Satanic Pandemonium (1975)

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

one of the few stand out films during the nunsploitation invasion during the early seventies. not really much of a plot as it follows the exploits of a god-worshipping and selfless nun by the name of sister maria. she is kind, caring and devoted to helping the less fortunate and has a natural bond with animals as it showcases in the beginning of the film.it isn't too long before she has an encounter with a naked man who offers her a bite of his red apple. frightened she runs away and back to the convent, confused and bewildered by what this all means. to the viewer it is clear that the man is the devil in disguise, trying to tempt sister maria as he continues to re-appear to her. from there, maria begins a descent into sexual depravity, loss of her sanity and eventually, murder...three to be exact.the actress who portrays the title character did an admirable job in conveying the anguish and torment the sister is going through...battling her many demons and darkest desires all the while, trying to do the right thing and continuing her worship of the lord.while the film is over thirty years old, it has aged well over time and i admired the cinematography and the direction of it. beautiful scenery and sharp contrasting images and colour as well.anyone interested in taking a peek into the nunsploitation genre should check out this rare Mexican film as it has all the right elements to a good exploitation.

I found this film rather interesting. It's as cheesy and campy as it could be, acting is rather bad, poorly plotted and special effects are simply ridiculous. However, I got hooked by it. It is a top expression of exploitation cinema (I mean, here in Mexico this flick was named "La sexorcista") full of fake blood, male audience oriented soft core lesbianism and ludicrous dialogs that seem to be copied from a Siglo de Oro play (Spanish Renaisence Theatre). If you like exploitation films, give this one a try. It has its "artistic" aspirations but, as the director might have, you will forget them rather quickly. Fun fact: Here in Mexico, actor Enrique Rocha has grown a respectable reputation as a prime soap opera actor. By the way, one thing that really impressed me in this one was the lighting. For a 70's Mexican movie it is incredibly well lit!

This movie is true to form with the opening of racial prejudice towards the nuns who're not Mexican.I have read many reviews in where this movie was very confusing but this is not the case because this generation of movie viewer has to have everything explained to them because it hurts to think. Blame capitalism, blame the information age, Hell, blame me but if you have read such reviews don't take it to heart for ye will surely be deceived!!! The movie is about a nun who's harassed by the devil all because of her purity or desire to be chaste. Eversince she's been in contact with El Levid whom I shall refer to as (The Count of Dantecrispo, sister purity gets the urge to seduce goat herders and fellow nuns.I will not share any more but for me, it's worth the investment. I like this movie more than Alucarda and that's saying a lot since Alucarda's pure Kult Ov the Kult of my video collectiones.

I haven't watched that many "Nunsploitation" films, but the ones I did were among the more prominent titles from the subgenre - Ken Russell's THE DEVILS (1971), Jess Franco's THE DEMONS (1972) and LOVE LETTERS OF A Portuguese NUN (1977), and Juan Lopez Moctezuma's ALUCARDA (1975) - and this one, though less well-known (which may be due to the fact that its prolific director had cut his teeth on lowbrow commercial stuff, including several "Santo" movies!), is just as good.Hilariously, the production company which made it is called Hollywood Films and finance was provided by the "Promocion Turistica Mexicana" (what were they thinking?)! Despite the obvious low-budget, the quality of the cinematography (including its color scheme and the moody lighting) is very adequate - if not exactly smooth! The score, too, is notable in its schizophrenia: lively pop and electronic sounds (as in the rather silly orgy at the end, in which some of the bawdy nuns were actually played by prostitutes hired expressly for this one scene!) alternating with pastoral/lyrical sections and the occasional reverent passage inside the convent.The film, unfortunately, badly lacks pace and several shots run longer than is necessary - apart from it being somewhat repetitive (particularly during the possessed nun's sex-and-death rampage and her subsequent attempts to cover her tracks, which scenes may have influenced the first half of THE ANTICHRIST [1974]; SATANICO PANDEMONIUM itself was partly inspired by Matthew Lewis' celebrated novel THE MONK - which Luis Bunuel, friend of the director and my personal favorite film-maker, adapted for the screen {but didn't direct} around this same time...and which I managed to catch while in Hollywood early last January!) It is, however, galvanized by an exceptional leading performance from the statuesque (and Keira Knightley look-alike!) Cecilia Pezet.Unsurprisingly, the film faced censorship problems with its seduction (and later sex) scenes involving a nun and an under-aged shepherd boy!; his subsequent murder at her hands, however, is extremely unconvincing. Like ALUCARDA, the film doesn't dwell on period reconstruction (and, in fact, we only realize when the story actually takes place via a reference towards the end to the Inquisition); still, a few social/racial issues are raised nonetheless with the presence of the two black nuns/maids, who are mistreated even by their white 'colleagues'!One of its most interesting - and audacious - concepts is the way the film subverts its own intentions by pasting four endings to the narrative back-to-back: a) the girl renounces her sins and is about to allow herself to be captured by her fellow nuns; b) the Devil (campily coiffured and given to elementary conjuring tricks, but aptly incarnated by the handsome Enrique Rocha - who, at one point, even manifests himself to Pezet in the guise of a lesbian nun!) re-appearing to offer her the post of Mother Superior at the convent (the girl having conveniently murdered the current one), whereupon she discovers that her colleagues have been possessed as well, though they still end up killing her!; c) the whole story is revealed to have been merely the delusional fantasy of the main character, under shadow of death from the plague!!; and d) the devil is, however, seen to be all too real and has already set his sights on a new 'victim' at the convent.