When Ken Russell's 1977 film, The Devils, sent the nunsploitation craze into full swing, Mexico was quick to jump on the bandwagon with Gilberto Martínez Solares' Satánico Pandemonium: La Sexorcista.

The film doesn't pull any punches as Solares delivers a dizzying cascade of staple nunsploitation scenes and images. The film starts out simply enough with seduction, lesbianism and nudity. Then, it rapidly descends into an orgy of torture, murder and molestation.

At the time, Solares was best known for his work in family entertainment, producing many well-received family comedies. As such, it's ironic that he would be the one to deliver such an unrelenting demented onslaught of hedonism.

The lovely, young Cecilia Pezet (known for her role in the family soap opera "Mundo de juguete") looks absolutely perfect in this film. Pezet's nubile figure and petite breasts are a refreshing sight in comparison to the silicone-bloated amazons often seen today.

The movie is nothing more than a rollercoaster ride ticking off a checklist of nunsploitation staples. There is very little story to it, which hurts the film, but the movie pulls no stops when it comes to the more exploitative aspects.

Let's run through that checklist:

Nudity: Plenty.

Strip tease: My personal favorite nunsploitation staple is the sexy strip tease, and Satánico Pandemonium has four -- count 'em -- four of them. Two are short, but the other two are fantastic as Cecelia Pezet strips off her nun garments one at a time to slowly reveal her pert breasts and her gorgeous body.

Lesbianism: Again, plenty. Sor Maria (Pezet) gets hit on by fellow nuns. At firsts, she resists, but later in the film, as she slips deeper into lust and hedonism, Sor Maria becomes the agressor, forcing herself on her sisters.

Self-flagellation: It's got it! Hey, they're all adults. There's no need to go running to Mother Superior with guilt-wracked confessions. These nuns know what to do when they've been bad! They whip themselves!

Murder: Murder a'plenty! There's nothing like knife-wielding, blood-soaked nuns!

The Inquisition: Who needs the Spanish Inquisition when Mexico has one of its own? A nunsploitation movie without the Inquisition is like a Batman movie without Robin. I mean, it's been done, but there's this nagging feeling that something's missing....

Gore & Torture: What's an Inquisition without torture? Breasts raked with pitchforks, molten lead poured down throats, and eyeballs plucked out rank among the brief scenes of torture in the film.

Satanico Pandemonium is a beautiful film and Mondo Macabro deserves credit for finding such a beautiful print of the film and restoring it to its full glory for DVD. Unfortunately, the movie lacks any kind of story and this leaves it directionless and unsatisfying in many ways.

As a kaleidoscope of murder, sex, torture and nudity, it tops the list, but as a movie overall, the lack of cohesion, direction and meaning keep it from winning any prizes...