User reviews

Those looking for the typical sex and nudity expected in a nunsploitation film need to look elsewhere. This one is pure horror, with a genital removal starting the blood-fest.

The evil Mother Vincenza (Franca Stoppi) provides the best performance despite the outrageous lines given to her.

Father Valerio (Carlo De Mejo) is called in to investigate several murders that are reportedly the work of Satan. One suspects, along with the good father, that there is a psychopath lose in the convent. The answer may lie in the middle of both explanations.

Exciting pieces with long periods of nothing in between. For serious fans of Italian horror, it will be a treat, but for others, it may not be so good.

Great music throughout.

Jean-Paul Satre once said "The Other Hell is a half-arsed Bruno Mattei film." He was wrong, because all Bruno Mattei films are half-arsed, but most are entertaining. The Other Hell doesn't even FEEL like a half-arsed Bruno Mattei film, and that's where it doesn't quite work.

In an unspecified year that starts of like its the middle ages but slowly becomes clear its the 20th Century, a badly-acting nun is working on the corpse of another nun and gibbering about how the genitals are the gateway to the devil to another, more sane nun. The crazy nun then stabs the corpse in the fanny and removes said sinful genitals before going nuts and killing the other nun.

For some reason this doesn't go down too well with the local bishop (Tom Felleghy), so he sends a priest out there to the convent to check out what's happening. His answer to things is to exorcise the entire building, but the shifty Mother Superior won't let him in the attic, where a masked nun dwells. This priest's methods of 'having a good old pray' don't seem to work as weird stuff keeps happening, so the bishop then brings in a young hip priest (Carlo De Mejo) to sort things out.

Carlo is a modern priest who claims God's greatest gift to man was a brain, and he therefore is looking for a logical reason why things are a bit mad in the old nunnery. What can he find logical in bibles going on fire, nuns suffering from stigmata, and the murders of various nuns? When the other priest gets turned into a tandoori dish by a fireplace, Carlo grabs his trusty video camera and seeks to find out the truth...

You'd think a supernatural nunsploitation film made by Bruno Mattei would be a blast, but I swear the first half of the film limps all over the place before settling on some sort of plot. There's all sort of demonic goings on from Franco Garofolo being attacked by dogs to a baby being thrown in a boiling pot of water, it's just a shame that there's no real concrete backdrop to hang all these images on. The acting is truly atrocious from all and sundry, except maybe Garofolo, who could give Klaus Kinski as run for his money in the googly eye department.

I didn't hate the film, I just feel that it could have been much more than it was. Not sure what went wrong here. I read somewhere that actor Garofolo refused to kill a chicken for a certain scene, and Mattei had to do it himself. How many chickens have died in the name of devil worship films?

This Italian nunsploitation epic has been referred to be a plethora of adjectives, including sleazy, low-grade, and stupid. Perhaps these descriptions fit, but there is definitely some fun to be had for the initiated.

Weird, seemingly supernatural events plague a convent, and priest Carlo De Mejo tries to figure it all out. The perverse proceedings start off interestingly, with a nutty nun carving out the uterus of one of her sisters, ranting maniacally about how "the genitals are the doorway to EVIL!" (The first, but thankfully not last, instance of hilarious "shock" dialogue.) This is a Big Moment; the movie contains a number of Big Moments strung together by indifferent, uneventful stretches in which people argue, a creepy gardener lurks about, etc. Often possessing little regard for style or visual creativity, the film ping-pongs between effectiveness and boredom; the high points are memorably bizarre and demented, while the lows will make you seriously consider a nap.

The makeup effects range from good (a nun breaking out with stigmata) to atrocious (burn scars resembling plastic vomit). The photography is overly dark and burdened even further with bad color (everything is given a sickly yellow cast, as if they forgot to clean the camera lens). De Mejo isn't very interesting, but Franca Stoppi is marvelously over the top as bitchy Mother Vincenzia. Along the course of the story, elements from a number of more successful films--Carrie, The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby, Suspiria--are lifted and tossed into the cauldron. On the subject of Suspiria, the one truly high-quality aspect of The Other Hell is Goblin's pounding electronic score.

Indeed, this movie is not going to win any prizes, but trashfiends will probably get a kick out of it despite the flaws. If you find naughty nun sinema to be your garbage of choice, this may be the dumpster for you.

A priest is sent to investigate an outbreak of apparent demonic possession at convent.There is certainly something dark and sinister at work there,but is it really Satan or maybe has it something to do with the Mother Superior's gloomy secrets?"The Other Hell" by Bruno Mattei is an atypical Italian nunsploitation flick.There is absolutely no sex or nudity,still there is a little bit of gore.The film offers some rather tasteless moments like genital mutilation or blood-vomiting nuns.The acting is terrible and the dialogue is stupid,but the film is fast-paced and surprisingly entertaining.So if you like Italian horror films give this one a look.My rating:7 out of 10 and that's being very generous.

This film has a much higher score here than I would have thought. I did not really enjoy this movie much at all as it comes from Bruno Mattei maker of such fine films as "Rats: Nights of Terror" and "Hell of the Living Dead". Well not such fine films, but they were much funner to watch than this rather boring and very poorly done nuns with a secret movie. This one was just something both of those films were not and that is rather boring. It is also one of the more disjointed films I have ever seen as once Crow said of a film "It is economical to not have a story, because then you can just film people doing stuff", this line could easily apply to this film as well. Most of it is people walking here and there. The story, nuns are getting killed, a priest is sent in and he believes it to all be the work of the devil. Well another priest is sent in as he believes there is a logical reason behind everything. People die occasionally and you see people going up the stairs and down the stairs, man who is a gardener who at first appears mute and is not feeds his dogs. People say random things trying to convince the viewers and probably themselves that there is a plot at work here, but can not fool me. There is gore here and there in the film, but not exactly your usual Italian horror film. You also get the typical Goblin soundtrack which is one of the pluses of this film as I prefer their music to the crap they put in most horror movies these days. Some interesting stuff within this one, but overall out of the nun films I have seen it is the weakest. Not that I have seen all that many, only "Demonia" and "Dark Waters", both of which are more gory and grisly than this film and have a better flow that makes each have a semblance of a plot going on.

A priest is sent to a convent to investigate the sheer lunacy of a bunch of nun's gone nuts performing acts of lust and depravity. But the closer he looks into the situation the more supernatural it becomes. Does the devil roam the halls terrorizing the nuns or is it something a bit more sinister.

I'll get Mattei credit; he tries to inject a little something more in your average, ordinary (nunsploitation storyline (if there is such a thing). It's not entirely successful in that regard but never-the-less he manages to pull off this entertaining but a little slow and the bit of a Stephen King twist to the ending helps it out.

From Claudio Fragrasso and Bruno Mattei, the creative genuises behind such trash classics as Robowar, Troll 2, Rats: Night of Terror and Zombie Creeping Flesh, nunsploitation flick The Other Hell completely misses the mark: it's dull, baffling, talky, and features absolutely no shower scenes or lesbian sex.

The perplexing plot has something to do with a priest being sent to a convent to investigate the deaths of three nuns, but to be honest, I gave up trying to follow the messy story pretty quickly, hoping that the film would at least deliver enough sleaze to keep me from dozing off. It didn't.

Despite a promising early scene in which a crazed nun mutilates a dead woman's genitalia, the bulk of the film is extremely boring. And confusing. Boring and confusing. Very boring and very confusing. What is it with that cat and those dolls? And the hair hidden under a floor tile? I took notes while watching the film, and I'm still none the wiser.

1/10 - the one point is for a pretty good full body burn stunt. I might have added another point for the score by Goblin, but I'm pretty certain it's been cribbed from another film.

N.B. Animal lovers might get their knickers in a twist over the decapitation of a live chicken.

THE OTHER HELL (1980) *** Franca Stoppi, Carlo De Mejo. In this Bruno Mattei film, a young priest (De Mejo), is sent to a convent to investigate a series of bizarre and brutal murders. The nuns think Satan is to blame; the priest thinks the murders are the work of a psychopath. The truth turns out to be something in between. Stylish direction by Mattei, a stunning performance by Stoppi (who was even more brilliant in Joe D'Amato's Beyond the Darkness), and a pulse-pounding score by Goblin combine to make this a solid offering. Recommended.

I can forgive a low budget, even when - some effects aside - the production values recall public access television. I can forgive inexperience; everyone has to start somewhere, and if no one released a movie until they were sufficiently practiced in the medium, well, there would be far fewer known films in the world. Yet few resources and little experience can't explain away every weakness, and no matter how generous one may be, there comes a point when one has to call a spade a spade. 'The other hell' is simply bad, sometimes almost to the point of being unwatchable, and seems to drag on for far longer than it actually is. I regret ever pressing "play."

The acting is terrible and unconvincing. The direction is flailing and unprofessional. The cinematography is mostly floundering and unpracticed. The editing is frequently overexcited and sloppy, seemingly the work of a novice, most readily apparent in how scenes are juxtaposed. Maybe it's just me, but it seems readily obvious that the music wasn't written for the film, but was plainly lifted and poorly edited into the film. The dialogue is overall atrocious - hokey, tactless, and unbelievable. The scene writing is often all but senseless: sometimes in the root idea thereof it's suitable, but is a mess beyond that; in too many other instances the scene writing comes across as a laughably empty sequence of thoughts that in their mere conception are intended to be shocking. To wit: "Animal cruelty! Oh, so shocking!" is followed by "A bonfire and people running! Oh, so shocking!" which is followed by "A nun raising her voice! Oh, so shocking!" And frankly, this seems to be the defining ethos of the picture, from top to bottom, and sometimes even within a single scene!

There actually are some good ideas here, but they are thoughtlessly applied to the point of absolute astonishment. Even at its best this is hopelessly scattered and disjointed, with an awfully meager sense of narrative, and feeble plot development. I've heard it said that modern audiences are too obsessed with plot and have forgotten just to have a good time at the movies, yet there still needs to be enough of a through-line to unify the whole - 'The other hell' is just throwing ideas at a wall. As if to emphasize the point, one may say that there are clear influences underlying the screenplay, but a chief difference is that the deaths here are almost completely random. Random selection of targets may be a disturbing, effective tool of fear for totalitarian governments, but it absolutely does not make for effective, reasonable, or compelling storytelling. This is a mess in almost every way.

The premise sounds like one that's primed for sinister horror fun. This feature, however, is not fun. It's poorly made in almost every capacity, beyond what a low budget or inexperience can excuse. A sparing few aspects of the visuals are fairly well done, but it doesn't even feel like it's worth discussing them in light of how rotten everything else is. Why, there's a predominant abnormal element of the decor - indirectly relevant only insofar as it looks like A Thing, and a core part of the story revolves around That Thing - that is never explained, and that no one ever questions, even as they interact with it! To be blunt this is perfectly appalling dreck, and I don't know how anyone has ever derived the slightest fragment of entertainment from it. If Bruno Mattei and Claudio Fragasso had any sense they would be ashamed by this; Joel Hodgson and Mike Nelson would have had a field day with this on 'Mystery Science Theater 3000.' 'The other hell' is flagrantly amateurish, hackneyed, careless, and slovenly, and easily counts among the worst titles I've watched in recent memory just on account of how shoddy it is. Find anything else to watch - whatever you wanted out of this you can get elsewhere, and there's no reason to waste time here.

I'm all on board for some nunsploitation, but when it's as boring and lifeless as The Other Hell, what's the point? Some nuns are dying at a convent and a priest arrives to get to the bottom of it. Maybe it's a serial killer or one of the other nuns or maybe something more supernatural. Whatever it is, it sure is unexciting.

Despite a few early teases of gore or campy laughs, The Other Hell goes off the rails early on and takes a one way ticket to sleepytown. There are some almost stylish touches with some Argento-esque lighting, but that's about all the film has going for it. By the 40 minute point, you'll stop caring about everything going on in this movie.

.. unfortunately the rest of us will be left a little bit bewildered and confused.

Which I guess is the point of this film. I kind of wanted to not take this film too seriously but it kept throwing some really good elements at me. There are Some great moments and Argento-like bits but unfortunately they are tasty morsels floating around in a messy soup.

Blood, sacrifice and rituals are played off against each other, the catholic Christian traditions of faith run adjacent to the occult.

Ultimately the resurrection and rebirth of the illegitimate child robs all the fun out of this and we are left wondering how much of this we ought to be taking seriously.

When I think of Bruno Mattei, great horror films don't usually spring to mind; and The Other Hell does nothing to change that opinion of him. Much like his Video Nasty zombie flick, Hell of the Living Dead, The Other Hell is highly derivative of other, and better, genre films and came along some time after it's genre hit it's 'golden period'. Nunsploitation is most famous for sexually repressed nuns and tons of nudity, but this one adheres more closely to the Anita Ekberg vehicle 'The Killer Nun', as it features a Giallo style plot that puts most of its focus on murder and more or less completely ignores sex and nudity. This definitely does harm the film, and it's made no better by the fact that the mystery presented is hardly fascinating. The film follows a couple of murders in a convent. The Mother Superior believes that the nuns have become possessed by the devil, and a priest is dispatched to try and get to the bottom of the mystery (they'd have been better off with a detective...). Are the nuns really under the power of Satan, or is that what the Mother Superior wants everyone to believe?

Not only is Bruno Mattei one of the less talented Italian filmmakers, he also has a rather annoying penchant for ripping off the better ones. The film features a score from Goblin, which the director has ripped off from Joe D'Amato's masterpiece 'Beyond the Darkness' (he also ripped off Goblin scores for Hell of the Living Dead), and he took D'Amato's lead actress from Beyond the Darkness, Franca Stoppi. Some of the sequences in the film are very well shot, however, and although it's obvious that Mattei was taking influence from masters such as Dario Argento and Mario Bava, it's only fair to give credit where credit is due. The cinematography is crisp and clear, although the locations often leave a lot to be desired as unlike other films in the nunsploitation tradition; the convent is pretty bare. The plot gets lost sometimes, and it has to be said that a fair proportion of this movie is rather boring; but it just about comes together at the end, and while the reasons for the murders are obvious all the way through; the ending itself isn't bad. Overall, I would recommend this to die-hard nunsploitation fans, but everyone else can feel free to skip it.

An excellent Bruno Mattei flick! It is a fairly straight-forward account of an evil force plauging a convent. Is it the devil's influence, or something other? A determined preist sets to find out the truth. As is the case with most films that are imported from Italy (or any other country for that matter), the dubbing isn't the greatest, but if you are looking up this film, you should have some experience with this anyways. If you are a fan of "nunsplotation" genre, this MAY or MAY NOT be your cup of tea, being that there is no sex in the film at all, which may cause some fans of Mattei's work to scratch their heads. There is, however, lots of suspense, along with gory deaths, much in the Fulci/Agrento vein. Great cinematography and atmosphere, excellent use of location (look at the beginning sequence!), and it doesn't stint on the red stuff either. It ain't Deep Red or The Beyond, but, trust me, it's MUCH better than most of the stuff that is called "Horror films" nowadays.

In the oppressive rooms of a run down convent, nuns are starting to be murdered in gruesome fashion. A progressive-thinking young priest, Father Valerio (Carlo De Mejo, "The House by the Cemetery"), is called in to investigate the matter, and he's often incensed by what he sees. He ends up butting heads with the forbidding nun in charge, Mother Vincenza (Franca Stoppi, "Beyond the Darkness").

"The Other Hell" is a decent combination of Italian "Nunsploitation" and horror, but it is admittedly not that eventful, as others have pointed out. This viewer could see how some people would be bored, but he found it basically agreeable, if not as out-and-out trashy as it could have been. It does have some effectively grim and gritty atmosphere, as well as some scenes of gore. Assorted viewers may well bemoan the dearth of female nudity. The blasphemy on display, courtesy co- writers / co-directors Bruno Mattei ("Rats: Night of Terror") and Claudio Fragasso ("Troll 2"), is good for some entertainment. The music is liberally "borrowed" from top Italian rock band Goblin, and it does help to keep things watchable.

The performances are quite theatrical, which does suit the material. De Mejo and Stoppi are amusing adversaries. Franco Garofalo ("Hell of the Living Dead") is a highlight as he mugs his way through the role of Boris the groundskeeper. Andrea Aureli is good as a priest who also attempts to lend some assistance.

"The Other Hell" is not a must-see, but newcomers to this variety of trash may still want to give it a look.

Six out of 10.

Nunxploitation is often called the bottom of the barrel of exploitation genres because they're the cheapest to make and the most devoid of imagination and entertainment. Rent some nun costumes, use a church as your set, use classical public domain music, have some orgies of both blood and sex, cut print done in one take.

The first thing to know about nunxploitation is that they ALL follow the same theme. The secret lives of nuns reveal that nuns aren't really nuns, or even Christians, they're really Satanists. They're also all lesbians, rapists, and murderesses. Yup, ALL of them in EVERY movie! Hence their lives aren't really secret since we all know what's coming.

That's pretty much what 'The Other Hell' is. It offers nothing new as far as nunxploitation other than being directed by Bruno Matti. Let me guess, he's going to title the film 'Terminator 2' and claim it was based on a Peter Benchley novel.

The plot: set in... whenever, it's never explained. Present day? The Spanish Inquisition? We never know. It opens with a young nun discovering that one of her sisters (not literally) has murdered their sister (not literally) because she became pregnant. The crazed killer nun has ripped the woman open starting with her vagina which she says is the "gateway to the devil."

The most amusing element of the opening scene is the vast array of boiling chemistry beakers. Seriously! Dr. Frankenstein never had a chemistry set this elaborate. So is this a lab, has the killer nun been doing unholy chemistry? Never explained! It's clearly just more nightmare fuel to add to the set to make it look scary. The satanic imagery is understandable as the character is a Satanist but why the elaborate chemistry set? All she's missing is the Tesla coils.

So anyway, after confessing to her crime she kills the young nun as well. The convent conspires to lie to the investigating priests that the deaths were accidents. Accidents? She's cut in half! This reminds me of the scene in 'End of Days' when a character is crucified and it's ruled a suicide! Even if someone did try and kill themselves via crucifixion it wouldn't work! They'd run out of hands!

The killer nun is ruled to be possessed by Satan and must undergo an exorcism while a younger priest disagrees arguing the woman is just mentally ill. Either way, shouldn't she be in a padded room somewhere? Not remaining in the convent?

Basically Bruno Matti spends the entire film throwing as much nightmare fuel on the set as possible without explanation. Bedrooms have life size dolls hanging from the ceiling from chains without explanation. Tons of satanic images. There are even pitbulls and Dobermans in cages. All that's missing are the Tesla coils or posters of Chairman Mao to make things scarier. Even the nuns acknowledge their convent is creepy. When a priest tries to bless it they prevent him from fully exploring it. No wonder their sisters are turning homicidal living in a place like this!

In conclusion I've never been a fan of nunxploitation and this film only reinforces my feelings. It's a genre built on cheap scares and no imagination. This is one to skip even if you're a fan of nunxploitation.

Several reviewers have stated that is isn't bad for a Bruno Matti film. Given the true pain of Matti's other films this is hardly an endorsement.