BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Woodyanders Innocent virginal teenager Maria (an appealing and convincing performance by the comely Susan Hemmingway) gets sent to a convent as penance after she's caught cavorting with a young boy. However, said convent turns out to be a front for a satanic cult.Director Jess Franco, working from a bold script by Erwin C. Dietrich, offers a flavorsome evocation of the period setting, astutely captures the oppressive atmosphere of the abbey, tackles the edgy blasphemous subject matter head on, makes terrific use of the gorgeously opulent locations, and handles the expected nudity and soft-core sex in a surprisingly tasteful and elegant manner. This film gains considerable dramatic impact from its powerful and provocative central message about the abuse of power and perversion of sacred religious principles. Moreover, the fine acting from the excellent cast further enhances this movie's overall sterling quality, with especially praiseworthy contributions from William Berger as the depraved Father Vincente, Ana Zanatti as the equally wicked Mother Alma, Jose Viana as the fearsome Grand Inquisitor, Herbert Fux as a memorably creepy Satan, and Patricia Da Silva as Maria's timid God-fearing mother. Walter Baumgartner's lush score and Peter Baumgartner's beautiful cinematography are likewise proficient and impressive. Definitely one of Franco's best films from the 1970's.

BA_Harrison Father Vicente (William Berger) catches pretty 15-year-old Maria (Susan Hemingway) flirting with her boyfriend, and has her sent to a convent where he can keep a closer eye on her. No sooner than she is cloistered, Maria is subjected to abuse, ultimately being forced to take part in a Satanic orgy, Vicente and the nuns all being followers of the devil (who makes a special personal appearance to take Maria's virginity!).I admit it: sometimes—okay, quite a lot of the time—I'm just not in the mood to labour over a really in-depth and informative movie review, and am just happy to rattle off some old rubbish to get it out of the way. I imagine this is how director Jess Franco must have tackled a lot of his films… just get the bloody thing in the can and start the next one. Sod the quality!Not so, however, with Love Letters From A Portuguese Nun, which feels like the director actually tried to make something a little more stylish than his usual dross: the locations and scenery are beautiful, the cast are half decent (there's no Lina Romay, whose 'beauty' I simply cannot comprehend), and the cinematography is classier than usual (fewer rapid zooms and out of focus shots). Hell, even the title is fancy schmancy.Unfortunately, at the end of the day, behind this semblance of style, it's business as usual for Franco, his film ultimately being another predictable slice of sleaze, with the vaguest of plots to string together the obligatory scenes of lesbianism, masturbation, orgies and torture, all of which eventually gets very boring. As Franco films go, this is far from his worst, but there are far better nunsploitation films out there (School of the Holy Beast and Sister Emanuelle spring to mind).

Leofwine_draca As to be expected of a director from whose body sleaze exudes from every pore, LOVE LETTERS OF A Portuguese NUN, a beautifully-shot West German exploitation film, is as sleazy and perverted as they come. Taking the basic nunsploitation formula and mixing it with themes of black magic and witch-hunting (recalling his previous work on THE DEMONS and THE BLOODY JUDGE), Jess Franco creates another lovingly-shot slice of sometimes sick perversity. Brimming with nudity, sex, and torture of various kinds, this is definitely not a film for the faint-hearted yet fans of the director will know what to expect; altogether I think it would serve as a fine example of his typical output. Everything you can get from a Franco film is here and in spades, although this time it's noticeably less reliant on the zoom lens and boasts a better budget, with very nice cinematography and an excellent soundtrack of organ music, which comes as a bit of a surprise.The plot is simplistic in the extreme: a young, virginal girl named Maria is kissing a lover and a deceptive priest witnesses the act. He forces Maria's mother into sending her away to a convent. However, where the basic formula differs here is that instead of mingling with the other girls, Maria instantly becomes a victim of lust and black magic from both the perverted father and the devil-cult which runs inside the convent. Franco treats us to some typically extreme images, including a sexual dream which incorporates some shocking subliminal imagery and some bloody fragments of torture footage. The most outlandish aspect is the orgy itself, presided over by Satan (as played by the hilarious Herbert Fux) as an intense, almost comical caricature, complete with red cape and black horn, who proceeds to rape the unfortunate heroine.The film then follows a more straightforward route as Maria keeps attempting to escape and warn of her predicament, with predictable results: nobody believes her story. Events culminate in her being tried for witchcraft and stretched on the rack, and the climax is fairly exciting and suspenseful for a Franco movie. The performances are rather good here, especially Susan Hemingway who does well with the leading role of the victimised Maria, and Ana Zanatti as the creepy Mother Superior. The best turn comes from William Berger who plays the perverted Father Vicente; his performance is so over-the-edge that I'll have trouble watching the actor play his typical 'sympathetic old man' parts in the future! Lots and lots of nudity, lesbian fondlings, devil-man rape, and sadistic torture culminate in making the ultimate Franco experience, and at least its never boring as some of these nunsploitation films can be (the arty but dreary BEHIND CONVENT WALLS, anyone?). Demented fun!

slayrrr666 "Love Letters of a Portugese Nun" is one of the best Nunsploitation films around.**SPOILERS**During the Spanish Inquisition in 15th century Portugal, Maria Roselea, (Susan Hemingway) is having innocent fun with her boyfriend, but unfortunately, they are caught by Father Vincente, (William Berger) and threatens that the only way he can save her soul is if her Mother sends her to the Serreda Iris cloister, a local convent he supervises. When her mother protests, Father Vincente threatens to turn Maria over to the Inquisitors, and Maria is sent away. When she arrives at Serreda Iris, Maria immediately learns that the convent's Mother Superior, (Ana Zanatti) is now called Grand Priestess. As she is forced to undergo more extreme and extreme torture for the sheer pleasure it brings to the two in charge of the convent. Eventually finding that the coven is actually a front where the renegade priest and nuns perform Christian masses by day and worship the Devil at night, performing Black Masses and other lewd rituals in Satan's honor, she rushes to tell the authorities about the blasphemy, but constantly betrayed and tortured for her believes.The News: This is a classic among Nunsploitation films. It's just a straightforward trial of the normal innocent nun piece, which the genre dictates certain scenes have to be in there and they are all here! Perverted priests, horny Mother Superiors, naked lesbian nuns, characters claiming their righteousness when we know otherwise, the infamous inquisition and a good old stake burning. There's no shortage of erotica in this movie, delivering with lustful, lesbian nuns, satanic sex rituals, lecherous priests, and plenty of exposed breasts and naked nuns. A couple of slight deviations though, the God of the convent worshipers is actually Satan, though to all outsiders they do claim to be Christians. Women usually emerge as the strongest, most resourceful figures in Franco's wild and wonderful world, yet few command our sympathy and admiration more than Maria. A bloody, bone-stretching session on the rack, encounters with a red hot poker; forced oral sex with Vincente ending with an almost subliminal cut of semen splattering Maria's face and an outrageous carnal coupling with the devil himself are just a few examples of a catalog of indignities forced on Maria by an evil regime that feeds on hysteria, and that doesn't include the tortures from before those sessions. After being examined to prove her virginity, Father Vincente takes Maria to the confessional, where he puts her through a humiliating confession where she can't see it, but the priest is actually masturbating to her sins! Later, The Grand Priestess strips Maria naked and tightly wraps thorn-covered switches around her breasts and mid-section. For her penance, the priest makes her perform oral sex on him then sacrifice her virginity to Satan in a Black Mass. While he rapes Maria, the other nuns break out in an orgy of lesbianism and masturbation. Zooms are thankfully minimal and barely noticeable. They're not of the nauseating kind, just a slow zoom in or out her and there, and none in quick succession. It's strangely sweet tempered at the end and achieves an emotional cathartics rare in the director's work. The titular letter-writing scene is quite haunting, and it gives a much needed feeling to the film. One of the most surprising things is how beautiful this film is, with the convent being a richly lush Portuguese Gothic locations, the lavish period costumes and sets, along with the painter's compositions, give this an aesthetic atmosphere and artistic distance which lift it above many films of this genre and other efforts depicting historical depravity. The contrast between the luxury of the convent and what happens within is quite striking and makes for a loving bit of contrast, as the film shoots the outside with a vibrant feel, and within, it's with a distant, unflinching eye. What problems there are about the film is its apparently schizophrenic nature. While it takes the utmost care in establishing period atmosphere and the mood of specific scenes, and doing so with great subtlety, the film then goes overboard with its frequent depiction of sexual activity among the nuns and their unmitigated devotion to Satan, as if the agenda of this so-called Abbey hadn't been made blatant already. It's worth noting the effect this appears to have had on Franco himself: Whereas he would normally delight in his voyeurism, focusing on the more abstract areas of the anatomy, here he adopts a surprisingly distanced, detached and cautious approach in depicting the tortures inflicted, almost as if he felt guilty or uncomfortable at showing what would have been run of the mill for any of his other similar films. It really feels like a disjointed effort that is really surprising considering where it's coming from, but otherwise, this is still a great entry in the genre.The Final Verdict: One of the best in the genre, this is a Nunsploitation film with a great underlying sleaze appeal and with some of the best tortures imaginable in the genre, this one comes highly recommended for fans of the genre or Franco in particular.Rated UN/NC-17: Full Nudity, several strong sex scenes, strong sexual themes, Violence, Rape and some Language