it they prevent him from fully exploring it. No wonder their sisters are turning homicidal living in a place like this! In conclusion I've never been a fan of nunxploitation and this film only reinforces my feelings. It's a genre built on cheap scares and no imagination. This is one to skip even if you're a fan of nunxploitation.Several reviewers have stated that is isn't bad for a Bruno Matti film. Given the true pain of Matti's other films this is hardly an endorsement.

A priest is sent to a convent to investigate the sheer lunacy of a bunch of nun's gone nuts performing acts of lust and depravity. But the closer he looks into the situation the more supernatural it becomes. Does the devil roam the halls terrorizing the nuns or is it something a bit more sinister.I'll get Mattei credit; he tries to inject a little something more in your average, ordinary (nunsploitation storyline (if there is such a thing). It's not entirely successful in that regard but never-the-less he manages to pull off this entertaining but a little slow and the bit of a Stephen King twist to the ending helps it out.

A Nun named Sister Christina becomes lost in the skull and bone strewn catacombs under her Convent. Eventually she finds Sister Assunta who is currently embalming a dead Nun in what looks like a cross between a dungeon and Victorian laboratory with lots of bubbling test tubes and strange looking scientific equipment, hey this is Bruno Mattei and that's all you need to know! After some insane rambling about "the genitals are the doorway to evil!" Assunta mutilates the dead Nun's vagina, kills Sister Christina and dies herself soon after. Father Inardo (Andrea Aureli as Andrew Ray) tries to question the other Nun's in the convent but all his attempts are meet with silence apart from Sister Rosaria (Paolo Montenero) who tries to talk with Father Inardo and warn him, but starts to cough up blood and is taken away to be treated. Later that night, as Father Inardo performs an exorcism to rid the convent of evil, Sister Rosaria develops the stigmata (wounds on the feet and hands that resembles Christ's) and dies. Father Inardo reports back to the Bishop (Tom Felleghy) and says he feels the convent is rife with evil satanic forces. The Bishop thinks Father Inardo's conclusions are about as useful as a used tea bag so he appoints a 'special investigator' called Father Valerio (Carlo De Mejo) to take over and complete the rest of Father Inardo's work. Father Valerio thinks that the Nun's deaths are committed by someone who has a secret and will kill to hide it, and not by Satan. He begins to question the Nun's but finds them very hostile towards him which he thinks is because of Mother Superior Vincenza (Franca Stoppi) who is very dictatorial. Soon Father Inardo has an 'accident' and is killed. Father Valerio decides to take drastic action to solve the mystery, which after some detective work he does. The convents shocking truth is revealed but will Father Valerio live long enough to tell anyone about it?Better known to English speaking audiences as The Other Hell this Italian production was co-written and directed by the notorious Bruno Mattei under the pseudonym Stefan Oblowsky. I personally thought that this film is more competent than most of Mattei's output that I've seen, but that isn't saying much. The script by Mattei again as Oblowsky and Claudio Fragasso is a bit of a mess and it's all rather stupid, we even get a zombie Nun at the end. And the way Valerio discovers the truth is totally ridiculous, a spirit possesses his projector and shows him the truth like it was a film! You have to see it to believe it. The revelation at the end is OK and ended things quite nicely, just don't think about it too much. There's surprisingly no nudity apart from a naked dead body and not much gore, someone is attacked by dogs and their throat is bitten out and a burnt corpse is about as nasty as it gets. There is also a sequence of the grounds-keeper Boris (Franco Garofalo as Frank Garfeeld) chopping the head off a live chicken with an axe, so animal lovers beware! The special effect that depicts Satan is poor, it has glowing red eyes that are obviously just lights that flash on and off. The exploitation elements we expect from a film such as this are sadly lacking. The acting is OK for this type of thing but they aren't helped but the predictably poor dubbing. My favourite part was the attic full of large dolls and mannequin's hanging from the ceiling which looked quite creepy and different, but why would a convent have an attic full of dolls and mannequin's hanging from the ceiling? Like many things in this film it's never explained. I also liked the catacomb scenes too, the walls are strewn with skulls and bones but again why this is part of a Nun's convent I don't know. The general atmosphere is pretty good as is the production design and photography by Giuseppe Bernardini is professional enough. The music mostly by Goblin appears to have been stolen from another film, which doesn't surprise me as it's not really suited to the on-screen action. It's OK overall but it isn't anything particularly special, just about worth watching if you like this type of Euro/exploitation film.