Despite being sold as a provocative entry in the infamous nunsploitation canon Satánico pandemonium (1975) really defies the genre in a number of ways. Mostly this is done by a negation of highly sexualized exploitative spectacles of the nuns themselves in various acts of intercourse. Satánico pandemonium concerns itself only with the temptations of a single nun, Sister Maria (Cecilia Pezet). Even then the manner with which the film addresses those temptations is primarily through the interiority of Sister Maria.
One of the most compelling aspects of Satánico pandemonium is that it privileges mood and ambience. The sustained sense of dread, guilt and desperation permeate the film to such an extent that the scenes where Sister Maria appears topless feel as though they serve the narrative more than they serve to titillate. These semi-nude scenes occur only under two conditions. The first and most prevalent being scenes where Sister Maria tortures herself through physical mutilation for penance. The second is in scenes of seduction which almost always culminate in a murder or attack of some sort where Sister Maria becomes splattered with blood. Both instances seem motivated by an attempt by filmmaker Gilberto Martínez Solares at a metaphor for Sister Maria’s slow corruption by Satan (Enrique Rocha).
Satánico pandemonium also addresses the systemic racism of the Catholic church which I have never seen in a film before. This speaks to the seriousness of Satánico pandemonium as a film that again separates it from the standard exploitation film. In fact if it weren’t for the violently explicit fantasies Sister Maria has regarding the Inquisition I would hesitate to label Satánico pandemonium an exploitation feature at all.
Satánico pandemonium sits uncomfortably somewhere between Black Narcissus (1947) and Behind Convent Walls (1978). As austere and serious a film as it is, moments like that mentioned above reveal a desire on the filmmakers’ part to shock, arouse and scandalize. There’s a balance in Satánico pandemonium between a poetry of the spirit and the fantasies of the physical body. It’s a good film and another release by Mondo Macabro worth checking out.
