Starring Yumi Takigawa as Maya Takigawa
Opening Thoughts: Scrolling through Facebook one day I saw Kat Ellinger mention she was going to have a day of nunsploitation films. I had seen a film if this genre before and liked it, but never knew where to continue. So I asked for a films she could recommend and School of the Holy Beast was at the top of the list. Never heard of the film before, but knowing if the suggestion came from Kat the film has a chance to be shockingly good. Let's face it she has a dirty dirty mind when it comes to films and I love it.
Only thing I knew going in after seeing the case was Japanese women, catholic convent, and made during the era of Pinky Violence what can go wrong even if the film is not good well at least I can have a good laugh about it.
Plot: Maya Takigawa is a mysterious individual who was found as a baby with a rosary around her neck. Maya doesn't know who her parents are, but she believes if she joins the convent in which the rosary comes from she will be able to find out who her parents were. The issue for Maya is some secrets may be best left alone.
Maya ends up joining the Sacred Heart Convent and begins her own investigation. What Maya is about to witness is shocking. The nuns are broken up into two classes essentially fledglings and graduates. As a fledgling you are subjected to strick rules to guarantee your virginity for god himself, any lapse even thinking of desire can lead to harsh punishments including masochistic rituals in which you whip yourself if you have dirty thoughts.
What Maya is about to witness is beyond belief. Maya sees a system in which everyone has a secret whether they are a lesbian, sent by their parents for bad behavior, or just trying to escape something. No matter what you come for everyone has their own agenda and no one is to be trusted not even the vice superior and archbishop the consequences can be deadly.
Can Maya find out the secret of her parents? Will Maya survive? What hijinks happens within the convent wall?
Watch to find out for yourself.
Review: School of the Holy Beast just from the name, concept, and location of where thendilm is supposed to take place sounds so ludicrous in design and idea that you just want to take the idea behind a barn and shoot it out its misery. The film shouldn't work at all. I mean think about it what do the Japanese really know about the Roman Catholic Church and do they really have any business making a film about a Catholic convent? That in itself is the shocking question.
Yet in this instance director Norifumi Suzuku seems to accomplish the impossible by combining the Pinky Violence genre that is an exploitation style of masochism, sexual violence, and a level of shock value and the strict code of the Catholic church that in itself has harsh punishments blends together in a rare artistic beauty that is begging to be seen at any arthouse or grindhouse theater. I actually think Andrea Canales of the Film Bar might be mad she didn't introduce this to me herself because this sounds like a film she would shown her ladies Brunch group just for the shock value and to see the ladies faces and if she did I wish I was there.
Closing Thoughts: The film is a perfect mix of suspense, horror, violence, comedy, and sex that I can't even complain or think of any room for improvement. I just wish I would have discovered this film sooner. One thing is for sure the film is in desperate need of a 4K restoration and a rediscovery. The Cult Epics' release is fine for a DVD, but we are in a new age and the film just deserves more love. I hope this films gets on my local arthouse theaters schedule just because I think this film would be alot like Tarantino film to where I would get even more enjoyment laughing at the audiences reaction. If you question or get highly offended by a film that is going to exploit religion don't watch this film, but if you think you can handle dive in.
School of the Holy Beast is a masterpiece that deserves a 10/10
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