Satanico Pandemonium (1975)

Worth Seeing Nuns Wracked with the PTSD of Catholic Dogma

There are better in the genre, but this one is worth seeing for its comic effect. The DVD picture quality is very high, which is probably not a good thing in this film's case because it is so hard to take the story seriously with its awkward effects. The wizardry of Satan is downright laughable. The plot line reduces to a woman who is in her sexual prime and is sex-starved to the point she loses all perspective. With no outlets, she starts seeing things and imagining things that she takes as reality. The result is a tailspin of sexual and moral disorientation, a psycho-sexual vertigo that compresses reality and imagination into an indiscernible milieu where moral discrimination becomes impossible. This is the serious aspect of the film, interesting because it takes the form of the way the church would like for you to believe Satan worms his way into your life. The irony is the director's point. The evil in the film comes directly from the dogma requiring supression and sublimation of sexuality, imposed by the church, the holy order of the nuns, classic of course for most nuns-gone-wild films. That religious discipline, the ascetic denial of human sexuality as sinful, wears down the beautiful young, nubile nun to the point where the poor girl has gone stark raving mad for her inability to satisfy her natural lust without feeling like a complete demon. What is different about this film is its clear implication of a hopelessly self-inflicted psychological morass. Very funny movie. April 27, 2007

Decent but Slow Nunsploitation

Satanico Pandemonium (a/k/a El sexorcisto) is a very short (87 minutes) but satisfactory film. Shot in spanish, subtitled in english, there is very little dialogue and some critical scenes are hurried while other unimportant ones drag on and on.

This flick has plenty of blood and nudity to temporarily satisfy gorehounds, but the special effects of 1974 simply weren't special. The acting is surprisingly fairly good and I wonder if the main character had roles in other obscure titles.

While there is very little creativity and originality with regards to Horror coming out of Hollywood these days (read: bad re-makes aplenty), Satanico Pandemonium has enough solid potential to BEG for a GOOD remake! February 21, 2007

An interesting slice of Mexican horror.

Satanico Pandemonium is a rare example of Mexican Cinema, for starters it's a horror movie without any wrestlers. This statement may seem odd for those unfamiliar with Mexican movies, but back in the 70's most movies with a supernatural theme had either Santo or Blue Demon (or some other famed Mexican wrestlers) as heroes battling werewolves, vampires, or mad scientists. Satanico Pandemonium is a seriuos attempt to tell a spooky story on its own terms.
The story's main protagonist is Sister Maria (the beautiful Cecilia Pezet), who upon meeting Lucifer slowly descends into madness, lesbian lust and murder. There's nudity aplenty and this is one the films main sellings points since the gore is few and far between and hampered by rather low budget special effects. The movie is often categorized in the genre of Nunsploitation and that would be a very fitting label, but there's also a surreal atmosphere that makes Satanico Pandemonium worth watching. Also, the cinematography is just outstanding, with great color throughout the film and lush vistas of the Mexican countryside.
I admit the movie does feel more than a bit dated, though in it's time I'm sure it was rather shocking. Still very much worth a look for those who can appreciate off-beat movies. June 22, 2006

Finally Solares' sickening sleazefest available on DVD!

The Italians are well-known for having brought exploitation cinema to new levels of disturbing heights in the 70's with their cannibal and zombie films. Another sub-genre that flooded the video-nasty market were "nunsploitation" films, which involved nuns doing deviant, illicit, erotic (!) and highly immoral acts. It all started in 1971 when Ken Russell's "The Devils" became a cult hit worldwide. The success of Russell's controversial masterpiece then opened the gates to an entire sub-genre of sleaze in which many of the best-known exploitation auteurs of the 70's chose to capitalize on. Joe D'Amato's "Images in a Convent", Bruno Mattei with "The Other Hell", Andrea Bianchi with "Malabimba". Even Lucio Fulci joined the fray in 1990 with "Demonia" but by then the genre had already died a derivative death and these films would be relegated to being nothing more than cult exploitation curiosities.

One of the best films from that era in my opinion is "Satanico Pandemonium"(1975, Mexico). The film is lensed by none other than Gilberto Solares, who just happens to be Mexico's most prolific filmmaker ever, with close to 200 films to his name, including a bunch of those cheesy "Santo" films.

Story: Sister Maria is a nun who is practically a model of saintliness, one who the other sisters look up to and who is always there to lend a hand and console others in troubling times. However things take a turn for the worse when Maria starts seeing a naked apple-chewing guy who she is convinced must be the devil incarnate. From then on, Sister Maria begins a downfall into hallucinations, insatiable lust for boys and other sisters within the convent, self-mutilation, stabbing and a host of other unpleasantries. Sister Maria, somewhat against her will, has now gone on a rampage within the convent and no amount of cold showers will do anything to decrease her insatiable lust for pain and flesh...

If the thought of fully-robed nuns suddenly baring it all and engaging in lesbian lust appeals to you, then Satanico is a real treat. Director Solares definitely chose his lead actress well, as Cecilia Pezet delivers a fearless performance. I really liked her transition from model of saintliness to woman of depravity, the descent is gradual and she is extremely convincing in the role. Satanico Pandemonium is gory but not uber-gory. However there are so many objectionable things tied in with religion and sexuality that it's bound to make the majority of viewers (especially those Catholic) blush a few times throughout.

The best part of this movie to me is the beautiful way in which it is lensed. The screen just explodes with colour, the sets and costumes are flawless and it has some absolutely beautiful shots of the Mexican countryside. This movie is so much more than just a piece of sleaze and I wholeheartedly recommend this DVD, which has been given a gorgeous transfer and includes lots of informative special features. Amen to that.
September 4, 2005

"Call me Lucifer..."

Inspired by Bunuel's script for THE MONK, SATANICO PANDEMONIUM is well-made and pretty interesting, not in an erotic sense (even though there is a lot of mediocre nudity) but in a story sense. Virtuous Sister Maria is picking flowers one day outside the convent when she sees the Devil (in human form) naked as a jaybird. She runs away but it's too late cause she's already possessed and soon goes bonkers.

Her rejection of Christ rampage starts out innocently enough with Maria throwing her prayer book on the floor and a little sinful licking, but before you know it she's killing other nuns and even rapes the stable boy before killing him! Hell yea!

Maybe not as wild as some (CONVENT OF SINNERS) in the "nunsploitation" genre, but definitely more entertaining than others (THE SINFUL NUNS OF SAINT VALENTINE). The Mondo Macabro DVD has a great picture, very sharp and colorful. There's also a couple of short interviews but they were just so-so.
August 22, 2005

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