Flavia the Heretic is hailed by some as one of the best nunsploitation - a dubious sub genre at best - efforts out there.Sadly, the story and characters it unfolds come from nowhere, and go nowhere. Even if we realize that the movie is based in dark medieval-era Spain, there is no real sense of community, no hint of a real society or whatsoever. No one seems to really like to be alive, or simply to exist within the frame of civilization.Nearly every character is mad, violent, misogynistic or just plain dumb. The people in charge are few and most of the time act rashly for no apparent reason, or just don't seem to know what to do. Senseless aggression and torture abound, mostly from male towards female, but also from female on female.The madness the Tarantula cult unleashes on the nuns convent during the beginning of the movie is unbelievable, as is the rage and hatred the main character and the senior nun harbour towards men.I understand being oppressed by a group, class or gender can lead to madness and revenge, but what Flavia the Heretic does is beyond my understanding : how can you betray and condemn to death thousands of your fellow citizens just to have revenge on few? By siding with the invaders, Flavia facilitates the genocide committed on her people, and seems to be very happy with it. Yet, she also despises the invader's attitude towards women, which leads her to be abandoned by the conquerors and captured by vengeful religious fanatics. She dies horribly. That's what you get for living a life filled with hatred.Flavia the Heretic is a beautifully lighted movie, but fails mostly because of a script filled with extremely negative characters. I seriously doubt people hated their lives as much as they seem to do in this movie, even during Dark Medieval Times...

"Flavia, la monaca muslmana" aka. "Flavia the Heretic" of 1974 is a truly disturbing and uncompromising piece of Italian Exploitation cinema that, to a certain extent, follows a somewhat feminist premise (though the level of sleaze and brutality would probably disgust the majority of feminists). Set mostly in a convent, and with a nun as the eponymous central protagonist (great performance by the wonderful Florinda Bolkan), "Flavia the Heretic" may be referred to as a 'Nunsploitation' film. However, this film differs quite drastically from the typical Nunsploitation flicks from the time, as it doesn't so much focus on the nunsploitation elements such as lesbianism, sadistic lesbian punishments, etc. Personally, I saw more similarities to the Hexploitation flicks of the time, such as "Mark of The Devil", (even though this one doesn't treat the topic of witch-hunts), which focus on the brutal execution of Christian fundamentalism in the middle ages and early modern period.Italy around 1600: After witnessing her despotic father behead a wounded Muslim soldier, young Flavia is forced to become a nun in a convent. When her father condemns a fellow nun to a torturous death for a small misdemeanor years later, Falvia's disgust with male violence against women turns into hatred against the despotic church, and she joins a band of Arabic scavengers...One thing is for sure, "Flavia the Heretic" is not for the faint-hearted, and neither is it for those who want happy endings. Director Gianfranco Mingozzi obviously tried to make his film as realistic and disturbing as possible, especially in its nasty scenes. The many torture- and execution-scenes are extremely disturbing, with skinnings, spikings and other gruesome scenes in explicit detail, the most shocking scene probably being the torture of the young nun quite in the beginning of the film. The violence here is never superfluous, however. After all, this gruesome methods actually were reality in the time the film is set in. The film is very well-made, with realistic costumes, fantastic settings an elegant cinematography and a great score by Nicola Piovani. The stunningly beautiful and great Florinda Bolkan has proved her talent in many great Italian cult-productions (including Lucio Fulci's Giallo-masterpiece "Non Si Sevizia Un Paperino" of 1972). She delivers another great, charismatic performance here, and I couldn't imagine another actress fitting as well in the role as she does. The film has some minor inconsistencies (E.g. why does the rigid church let bizarre cult-followers into convents in the first place). However, it is overall amazing how realistic this film is. "Flavia the Heretic" should definitely not be missed by my fellow fans of Italian Exploitation Cinema. This is a great Exploitation flick overall, though it definitely is a deeply depressing one and therefore should be watched in the right mood. Highly recommended to fans of disturbing exploitation cinema. 7.5/10

Flavia the Heretic has been put in with the 'nunsploitation' sub-genre, although personally I'd say it fits in closer with the historical period epic genre. Most of the time when these films say that they're "based on actual events", you have trouble believing it; but that's not the case here, as although I don't know anything about Italy in the 1600's, the film is of a far higher quality than most nunsploitation garbage, so it could well actually be based on a true story. I have to admit I prefer the trashier side of nunsploitation myself; Joe D'Amato's masterpiece "Images in a Convent" being my favourite so far, but this film deserves respect for its classy and bloodthirsty historical portrait. The film focuses on the title character: Flavia. Flavia is a nun at convent that is invaded by a 'Tarantula Sect', and this sect proceeds to insult the nuns and their Christian beliefs by defiling their place of worship. Flavia decides that she cannot take this blasphemy, and flees the convent, with revenge in mind...The blood, sex and violence in this film actually has more power than that in a lot of similar movies. The whole film is very realistic, and this is a huge benefit to it as this allows director Gianfranco Mingozzi to create a truly macabre and morbid atmosphere. Much of the plot goes towards building up the central character, and this sets Flavia the Heretic apart from many of it's seventies counterparts as it means that the character gets developed in a way that makes sense, and it's clear that the director and everyone involved wanted to make a serious piece of art. Florinda Bolkan is excellent in the title role, and brings some real credibility to the film alongside a good support cast. There are some truly nasty sequences in this film; including many shots of people being spiked, a decapitation, a very realistic 'skinning' scene and plenty of rough sex. But none of this appears out of place as the director ensures that the graphic violence fits with the rest of the film. Overall, I can't call Flavia the Heretic a favourite of mine; but it deserves more respect than a lot of these films do, and it's definitely worth seeing.

Just got this uncut on DVD, because I`m getting into sleazy horror and exploitation films. However, I was a touch disappointed with Flavia the Heretic. Yeah, there are a couple of nasty scenes, like the nipple slicing and stuff, but I`ve seen a lot worse. A generally good film, it dragged a little sometimes, and for the seventies, yeah, it was out there and controversial. I`ve just ordered Salo on DVD, I hope that`s more like what I want.