Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1986
Director: Dario Donati (Joe D’Amato)
Cast: Eva Grimaldi, Karin Well, Gabriele Gori, Jessica Moore, Gabriele Tinti

DVD released: June, 2006
Approximate running time: 91 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Rating: NR
Sound: Dolby Digital Stereo English
Subtitles: N/A
DVD Release: Media Blasters/Exploitation Digital
Region Coding: Region 1 NTSC
Retail Price: $29.95

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Synopsis: Susanna (Eva Grimaldi) is raped by her father and because of her sins she is sent to be a nun at the convent. The monsignor takes a special interest in Susanna’s case and he asks the mother superior to pay special attention to her because of her recent trauma. Mother Superior starts to take her duties to seriously as she soon becomes infatuated with Susanna which only helps infuriate her old lover sister Theresa. When the mother superior becomes ill sister Theresa in next in line and she quickly uses her new found powers to torture Susanna. All the other nuns fear Theresa who convinces all of them to help her get rid of Susanna by making her look possessed by the devil. The monsignor is called in to investigate the strange things going on at the convent. Will he believe that story of Susanna being possessed by the devil or will he uncover an even more sinister truth?

The Convent of Sinners was directed by Joe D’Amato under the psydoname Dario Donati. He also worked as the films cinema photographer. The film is filled with bold colors that are perfectly offset by his low key direction which follows the action instead filling very frame with grand set pieces. There are a few amazing moments like when one nun whips herself while she masturbates and the exorcism sequence. The nudity and sex scenes are pretty mild for nunsploitation and they almost bare secondary in this film in which the plot is the main driving force.

The nuns in the monastery are your typical dysfunctional honey Lesbos. The mother superior is the worst of the lot and she quickly throws herself on Susanna. The character of Theresa becomes so jealous of Susanna that her obsession almost becomes a possession of sorts. This film comes with a heavenly score that has angel like choral chanting and spellbinding organs hymns. The most erotic scenes in the film happens about two thirds of the way through the film when all the nuns are bathing together in the nude. This is classic D’ Amato. Despite the lack of nudity and violence this one has a strong enough plot which is riveting tell the very end.

The DVD:

The Convent of Sinners is presented in an anamorphic widescreen that preserves the films original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The transfer is a vast improvement over X-Rated Kult’s region 2 DVD release. Details look razor sharp and colors look vivid and nicely saturated. There are no problems with compression or artifacts. Overall the source material used for this transfer is nearly flawless.

This release comes with one audio option an English dubbed audio language track which is presented here in a Dolby Digital stereo. The music sounds robust and dialog is crisp and easy to follow. There are no problems with hiss, distortion or any other sound defects.

Extras for this release include a twelve minute behind the scenes segment titled “Sex, Truth and the Video Tape”. This behind the scenes featurette is for a different movie then the feature included on this DVD release. Other extras a Joe D’ Amato trailer gallery which contains trailers for films he directed and produced. Rounding out the extras are four trailers for films from Media Blasters Exploitation Digital line. Overall Media Blasters DVD while light on extras comes with a solid audio/video presentation, recommended.