Dries Vermeulen In its entirety, as far as such can be ascertained, the BLACK EMANUELLE series certainly shapes up as an odd collection of sorts. Its "official" entries, and remember that we're already dealing with an Italian rip-off of a French film franchise, have been generously supplemented by tangentially tied-in trifles where the mere presence of Indonesian leading lady Laura Gemser gave rise to an impromptu affiliation, often through adversely affixing the EMANUELLE moniker regardless of narrative consistency. Henceforth, Enzio D'Ambrosio's sedate LA SPIAGGIA DEL DESIDERIO was widely released as EMANUELLE ON TABOO ISLAND, Mario Bianchi's genteel COUNTRY NURSE got far more play dates as EMANUELLE IN THE COUNTRY and German Christian Anders' severely twisted LOVE CAMP became DIVINE EMANUELLE. No mean feat considering Gemser's character isn't actually called Emanuelle in any of these !Whilst a bit of a mongrel, at least SUOR EMANUELLE remains relatively close to the trajectory mapped out by Bitto Albertini in the initial installment and, especially, the shameless Joe D'Amato in its bona fide sequels. Turning her back on a wicked past, which seasoned viewers will automatically associate with her globe-trotting, absolutely anything for a scoop wanton ways as the intrepid photo journalist, Emanuelle has entered the convent, doling out spiritual succor to the wayward young girls in her charge. She definitely has her work cut out for her with feisty Monica Catsabriaga (Monica Zanchi) who was caught in flagrante with her hot new step mom (delectable D'Amato regular Dirce Funari, who was in both PORNO HOLOCAUST and EROTIC NIGHTS OF THE LIVING DEAD) by her elderly businessman father, played by Spaghetti western veteran Rik Battaglia. Poor Em's vow of chastity barely survives the train ride back to the nunnery when a very nude Monica slips between her sheets to seek solace from the raging thunderstorm outside ! Somewhat surprising for such an exploitative type of cinema, the good sister's devotion is actually handled with a degree of seriousness. She only reluctantly surrenders to escaped convict René (adequately portrayed by her then real life husband Gabriele Tinti) when the mischievous Monica tricks her into believing that he will otherwise forcefully take the maidenhead of her pious roommate Anna. Once she learns of this betrayal, Emanuelle literally lets her hair down and, well, kicks the habit, reverting back to the sign of the crotch in a last ditch attempt to straighten out the incorrigible teen seductress. With Gemser's sensational slender frame (predating the present day supermodel ideal) perversely covered up until the final act, most of the film's ample nudity's supplied by succulent Swiss starlet Zanchi, a memorable presence in both D'Amato's over the top EMANUELLE AND THE LAST CANNIBALS and Mario Gariazzo's saucy space opera THE COMING OF ALIENS. Her temptation of Anna (lovely one shot Vinja Locatelli), who assumes she's a mere obstacle on the road to sainthood, provides an effective combination of heat and humor, indicative of the narrative tone's gradual shift from semi-serious to fully fledged fun.The lightness of touch, which precludes anything really nasty happening to anyone, makes for a welcome change of pace from Emanuelle's past adventures, too frequently interrupted by rape and assorted violent outbursts for comfort. One reason for this is that the late Giuseppe Vari a/k/a "Joseph Warren" was hardly a sex flick regular and therefore perhaps less jaded than the dyed in the wool D'Amato. He was rather a workmanlike if dependable dispenser of varied genre fare like ROME AGAINST ROME a/k/a WAR OF THE ZOMBIES and DJANGO THE LAST KILLER, whose only other foray into risqué territory was his frothy RIBALD DECAMERON with the magnificent Malisa Longo. Further explanation for the film's idiosyncratic flavor amid the EMANUELLE canon comes from the man responsible for its commendably coherent screenplay, Marino Onorati, whose stock in trade is all sweetness and light as evidenced by his scripts for most of the major Italian sex comedy superstars like Edwige Fenech on various SCHOOLTEACHER and POLICEWOMAN projects and Gloria Guida as LA LICEALE. Hazy soft focus photography by Guglielmo Mancori, who shot Umberto Lenzi's underrated giallo SPASMO as well as Lucio Fulci's badly bungled MANHATTAN BABY, elevate this effort to a loftier level of cinematic carnality. Stelvio Cipriani's infuriatingly infectious score, practically screaming Seventies Euro sleaze at the top of its lungs, provides the icing on the cake for any none too self-respecting old school skin flick aficionado.

The_Void There is a lot of variety in the Emanuelle series, and as such; a lot of strange and rather silly ideas; but having Laura Gemser dressed up as a nun and living in a convent is surely one of the silliest! I'd even go as far as to say that this plot could be considered blasphemous! Clearly, this film is just an attempt by director Giuseppe Vari to cash in on both the Emanuelle series and the nunsploitation wave in one fell swoop, and as is the case with a lot of the Emanuelle flicks; the only thing that really ties this film to the rest of the series is the lovely leading lady, Laura Gemser. Apparently, Emanuelle has decided to renounce her shady past and has taken up residency inside a convent. She is given the task of looking after the young and beautiful Monica; a girl who was dropped off at the convent by her wealthy father. However, it's not long before the young girl's outlook on life begins to rub off on the previously promiscuous "nun" and Emanuelle begins to question whether or not being a woman of God is actually a suitable career path...In the context of the rest of the series, and considering that there is no explanation for Emanuelle's sudden change of attitude, it has to be said that the plot line featured in this film is absurdly ridiculous. However, the film clearly isn't meant to be looked at that way and as a stand alone nunsploitation flick; Sister Emanuelle is excellent, and by far my favourite of the ten or so Emanuelle flicks that I've seen. The film does represent a real change of pace for the series as for most of the film; Emanuelle is retracted to a nun's habit and doesn't feature in as many sex scenes as we're used to. That isn't a big problem, however, as this time Laura Gemser is joined by the beautiful Swiss actress Mónica Zanchi, who pretty much takes up the lead role. Unlike most Emanuelle films also, this one actually has a couple of themes going on; namely, the corruption of innocence, and judging by the ambiguous ending, there also seems to be something in there about how a person like Emanuelle is not going to be able to abandon what it is she stands for. Overall, this is a very good little film and comes highly recommended to both Emanuelle fans and exploitation fans in general!

lazarillo In a real change of pace for the "Black Emanuelle" series Emanuelle (Laura Gemser) has become a nun(!), and has been put in charge of a naughty teenage vixen (Swiss miss Monica Zanchi) who is being escorted to a convent school after her father catches her in bed with her young stepmother! While Emanuelle tries to morally straighten out the girl, the girl tries to immorally straighten out every guy she meets (including a dangerous escaped convict played my Gabriel Tinti)and to corrupt the nun. You can pretty much guess who wins this contest, especially since "Sister Emanuelle" turns out to be much more corrupt than the girl to begin with.This movie was not directed by Joe D'Mato, but fits right in with the transgressive films he directed in the series in that it manages to combine "nunsploitation" (politically incorrect by today's standards) with schoolgirl exploitation (VERY politically incorrect by today's standards). I might point out though that the voluptuous Monica Zanchi is not especially believable as a schoolgirl, and the svelte and sexy Laura Gemser is not even remotely believable as a nun, so I think we're pretty safely ensconced in the world of fantasy here. The two actresses are a pretty incendiary combination, and downright explosive when you add in Italian sex bomb Dirce Funari as the stepmother.Along with "Emanuelle, the Queen" this probably has the strongest plot of any film in the series, and unlike that one doesn't fall apart in the end. It does fall back on a hoary old cliché in the finale, but it actually works here because it leaves it pretty ambiguous whether all the degradation we've witnessed really exists in the heart of the girl or the nun. It's also pretty well made--for instance, there's a memorable scene where the girl talks in voice over about having been "raped" by three guys on the beach while the visual flashback shows what REALLY happened. (Some 15 years later I remember mainstream movie reviewers practically wetting themselves when overrated "film genius" Steven Soderberg did the exact same thing in "Sex, Lies, and Videotape"). The music is pretty good too. Recommended.

rewolf_2001 If you are like me, you love the whole school girl fantasy coupled with the strict nuns. This movie has a little of it all. Plus, the lesbian scenes are wonderful. If anything, they are too short. But there is one with a banana that words just can not do justice to. Highly recommend this one, but only get the Euro uncut version.