WARNING: This movie contains explicit material, and the screenshots below may not be suitable for anyone under 18.

With only a cross with her mother's name on it to go by, Maya Takigawa (Yumi Takigawa) joins a convent to find out what happened to her mother. She finds this strict convent is full of secrets, sex (lesbians nuns, hell yeah!), hypocrisy, bondage, and torture. It's a nunsploitation movie, what do you expect? =D

Ok. I saw this listed in Netflix a year or two back, read the summary, and INSTANTLY put it at the top of my queue. How could I not? It's nunsploitation! NUNSPLOITATION!! Why have I not heard of this genre before?! Once I got it in the mail, I popped this sucker in, and had me a few drinks. I can safely say that I was not disappointed. I definitely made a point to buy the DVD before it became out of print. Thank you Cult Epics for releasing this gem, as it has thoroughly entertained me.

Ok, enough about that, let's talk about the movie. I liked it. A lot. Why did I like it you ask? Well for starters... it's nunsploitation! Not just nunsploitation, but a Japanese 70's pinku nunsploitation film. I'd like it even if it was terrible, and luckily it wasn't. School of the Holy Beast is very much like most good 70's pinku films. It not only exploits, but has a good plot, and style. There is a nice murder mystery mixed within all the sex, and it's very well done. This convent has many secrets, and I wanted to know them all.

The assistant nuns are under very strict rules, and are punished harshly if any are broken. These punishments normally involve being stripped down and whipped either with whips, or roses (yeah, wtf indeed). This place seems more like a prison than anything. The top nuns are pretty damn evil and hypocritical, but not as much as the Priest, played by none other than Fumio Watanabe (Inspector Goda in the first and second Scorpion movies). School of the Holy Beast has plenty of sex, including one lesbian scene, some rape, and a little bit of bondage (more for punishment). There was actually one rape scene that I found rather amusing, which is shocking (just one, not any of the others). Oh! And there was a random trapdoor that opens to a vat of acid! A vat of acid! So awesome.

My main complaint, which isn't really a complaint, is that it was very hard to tell the difference between one nun and another. Everything but their face was completely covered. There were certain characters, including Maya, that I could tell who they were most of the time but sometimes when the scene changed I was lost for a bit.

School of the Holy Beast was very well directed. It wasn't even that gritty, either. Everything was done beautifully, even the whippings. Of course, it was a bit dramatized, like the slowmos of the whip wrapping around the boobs as it hits. That couldn't have been on purpose, right? Right?? I didn't think so. Also, moaning and throwing your perfect hair around is a perfectly natural reaction when you're being hit by roses. I do it every time it happens to me, I swear. The choir in the background adds effect. That's another thing, the score for School of the Holy Beast was perfect. The choir gives the film a nice element, and really adds to the feel of the movie. Add in the great cinematography and you got yourself a damn good movie.

The acting was great, a bit dramatic at times, but nothing surprising for a Japanese Pinku film. I loved every moment Yumi Takigawa (Maya Takigawa) was on the screen. She was very beautiful.

I really liked School of the Holy Beast, and would recommend it to anyone into Japanese Pinku films. Well, almost everyone... it is pretty blasphemous. It reveals the hypocrisy people have with religion, where they preach these beliefs and punish if they're broken, but do not follow them themselves. I hope there is no church quite like this, though.... Overall, If the aspect of a 70s Japanese nunsploitational film excites you like it excites me, then you will not be disappointed.

What I liked: BOOBIES, nunsploitation, score, director, lesbians, whips, moans from flower-beatings, Yumi Takigawa, Yumi Takigawa in a nun outfit (Yum!), BOOBIES.

What I didn't like: Nun-clones, witch torture scene (so sad).

What I've learned: Don't become a nun. WATCH OUT FOR RANDOM TRAP DOORS THAT DROPS INTO A VAT OF ACID! They could be lurking anywhere. Nuns bathe with their clothes on (weird).

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