Father Vincente (William Berger), whilst lurking behind a tree, spots 15 year old Maria Rosalea (Susan Hemingway) innocently fooling around with her young suitor. Her mother is informed about her mischief and she is sent by Vincente to the Serreda Iris cloister as penance for her sins. On arrival at the convent, she has her virginity checked by the Mother Superior (Ana Zanatti), who confirms the hymen is present and correct, then Maria is forced to confess her sinful dreams to the lecherous Father Vincente, who's wanking away merrily in the confession box. Maria soon discovers that the Mother superior and her randy lesbian nuns are all devil worshippers, so she escapes the convent and goes to the local mayor to tell him of the sinful goings-on. Thinking she's mad as a balloon, he returns her to the care of Mother Superior and the pervert priest. She has to endure torture, sexual humiliation and an encounter with the horned one himself, before being handed over to the Inquisition for a bit more torture and then sentenced to be burned as a Witch.

Naked Satanic lesbian nuns torturing innocent virgins... Good old Franco! This is one of my favourite nunsploitation movies, it's shot beautifully and the locations are stunning, especially the gothic convent. For such a sleazy film, there's some pretty fine acting too, particularly from Susan Hemingway, who looks worryingly like the age she's supposed to be in the film (just tell yourself she had to be 18 at the time), and also from William Berger and Ana Zanatti. Very special mention goes to Herbert Fux(!) who plays the Devil, I suspect they raided Anton LeVay's wardrobe for his red Satan suit. He's only involved briefly, but what a memorable performance; grinning and gurning as he enthusiastically humps the nun. The ending's a bit of a surprise as well, like something out of one of your mom's romantic novels. A Franco masterpiece.  S.J.T.

Love letters of a Portuguese nun. 1977

Directed by Jess Franco 

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