REVIEW - Sins of Sister Lucia aka Sudojo Rushia: Kegasu aka Sister Lucia’s Dishonor (1978)

Ok, I’ll say it (if I haven’t already)… I don’t exactly “get” the whole nunsploitation thing. I mean, I get it… I just don’t “get” it. These types of films want to be porn so badly… but somehow they lack the proper conviction to take that extra step. Maybe it’s a financial thing (these films at least got into normal – albeit exploitation - theaters)… Maybe it’s a moral thing (although I highly doubt it)… The plots are pretty much all the same (girl goes to convent to repent or hide from her past only to find the nuns there more twisted and kinky than they ever could of dreamed being). Now don’t get me wrong… taken in and of itself, nun porn I get. Few do it better than the Italians.. let THAT be said. They have that whole sex/guilt thing down to a friggin’ science. What’s odd about the Japanese nunsploitation sub-sub-genre is that, at its core, Japan is not a Catholic country. Yes, there are factions of the population that are Christian, but historically it has not been the case. So, enter Catholic nunneries in modern Japanese society… add a bit of bondage, torture, lesbianism, and outright blasphemy and hey, sounds like a party. However, the problem with films of this type is two-fold. First, as previously stated, they want to be porn, but aren’t…which, as a viewer, makes it terrible frustrating. Secondly, the films look and feel like copies of copies. That is to say that the have gathered all of the elements inherent in these types of films, but they’ve been arranged by someone who’s SEEN a lot of these films, but don’t exactly know what makes them tick. But ok… SISTER LUCIA… The film, directed by Koyu Ohara and starring Yuki Nohira (the Japanese nunsploitation classic WET & ROPE), is exactly what you’d expect. Rebellious nun goes to convent, is made to confess sins (shown in detail), she plots convent overthrow, finds there is more to the nuns than anyone thought. Blah blah blah… credits. The girls are attractive and the sex is mostly people grinding up against one another. Softcore porn fans will like this. Japanese Pinku film fans will as well. Most everyone else will leave it feeling confused and oddly conflicted. Imminently rentable (if only as a curiosity), but truthfully… there are better examples of the genre (SCHOOL OF THE UNHOLY BEAST and the aforementioned WET & ROPE are just two worthy of mention).

2.5 out of 5 stars

~ Thom Carnell