L'altro inferno (1981)

Director:

Bruno Mattei

Writers:

Claudio Fragasso (writer)
Bruno Mattei (writer)

Release Date:

December 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Some things are better left unknown

Plot:

Nuns become possessed by the Devil and lust after the abbot!

Plot Keywords:

Nun | Devil | Priest | Convent | Mother Superior

Cast

Franca Stoppi	...	Mother Vincenza
Carlo De Mejo	...	Father Valerio
Francesca Carmeno	...	Elisa
Susan Forget	...	Sister Rosaria
Franco Garofalo	...	Boris (as Frank Garfeeld)
Paola Montenero	...	Sister Assunta
Sandy Samuel
Andrea Aureli	...	Father Inardo (as Andrew Ray)

Also Known As:

The Other Hell (International: English title) (USA) (video title)
Guardian of Hell (USA)
The Presence

Runtime:

USA:88 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:13+ (Quebec) | UK:18 (cut) | USA:R

Company:

Cinemec Produzione

The Boring Hell

(aka: THE OTHER HELL)

Nowhere near as good as Gianfranco Mingozzi's FLAVIA THE HERETEC (1974) or Mariano Baino's DARK WATERS (1994), this one ranks at the bottom of the barrel as far as 'nuns from hell' films is concerned. Even director Bruno Mattei in the DVD extra admits as much.

We start with a nun who is embalming a dead nun, suddenly going berserk and cutting out the dead nun's uterus. She then stabs to death another nun who is assisting her with the embalming. A little later, she starts to bleed from her hands, mouth and feet as if she is being crucified. She basically winds up bleeding to death on her bed. It's a couple of so-so scenes. Believe me, this whole thing sounds more dramatic than it really looks.

A priest is called in to investigate this and suddenly his bible catches fire. Then a younger priest (Carlo DeMejo) is called in to assist the older priest in his investigation. As the older priest is alone in his study tending his fireplace with a poker, he suddenly catches on fire and burns to death.

The devil takes the form of a distorted mask with red-glowing eyes (looks cheap) or a faceless nun who looks like she has white linen pulled over her face. What the distinction is between the two, is never explained.

Then the mother superior, who earlier in life had an aborted baby by the devil(?) stabs the younger priest. Just as she's ready to finish him off, the devil now appears as a young girl with the lower half of her face horribly burned. The Mother superior stabs the young girl from behind, but then suddenly, the corpse of the gardener (who was killed earlier by the dogs) chokes her to death. There's even more to it than that but I'm not gonna bother... You'll have to find it out for yourself.

If this whole thing sounds pretty fu*ked up, it is. This convoluted mess looks like it was done on the fly very quickly with little coherence to the script. Plus the Goblin soundtrack sounds ridiculous and out of place for a convent setting. Why not use an old recording of a gothic choir instead?

The Shriek DVD has an interview with director Mattei where he explains that the film flopped in Italy (not surprising) and that the ex-convent where it was filed at is now home to the Italian secret service. (laughs). It was shot in 16mm, blown up to 35mm but the widescreen transfer looks ok.

Still, I really think this whole thing should have stayed in the can where it belonged. It's pretty sloppy.

3 out of 10