A nasty piece of exploitative Eurosleaze, Franco Prosperi's "The Last House on the Beach" (1978) yet tells a very simple story. In the film, a trio of particularly brutish thugs, led by the handsome Aldo (Ray Lovelock), breaks into a hilltop mansion to lay low after a violent bank heist. Too bad that the house they've chosen at random is occupied by a quintet of Catholic schoolgirls, presided over by Sister Cristina (cult Eurostar Florinda Bolkan). The three goons waste little time before starting to rape and kill the young women, until Cristina decides that...well, nun or no nun, she's mad as hell and isn't going to take it anymore! The vengeance that she and the younger ladies dish out on their persecutors is both a swift and satisfying one. I must add that despite the plot's simplicity, this film proved a bit hard to watch at times, largely due to the convincing performances by Stefano Cedrati and Flavio Andreini as those other two maniacs; they really do make for thoroughly hateful characters. Florinda, as usual, is impeccable, and the film offers up some additional pleasures in the form of lovely oceanside scenery (a stark contrast to the ugliness transpiring inside the house; wherever did they film this?) and a dynamic, propulsive score by Roberto Pregadio; the piece of music that accompanies Aldo's pursuit of Eliza (the prettiest of the girls, IMHO) down the hillside to the sea is especially dynamite. Prosperi directs his film to ensure a good deal of suspense, and in all, this is a pretty darn gripping presentation, with, thankfully, little in the way of explicit violence (what is suggested is quite terrible enough!). This nice-looking Severin DVD also includes a 1/2-hour interview with the still hunky Lovelock of today, during which the Italian confirms that "Ray Lovelock" IS indeed his real name. The actor's sincerity and charm make the character of Aldo seem, if possible, all the more monstrous.

This may not be quite as explicit or in your face as, 'House at the Edge of the Park', but it is still seriously nasty affair and most compelling. I found the pacing tight and the action fast moving. 'Action', of course includes, stripping, raping and torturing the various youngsters who are in a desolate house practising a play for their catholic church school with their nun. Florinda Bolkan does very well in her role as the nun, at first stoical and gradually coming around to a more vigorous defence of herself and her girls. Ray Lovelock is excellent as the more charismatic of the baddies who intrude upon the ladies, but everybody helps to make this a most entertainingly brutal and sexy outing. 'Guilty pleasure' I think is the apt description.

Franco Prosperi directs yet another exploitation flick inspired by Craven's notorious Last House on the Left, this time a trio of bank robbing hoods(led by Ray Lovelock, Let Sleeping Corpses Lie)besiege a group of Catholic teenage students and their Nun supervisor, setting off a reign of terror over the course of three nightmarish days. Sister Christina(Florinda Bolkan, Don't Torture a Duckling)tries without fail to rescue her girls from constant harm, sexual molestation and degradation, even suffering depraved persecution herself. The three hoodlums, pretty-boy Aldo(Lovelock)and his unhinged co-horts Walter(Flavio Andeini)and Nino(Stefano Cedrati), often resort to diabolical acts mistreating the girls, and Christina, making extra efforts to humiliate and frighten their weaker prey. The girls watch as Christina's clothes are ripped away by Walter, forced to put on her nun outfit for their amusement. One of the girls, chosen by Walter as a victim of constant abuse, is held down as Nino penetrates her from behind, with their sole purpose being to "pop her cherry." It's even shot in slow motion for extra impact as Aldo holds Christina in a position where she's forced to watch without the ability to turn away. When one of the girls is almost raped by Nino, she stabs him in the leg with a comb, later caught after almost escaping by Aldo, and penetrated with a large sharpened stick by the very one who almost sexually molested her. Aldo spends a great deal of time setting himself up as an innocent among two depraved monsters, but he's even worse than they, with his true self really awakening at the end when the girls revolt out of outrage for their captors' behavior. Thankfully, director Prosperi doesn't actually elaborate the evil actions of the cretins in vivid detail, finding ways to shoot around the explicit acts such as the vaginal violence which leads to the victim's death, or the maid who is bashed across the head by an iron when Walter becomes enraged for no reason whatsoever. The film works off the idea that we will be impacted by who the chosen victims are, teenage girls and their nun. The hoods are your typical scumbags, relishing their activities watching the victims squirm in fear, taking full advantage of them. They are cowards with big weapons who cause harm to those who supposedly pose no threat which always builds up the violent climax where the innocents develop a primal nature, getting even with the ones who caused them such harm. Nothing really special about this umpteenth Italian terror film except the fabulous location on a fine piece of property overlooking a beach with a typically fine performance from Bolkan who plays it completely subtle, using her eyes as a means for communicating with the viewer and has this strength which is credible and admirable. We understand why she snaps(..although, it's not a theatrical snap, but a very quiet one, where she contemplates her actions and can not overcome her hostility after the horrifying murder of one of her girls, who almost got away), and that also relates back to Craven's infamous film where a very mature and sensitive person can become overpowered with the urge to kill, if pushed to the breaking point.

A trio of obdurate bank-robbers who are barely evading the authorities hole up in an incommunicado beach house where several girls from a parochial school are having a field trip with their drama teacher. Instantaneously, the girls are sucked into a living nightmare of sexual assault, inexorable degradation, torture, and death. At one especially disturbing point in the course of events, one of the brutes becomes seriously injured, and callously demands to be cared for by the very people he has been so cruelly tormenting.This film is often compared to LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, though despite axiomatic similarities in the general mien, little else between the two films is consonant. LA SETTIMA DONNA is an emotionally exhausting steamroller of tribulation, pathos, and senseless inhumanities...highly unpleasant, but effective, like a hard punch to the gut.6.5/10