Servizio Fanatico

Sydney Sweeney may very well be the hottest name in Hollywood right now, but Michael Mohan, director of Immaculate (2024), appeared in the recent Severin cellar video and talked a good one about various other films; hence he's the real reason I gave this nun themed horror a look in.

Don't have the time to delve into the film with a full review, other than to say I liked it, despite the tediously excessive jump scares and a plot that needed a little more refining. Nowhere near as great as Benedetta (2021), but way better than the horrid The Nun II (2023), which was amongst the worst films I watched last year.

As a fan of giallo cinema and Italian horror, it warmed the cockles of my heart hearing Bruno Nicolai's Servizio Fotografico, originally taken from The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (1972) soundtrack, in a montage scene from Immaculate where it fitted incredibly well. A film nerd moment which isn't cringeworthy doesn't happen too often, so it earned some props from me. It's also a nice change hearing it in an Italian style horror again after Arctic Monkeys horribly hijacked it.

Bruno Nicolai - Servizio Fotografico

The Red Queen Kills Seven Times OST (1972)

 

Holy Diver

Benedetta (Paul Verhoeven, 2021)

Never would have expected a movie which is essentially The Devils meets Blue Is The Warmest Colour to drop this decade, let alone this year (definitely can relate to that, since bloggin' isn't exactly a popular activity these days). Leave it to the always uncompromising swagger of legendary, Dutch auteur Paul Verhoeven to deliver a historial drama based around 17th century, miracle nun, Benedetta Carlini. The result is a lesbian-romance drama filled to the absolute brim with enough sex and violence that would have given Mary Whitehouse a coronary if she were around today.

 As someone who occasionally dips their toes into the nunsploitation subgenre, Benedetta was a way more professional and lavish offering compared to any of the titles I watched in that sphere; even with the unexpected toilet humour. However, the film still packs a walloping punch in terms of controversy, even when compared to some of the more notorious entries in the subgenre. 

A personal highlight is when our devout heroine drops her vocal pitch down a few notches and ends up sounding like Paul Shane during her stigmata scenes.

It's a phenomenal feat for an octogenarian like Verhoeven to still deliver the goods, when most of his peers have either popped their clogs already, or fallen the fuck off  (*cough* Spielberg *cough*). You won't get anything like this from any major Hollywood studio. A more than welcome gatecrasher to the party this year.

Benedetta (Trailer)

(Paul Verhoeven, 2021)

While I'm still here, Benedetta reminded me of the pain in still not tracking down Alessandro Allessandroni's soundtrack to Giulio Berruti's Killer Nun after so many years.