Nunsploitation appears to be alive and well in 2024 with this week’s arrival of Immaculate, a convent-set horror movie that borrows heavily from ’70s Italian horror, the peak era of the exploitation film. Nunsploitation, a subgenre of exploitation films that hit its prime in the late ’70s and early ’80s, often features nuns behaving badly. More importantly, nunsploitation films explore themes of sexual or religious repression, frequently unleashing scathing critiques of the Church through blasphemous imagery and nuns behaving badly.
This week’s streaming picks are dedicated to nunsploitation horror. These taboo-shattering horror movies have more on their mind than their low-budget exploitation origins suggest.
Here’s where you can stream them this week.
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Alucarda – Cultpix
Directed and co-written by Juan López Moctezuma, this English-language Mexican horror film stars Tina Romero as Alucarda, who was raised by nuns at a repressive Catholic convent. In adolescence, Alucarda finally makes a friend her age in the newly orphaned Justine (Susana Kamini). They become inseparable, perhaps even more so when they stumble upon a crypt and release a Satanic force that seduces the girls and uses them as a conduit to destroy everything in their path. It’s arthouse meets exploitation grindhouse horror. Moctezuma weaves a sacrilegious coming-of-age story with striking, blood-soaked imagery that slowly earned its cult horror status.
Dark Waters – AMC+, Midnight Pulp, SCREAMBOX, Shudder, Tubi
Director Mariano Baino’s first and only feature-length film, Dark Waters sometimes makes little sense, but it’s visually stunning and weird all the same. A surreal atmospheric horror film that feels like a throwback to the earlier works of Lucio Fulci and Mario Bava, this dreamlike story follows a woman who travels to an isolated island to find out why her father funded a monastery there before he died. Occult horror with a demonic presence, this one unfolds a dream logic nightmare filled with unforgettable imagery and a wild ending.
The Devils – Criterion Channel
Oliver Reed stars as Grandeur, complete with the sex appeal that has all the ladies swooning, including the hunchbacked Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave). Jeanne is exceptionally lustful for Grandeur, which pushes over into wrathful jealousy when she learns of his relationship with the young and stunning Madeleine (Gemma Jones). Cue the demonic seduction accusations, and hysteria and chaos ensue. The Devils was always intended to be incendiary. Horror, at its most depraved and sadistic, tends to make casual viewers uncomfortable. Ken Russell’s 1971 epic takes it to a whole new squeamish level with its nightmarish visuals steeped in some historical accuracy. Don’t miss this rare chance to catch The Devils on streaming; it leaves Criterion Channel at the end of the month.
Ms. 45 – Fandor, freevee, Kanopy, Peacock, Plex, the Roku Channel, Shout Factory TV
Abel Ferrara and writer Nicholas St. John’s follow-up to The Driller Killer stretches the bounds of nunsploitation with a sobering, stylish rape revenge movie. Zoe Lund stars as a mute teenager named Thana, a seamstress in Manhattan’s garment district who’s assaulted not once but twice on her way home. Thana manages to kill her second attacker and keeps his .45 as she transforms herself into an angel of vengeance. Most notably, Thana assumes the appearance of a nun as she unleashes her fury in the finale. Ms. 45 exudes sleazy exploitation vibes and toe dips into nunsploitation, but Ferrara ensures it’s a fascinating character study that’ll stick with you.
St. Agatha – Prime Video, the Roku Channel, SCREAMBOX, Tubi
Director Darren Lynn Bousman gives his spin on nunsploitation horror with the 1950s set St. Agatha. A young pregnant woman (fittingly named Mary) is accepted into an isolated home for unwed mothers run by nuns. The clues that something is seriously amiss with the home begin in a subtle fashion but eventually crescendo into utter perverse madness. It’s torture and terror aplenty in St. Agatha; these nuns mean business, even when the torture gets outlandish. Look for one of the most creative uses of an umbilical cord in horror.