With a fairly simple storyline, Convent of Sinners begins with young Suzanne being sexually abused by her father. As a punishment, she is sent to a convent where she becomes the latest novice. Many of the women there seem to be sexually frustrated, and more than one takes an interest in Suzanne and what she has to offer. Having had enough, she tries to leave, forsaking her vows and so forth, but the rest of the nuns, for whatever reason, do not like the fact that Suzanne wants to go. So it is that Suzanne must be possessed by the devil, especially after the Mother Superior has taken ill, which then leads to all sorts of torture and depravity being heaped upon the young woman.

Bringing this sordid tale to life is Joe D’Amato, no stranger to horror, exploitation or even nunsploitation, the subgenre to which this movie belongs. There is not a whole lot of horror to be had here. The events that take place are horrific, and seeing some of these things happen to Suzanne is terrible, and most of them do fall under the banner of horror, but there is not a lot of it, as most of the film is taken up by the drama, the infighting and the gossiping of the nuns. It is definitely exploitative, as there is quite a bit of nudity throughout, yet most of it is hardly interesting, which is strange, as nudity goes hand in hand with horror, some might say, and the events that surround those moments are fairly mundane. Those scenes usually show what is going on in the church, and some viewers might find it intriguing, but D’Amato could have focused more on the film’s genre than on the church’s daily happenings.

The film’s production values are a little surprising, as D’Amato manages to put a bit of money and time into it to make it look good. Given the right project, the man is quite good behind the lens, and here, while it is no masterpiece, it is better than many of the movies he has released over the years. It also helps that the man not only directed it but handled the cinematography as well. The women are beautiful and only help to enhance the setting, with Eva Grimaldi starring as Suzanne and Karin Wells as Sister Teresa. Even when things turn dark, and Suzanne takes the brunt of some very unpleasant business, D’Amato keeps a steady hand through it all, and it never looks as sleazy as it could.

For a film in this genre, almost everything about it was fairly surprising. Not really an easy thing to pull off, especially when a person expects one thing and gets something else. D’Amato is not really known for serious material, and for the most part, this was. Sure, it had nudity and sex and torture and some awfulness to go with it, but Convent of Sinners, while one of the tamer nunsploitation movies out there, also somehow makes it one of the better ones.

2.5 out of 5