Nigel Wingrove Movies

A number of people who have devoted their lives to God find themselves undone by desires of the flesh in this unusual erotic drama. The abbess (Moyna Cope) of a convent invites the leader of a group of monks (Simon Hill) to visit her and offer needed advice. A wave of sexual temptation has begun to flood the convent, with the Mother Superior (Sally Tremaine) having bizarre sexual fantasies about Mary Magdalene (Kristina Bill), and many of the other nuns suddenly attracted to each other. However, the presence of a man only fuels the fires of a potentially explosive situation. Sacred Flesh (whose writer and director, Nigel Wingrove, previously dealt with a similar mix of sexuality and spirituality in his controversial short subject Visions of Ecstasy) was shot on videotape, and was projected electronically for its initial British engagements. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this erotic drama based on an infamous novel by the Marquis de Sade, two sisters are raised in a convent, where they suffer all manner of abuse. The girls are eventually expelled for misbehavior, and make their way to London, where they find work in a brothel. One is able to adjust to the realities of her new life, but the other rebels and runs away, only to fall victim to an especially cruel fate. Justine, which was also released under the title Cruel Passion, stars Koo Stark, who gained notoriety in 1982 after it became public knowledge that she had a brief affair with Britain's Prince Andrew. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Horror director Jean Rollin followed up Le Viol du Vampire with this equally strange excursion into vampiric eroticism. The plot concerns a suicide cult led by a mysterious figure known as The Master. Oliver Martin is the hero, who tries to rescue pretty Caroline Cartier from the cult, only to find out that yet another group of vampires wants to save her too. There's people with reindeer heads, the usual artsy sex and violence, and a science-fiction subplot about a doorway to another dimension (as in the later Phantasm). Maurice Lemaitre and Bernard Musson co-star in this pretentious but enjoyable shocker. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi