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Giulio Berruti's unusual cult horror film casts former sex symbol Anita Ekberg as Sister Gertrude, a nun working in a mental institution. Gertrude is clearly insane, and takes a great deal of morphine for her self-diagnosed cancer. She goes to town and picks up men, seduces a younger nun (Paola Morra) who was abused by her grandfather, and supposedly murders patients until the Mother Superior (Alida Valli) has her poisoned. Luigi Casellato appears as a crippled painter who gets kicked to death, and genre favorite Joe Dallesandro leads the supporting cast as a handsome doctor. Antonio Maccoppi's skillful cinematography gives the film a harsh, intimidating look and Ekberg creates a sympathetic character, although certain scenes -- such as her stepping on a patient's dentures -- cross the line into unintentional humor.
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Killer Nun (1979)
89 min
A demented nun sliding through morphine addiction into madness, while presiding over a regime of lesbianism, torture and death. Sister Gertrude is the head nurse/nun in a general hospital, whose increasingly psychotic behavior endangers the staff and patients around her.