Teringer An Exercise In Nonsense

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Alistair Olson After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

lastliberal There is so much that can be said about this film. It is not your typical nunsploitation. Of course, there is nudity and sex with nuns, but that is almost incidental to the story.It is set in 15th Century Italy, at the time of the martyrdom of 800 Christians at Otranto. The battle between the Muslims and the Christians takes up a good part of the film. It was interesting when everyone was running from the Muslim hoards, that the mother superior would ask, "Why do you fear the Muslims,; they will not do anything that the Christians have done to you?" Certainly, there was enough torture on both sides.Sister Flavia (Florinda Bolkan) is sent to a convent for defying her father. In the process, she witnesses and endures many things: the gelding of a stallion, the rape of a local woman by a new Duke, the torture of a nun who was overcome during a visit by the Tarantula Sect, and a whipping herself when she ran off with a Jew. The torture was particularly gruesome with hot wax being poured on the nun, and her nipples cut off.Sister Flavia is bound to continue to get into trouble as she questions the male-dominated society in which she lives. She even asks Jesus, why the father, son and holy ghost are all men.Eventually, she joins the leader of the Muslims as his lover and they sack the convent. Here is where you see more flesh than you can possible enjoy at one time. But, tragedy is to come. She manages to exact sweet revenge on all, including the Duke and her father, but finds that the Muslim lover treats her exactly the same. She is a woman and that is all there is to it.I won't describe what the holy men of the church did to this heretic at the end, but it predates the torture of Saw or Hostel by decades.Nunsploitation fans will be satisfied with the treats, but movie lovers will find plenty of meat to digest.

Coventry Flavia the Heretic is an undeniable work of art and probably my number one recommendation to state that the euro-exploitation cinema is severely underrated and not to be ignored. This is an intelligent and complex film, beautifully realized and – surprise – pretty damn accurate! This is more than just meaningless sleaze or gratuitous violence and it's about time those prudish film committees who categorize Flavia as forbidden trash reckon this as well. Flavia is a beautiful 14th century adolescent, forced to live the life of an obedient nun in a strict convent. She refuses to accept her being inferior just because she's female and she curses her fellow sister for being so tolerant about this. After a fruitless attempt to escape, she befriends another rebellious nun and she even guides a troop of bloodthirsty Muslims into the walls of the convent.Flavia is a downright mesmerizing film! Almost impossible to believe that director Gianfranco Mingozzi managed to make it appear so realistic and so disturbing. I challenge you to come up with a title that centers on the topic of pioneer-feminism more intensely than Flavia does. Several sequences are quite shocking (on the verge of nightmarish, actually) as the camera zooms in on brutal rapes, torture and mutilation. Yet all this raw footage isn't just used to satisfy perverted gorehounds, mind you. I'm strongly convinced that they're part of the statement 'Flavia' is trying to communicate: Humanity (the Catholic Church in particular) historically proved itself to be a hypocrite and discriminating race and there's no use in denying it any further. Films like "Flavia, the Heretic" have the courage to question and openly condemn our precious ancestors and I truly admire them for it. Flavia is an outstanding and fundamental exploitation film because of its substance, but it's even brought to an higher level by the wondrous cinematography, the glorious costumes & scenery and a breathtaking musical score by Nicola Piovani. Florinda Bolkin is very convincing as the ambitious and headstrong nun but it's María Casares who steals the show as Sister Agatha. She's a man-hating and loud-mouthed nun who likes to urinate in the open field! Amen, sister!

FoxRyan Just got this uncut on DVD, because I`m getting into sleazy horror and exploitation films. However, I was a touch disappointed with Flavia the Heretic. Yeah, there are a couple of nasty scenes, like the nipple slicing and stuff, but I`ve seen a lot worse. A generally good film, it dragged a little sometimes, and for the seventies, yeah, it was out there and controversial. I`ve just ordered Salo on DVD, I hope that`s more like what I want.

macabro357 (aka: FLAVIA THE HERETIC)Finally Synapse releases the full, uncut version with the sex, torture and nudity intact. This is supposed to be the ultimate 'nuns in hell' movie, so it deserved a definitive version.In the 15th Century, Flavia is sent to a convent by her evil father in order to cleanse her soul. She questions why the rules are the way they are and why men have to be in charge of everything. She also questions why nuns are routinely tortured for even the slightest of transgressions.For instance, in a truly repellant scene, they dip cups of black tar on the stomach and breast of one nun and then cut her burned nipple off. Flavia can't stand any of this so she runs away with a local Jew who is an overseer of her father's dowry to the church. They are quickly caught and sent back to be punished. Flavia gets flogged with a whip while her Jewish companion is held in a dungeon with chains.Then Flavia takes up with a Moslem commander after an attack on a coastal church, thereby guaranteeing her revenge on the convent. The Moslems rape and pillage the nuns, leaving all of them dead except for Flavia. She also stands by while the Moslems push her father down a hole leading into the torture chamber they used to routinely punished the nuns. The scene where the blond woman climbs into a cow's carcass is classic, although I think Pier Paolo Pasolini did something similar to that in one of his films. No? In the end, her Moslem lover leaves her behind because she is disobedient, leaving her to her fate at the hands of the surviving Christians who torture her in an obscene manner. You the viewer will have to see it for yourself.The film does have it's flaws, however. The pace is a little slow-going at times and the battle scenes between the Christians and the Moslems looks amateurish. The Synapse DVD has an interview with Florinda Bolkan concerning her views on feminism and the making of this film. She's aged quite a bit in the last 25 years, although I think she was already in her mid-30s when she made this film.6 out of 10 for showing some originality in the nun genre.