The Best Nunsploitation Films - Rosemary & AJ’s Picks

As Easter approaches, we thought it only fitting to swap out the pastel bonnets and chocolate eggs for something a little darker. As not every Easter tradition involves fuzzy bunnies and sugared confections, we’ve gathered a selection of our favourite horror-tinged Nunsploitation gems — a delirious subgenre steeped in Catholic guilt, convent chaos, ill-fated sisters, and the occasional bout of flagellation.

Consider this your guide to a holiday weekend drenched in sin, hysteria, and the occasional habit-clad heretic. Here are the best nunsploitation films. Blessed be.

The Devils (1971)

Nuns in white robes with black crosses stand in a tiled room with an altar. One stands prominently in front, head tilted, under soft light.

One of Rosemary’s all-time favourite video nasties — and rightly so. The Devils is Ken Russell’s feverish masterpiece, a film so incendiary it earned an X rating on both sides of the Atlantic upon release. At its heart lies the true story of a 17th-century French convent in the town of Loudun, where hysteria, heresy, and hallucinatory possessions erupt with the arrival of the dangerously charismatic Father Urbain Grandier.

A word of advice: seek out the uncut version if you can. The censored cuts neuter some of its most delirious, blasphemous pleasures.

If this strikes your fancy, might I nudge you toward Mother Joan of the Angels (1972), a haunting Polish interpretation of the same dark chapter in ecclesiastical history, and Benedetta (2021), Paul Verhoeven’s provocatively playful take on a similarly subversive 17th-century nun. Saints, sinners, and spectral seductions — what more could you want?

School of the Holy Beast /The Transgressor (1974)

Nun in black and white habit holds a knife, looking intense. Background shows a dimly lit room with an arched window.

A mesmerizing dive into the provocative and blasphemous world of Japanese pinky films, this darkly atmospheric tale follows Maya, an ingenue drawn into the mysterious and twisted sisterhood of the Sacred Heart Convent. As the novice uncovers the convent’s horrific secrets, the film dances between exquisite cinematography and pulsating violent thrills, crafting a hypnotic, feverish experience.

For those who’ve fallen under this film’s sinful spell, we suggest exploring other Japanese nunsploitation gems: the biting Nuns That Bite or the soul-twisting Runa’s Confession. A sacrilegious binge awaits.

Alucarda (1977)

Two women facing each other with intense expressions, a horned creature in the background under a blue sky, creating a mystical atmosphere.

A deliriously beautiful slice of Mexican Gothic horror, Alucarda is a wild, blood-soaked retelling of the Carmilla vampire myth — its very title a sly wink: A Dracula, spelled backwards. Set within the candlelit gloom of a convent, two teenage girls stumble headlong into sinister rites, supernatural temptations, and increasingly unhinged exorcisms, culminating in a gloriously unholy crescendo of fire, frenzy, and religious ecstasy.

For those drawn to Alucarda’s heady cocktail of baroque excess and coming-of-age transgressions, might we also recommend dipping into some 70s artsploitation gems: the scandalous The House That Screamed and the dreamlike, folkloric Valerie and Her Week of Wonders. Your blasphemous double feature awaits.

Immaculate (2024)

A woman in an ornate dress stands in a church with a long veil held by four nuns. Candlelit altar and decorative walls in the background.

A modern spin on the patriarchal grip of the Church. Sydney Sweeney slips into the habit as an American nun adrift in an Italian convent, unwittingly becoming a fresh vessel for the Rosemary’s Baby archetype — wide-eyed innocence slowly corroded by creeping dread.

Beneath the gothic trappings, the film’s subtext couldn’t feel more urgent: a grim, almost suffocating reflection of contemporary battles over reproductive rights in the US. The horror here isn’t just supernatural — it’s systemically institutional.

If this strikes your unholy nerve, you might also seek out the simmering dread of Saint Maud and the stylishly sinister First Omen. Faith has rarely looked so fraught.

Please stay tuned to Rosemary & AJ’s upcoming podcast: Preaching To The Perverted Podcast, for a deeper dive into the topic of Nunsploitation films & other erotic film analysis.

The first episode slated to launch end of May, but please stay up to date on the below socials:

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