7. Alucarda (1978 - Mexico)
The location in the film is a Mexican convent that contains both nuns and orphans. A 15 year old orphaned girl called Alucarda has had the misfortune to have stayed there all of her life. A new girl called Justine arrives at the convent, and she grows very close to Alucarda. The two girls are hanging out in a nearby forest when they stumble upon a gang of gypsies and open a casket which leads to them becoming possessed by a demonic force. The two girls go back to the convent to cause Satanic mayhem. A notorious little gem for those in the cognoscenti of Cult Movie Classics, Alucarda features some very strong material and themes including exorcisms, lesbianism, Satanism, possession, and murder - all within a religious setting. This has led to charges of blasphemy being laid upon the film, and it certainly shares its anti-clerical flavour with Ken Russell's 1971 film The Devils. There is a lot of screaming in the film that is hard on the ears but which is compensated for by tremendous scenes of nudity and gore as the girls run rampant. The nuns themselves look like monstrous mummies. They are clad in bandages and seem to have dirt and blood stains soiling their attire. This is all very eerie and adds to Alucarda's dread-filled atmosphere. Definitely one of the better 'exorcism/possessed' films to emerge from the 1970s, I find Alucarda more spooky than The Exorcist. It is weird and unsettling, although the acting is atrocious and all of the hysterical screaming grates on one's nerves. However, thrill seekers will enjoy this one.