Available
from Heretic
Films | Review
by Crites
"In
the Midst of Life We Are In Death."
Produced by infamous UK horror/fetish studio
Salvation Films, SACRED FLESH looked to
be a blasphemous combination of theology
and perversion taking place in the ripest
of settings, an Inquisition-era convent.
Credits play out over "Piss
Christ"-style imagery, which opens
up into the courtyard of a verdigris-stained
abbey wherein the Reverend Mother (Moyna
Cope) is refuting gossip by the younger
nuns that their Mother Superior (Sally Tremaine)
is possessed by the Devil. There is something
troubling Mother Superior however, and be
it "devils or her own dementia"
her ravings of visions and lush improprieties
committed by the sisters inspires the Reverend
Mother to send a missive to the Abbot, Father
Henry (Simon Hill), requesting his intervention.
Accompanied by his squire
Richard (Christopher Adamson) Father Henry
sets out on horseback to investigate, relating
along the way that similar outbreaks of
hysteria have been springing up in convents
all across England. Father Henry uses these
events as examples in support of his generally
low view of women, especially nuns whose
obsession with chastity interferes with
what he considers their only real qualities
of value.
Mother Superior, meanwhile,
continues to experience her troubling visitations.
Finding herself before the throne of Mary
Magdalene (Kristina Bill), set against a
shifting backdrop of illuminated manuscripts,
Mother Superior is engaged by the biblical
whore in a debate involving hypocrisy, desire,
"latent carnality" and temptation.
Counteracting these dangerously mind-opening
discussions Mother Superior is also regularly
visited by the figure of Sister Death, a
skeletal figure in a nun's habit who encourages/warns
her to maintain chastity in mind, body and
spirit.
Arriving at the abbey Father
Henry meets with the Reverend Mother and
quickly learns more about the madness flooding
the region's convents. All of their holy
concern hasn't yet made an impact upon Mother
Superior's condition however, as within
her cell she continues to battle personal
demons of fantasy and denial. As she prays
over specific examples of the sins of her
sisters, these sins take form in lurid golden-hued
flashbacks of nuns yielding to "the
Devil's tentacles," succumbing to temptation
and desire and giving in to acts of masturbation,
lesbianism, bondage and more. We witness
the joint confessions of Sisters Mary and
Helena, who submit to the temptations of
each others' flesh despite their attempts
to beat out the flames of desire through
flagellation. As she envisions the Sisters'
lusty embraces this spectacle, real or imaginary
as it may be, causes the Mother Superior
herself to try and drive her own sin out
with a cat-o-nine tails.
And let us not forget Sister
Catherine's tryst with Fathers James and
Peter - "For them her body became a
vessel for their corrupt seed." Cue
fantasy sequence of the young nun giving
confession, and from there being pulled
into a vile three-way with the horny priests.
In true cenobite fashion, yet: "We
will help you to resist desire. But first
you must know desire, and this we will instill
in you."
Or the instance in which "popular"
Sister Helen, Sister Theresa and Sister
Jane are all getting it on, excluding the
jealous Sister Anne. Who, in a fit of envy,
decides to get one of the Sisters busted
for frigging herself at night. In return
the remaining Sisters capture and "punish"
Anne in a scene straight out of a gay pulp
magazine. (Props, bondage, habits and all,
this scene is pretty steamy for a softcore
shoot and will definitely leave some Catholics
lapsed.)
As always the Mother Superior's
visions of these lecherous acts are just
a bit too vivid for the old girl to bear.
In between scenes of fevered eroticism Mother
Superior continues to lose points in her
rational arguments with Sister Death and
Mary Magdalene alike, and caught between
these figures of her psyche representing
the extremes of her vows and her desires,
Mother Superior is forced to make a final
choice.
Mother Superior – martyr
in the making, or simply another frustrated
institutionalized nympho? Can't say, that'd
be cheating.
A contrived excuse to display
lesbian nuns in action... I like it! Softcore
porn with religious trappings doesn't make
for a bad watch at all, eagerly appealing
to lowbrow fans of The Dwarves while at
the same time offering enough theosophical
argument to appease the pretentiously arty
crowd. Which, in all likelihood, will comprise
a larger portion of the audience. While
SACRED FLESH most definitely has its charms,
the picture is a little too fancy and soft
to be a riveting denouncement of the sexual
oppression of organized religion. To truly
reveal the torments of those battling with
their conscience on the brink of damnation,
something crossing CALIGULA with SALO and
utilizing extremes of harder sex and more
severe punishment would be needed to convey
the peaks and depths of ultimate physical
and moral conflict. As it stands Sacred
Flesh is too busy being a high-minded art
film to really get inside one's soul and
wrestle with the Devil.
Which isn't to say it's not
a good looking film, or an intriguing one.
With its fine photography and production
the film is a well-made and visually appealing
one, one that as stated above has the capacity
to appeal on multiple levels. The plot may
be fairly shallow, but it does provide an
ample playground for the script's ramblings
on temptation and redemption. There is actually
some rather good anti-church propaganda
laid out here, as along with getting in
any number of good lines against the oppressive
institution the church's rigorous standards
of chastity and obedience appear to lead
to acts more depraved, and mental conditions
more troubling, within the institution than
outside of it. And the sex scenes, while
definitely of the softcore variety, are
still considerably more erotic than some.
A good film then, but not
a great one, Sacred Flesh perhaps won't
join the list of "taboo" underground
classics but ought to make a fine background
screening for any number of goth clubs.
The DVD comes complete with
trailers (a lesbian nun "teaser"
as well as a full and explicit theatrical
version), images from promotional materials,
soundtrack packaging and storyboards, and
a wide variety of photo stills (some of
which are quite sexy) and behind the scenes
snapshots. (Not to mention the option of
an audio commentary to the widescreen presentation.)
