review

IMAGES IN A CONVENT
Images in a Convent

I probably would have enjoyed Catholic School a lot more had it been filled with the kinda nuns you see wandering the halls in the average nunsploitation flick. But, anyway...


So, I figured it's about time to explore the nunsploitation sub-genre - as I've covered just about every other exploitation sub-genre to come out of Italy in the 60s and 70s - and I thought the best place to start would be with Joe D'Amato's IMAGES IN A CONVENT, a brooding, erotic potboiler from 1979. Why, you ask?


Why not?


The sad fact of the matter is that there isn't a world of difference between any two films in the sub-genre so one is as good as another. No matter what the set-up, they all eventually boil down to a bunch of nuns licking each other like ice cream cones. They're nothing more than softcore sex films with horror and s and m trappings, slathered in good, old Catholic guilt.


Joe D'Amato Images in a Convent

OK, OK... to be honest, I chose IMAGES IN A CONVENT because it was the first one I picked up off the rack but as far as nunsploitation films go, this one is far from the worst. Whether or not you enjoy these films really depends on what kind of mood you're in. If you want something fast-paced and story-driven, go grab a giallo instead. If you just want to watch a bunch of hot women perform fake cunnilingus on each other for 90 minutes, go to town. D'Amato's effort fits that description perfectly. During the entire film, only three plot developments occur. The first has to do with a young Countess entering the convent, apparently as a way to keep her from the lecherous advancements of her uncle. The second, and most important, is the revelation that the convent is being besieged by the Devil - for some reason, there's a statue of the Devil outside the convent. Who puts a statue of the Devil on the grounds of a convent? - causing all the young nuns to go into sexual frenzy. And the third has to do with the arrival of a wounded man with a major nun fetish. That's about it for IMAGES IN A CONVENT. Everything else is stilted dialog and the aforementioned fake cunnilingus.


Nunsploitation Images in a Convent

Wait, did I say fake? Well, not entirely. This is a Joe D'Amato film afterall and we are treated to a few real licks, a couple of finger insertions, the forceful use of a wooden dildo and even a bit of non-simulated girl-on-guy oral - during a graphic rape scene, no less. This does, at the very, questionable least, set IMAGES IN A CONVENT apart from the majority of it's brethren.


Images in a Convent

I don't really have a lot to say about this movie. It's one of those films you watch and then forget twenty minutes later. It's a pretty nice looking film - D'Amato's cinematography is sharp and pretty - but it's dull and mindless. The only thing I was thinking about once the credits rolled was the way religion tends to use sexuality as a guilt mechanism. There are so many prohibitions about when you can have sex, who you can have sex with, what positions you can have sex in... it's almost mind-boggling how preoccupied the religious are with sex. It's fairly obvious that one of the main sources of control the Church uses is sexual guilt. Sex is such a natural part of our lives - can you think of any institution outside of a religious institution that forbids people to have sex? - and the constant, ear-rattling ravings and rules and regulations dealing with sex as proscribed by various religious institutions reeks of insanity and masochism. But I better just shake my head and walk away now before I shriek out an ear-splitting rant of my own...


So, to wrap up... IMAGES IN A CONVENT: sexy, young nuns doing what sexy, young nuns do in a nunsploitation flick. If that's your thing, dig in. If not...


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