Shriek Show / Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1) / Color / 1 disc / 89 minutes

The Devil himself may be to blame when nuns start turning up dead at a troubled convent in the 1980 nunsploitation masterpiece, THE OTHER HELL.

Directed by “The Italian Ed Wood,” Bruno Mattei, whose lengthy and incredibly prolific career included such classics as SS GIRLS, WOMENS CAMP 119 (both 1977) and a slew of mondo-styled pornographic efforts, THE OTHER HELL is a twisty tale full of gratuitous violence, insane dialog and sexual perversion. Indeed, viewers know they are about to endure a shameful cinematic beating just from the opening scenes: While explaining an embalming technique over a dead nun’s body, the convent’s Mother Superior tells an observer that the female genitals are Satan’s labyrinth, then proceeds to excise the offending womb with a fillet knife. That deserves a big New Jersey-style “OHHHH!”

HELL stars Carlo De Mejo (CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD) as Father Valerio, sort of an “ecclesiastical detective” brought in to the convent to investigate after several nuns are violently murdered, the latest of which puked blood after taking communion and was later found bled to death from stigmata-like symptoms. The convent is run by the threatening Mother Vincenza, played by Franca Stoppi. Stoppi looks like an Italian porn actress, and in fact has starred in Euro-sleaze numbers such as BEASTIALITY (1976) and various sexploitation/women in prison classics such as EMANUELLE ESCAPES FROM HELL (1983) and CAGED WOMEN (1982).

The bodies continue to stack up as Valerio proceeds with his investigation, and HELL isn’t short on creative deaths or atmospheric weirdness. There’s a confessional stabbing attempt, a rosary strangulation scene, corpse mutilation and entrail extraction, Boris, the leering groundskeeper who keeps a pack of vicious dogs (and later beheads what was likely a live chicken on-set, “I fed this little hen for months. Now it’s her turn!”), numerous stunted nuns, severed heads show up in the tabernacle, nude dolls hang all over the place, and there’s the problem of Satan himself down in the catacombs.

If that weren’t enough, there’s a “Frankenstein’s lab” sort of room where cauldrons bubble, caskets line the walls amid stacks of skulls, and green liquids course through twisty glassware.

Everything is tied together by a pounding progressive rock soundtrack by Goblin. I don’t know why every reviewer says that Goblin’s music is pounding, but they ALWAYS do. It just feels right. Goblin, of course, are known for their work with Dario Argento in masterworks such as DEEP RED and SUSPIRIA, although the music here isn’t nearly as grand as those efforts. It sounds out of place and weird, like music from a 1970s Portuguese nightclub, but even so, the arpeggiated synthesizers, thrumming bass and minimal percussion will have your head nodding on the twos and fours.

The film’s climax is fairly amazing, and although I can barely contain my enthusiasm for its depravity, I don’t want to spoil it here. Here’s a peek though… boiled babies, stabbings, diaphanous gowns, caverns, and much more.

Scenes to look out for? Mother Superior’s pruning clippers attack on the gardener (”The only thing you can do is impregnate women! Free your soul from your revolting body!”) and Valerio announcing his intention to “treat them harshly” when the nuns refuse to cooperate with his investigation.

THE OTHER HELL isn’t going to win any awards for suspense or it’s muddled storyline. The first two acts are rather dull in places, but there’s enough weirdness at work to make it worthwhile. The film leaves some unanswered questions, and there are some loose ends, but overall, this was a fun, often shocking, little film that deserves a solid three-star rating. This is fine Italian drive-in fare with decent moments of exploitation. If you are looking for big-budget-popcorn-bell-curve cinema, look elsewhere. This is rather poorly-made schlock and that’s why I love it.

Shriek Show did an admirable job packaging the film with a bevy of trailers (Mostly Italian horror) and interviews with the director and actor Carlo De Mejo. The anamorphic presentation is a fairly clean, although the audio is only average — yet still very acceptable for a movie of this vintage.