By basing the film on a rather strong story, D'Amato loses a bit of the eroticism since he no longer has the freedom he had in filming Images in a Convent (by far the superior film in terms of pure eroticism).

D'Amato can be forgiven for taking liberties with the story. He is, after all, the king of sleaze and anyone who has seen his films should know what to expect -- a wall-to-wall skin fest. In addition, it's difficult to take Denis Diderot's story all that seriously since it was, after all, a joke.

During the French Revolution, Diderot and his friend Friedrich Grimm conspired together to try to lure their friend, the Marquis de Croismare, back to Paris. They concocted a tale of a woman who had been forced into an abusive convent, but somehow managed to escape. They sent the Marquis a series of fake letters supposedly from the former nun, "Suzanne Simonin" asking him for his help.

The letters were later compiled into a book, La Religieuse and published with little notice in 1796.

For a more faithful and more serious screen adaptation, see Jacques Rivette 1966 film La Religieuse. D'Amato's Convent of Sinners is really just an excuse to show some skin... not that we object!

The movie starts with its first deviation from the book in depicting the young Suzanne Simonin (Eva Grimaldi) being raped by her stepfather. Having lost her virginity in such a scandalous way, Suzanne is sent to the convent against her will. (In the book, her parents were too poor afford a dowry to marry her off.)

The whole premise of the book is that Suzanne is not a bad person. She's not even a bad Christian. She simply doesn't want to be a nun, yet she suffers unjustly for it. D'Amato seems to get this part right through the voice of Grimaldi's character, but there is so much skin shown in between the drama, again it's hard to take her seriously.

Once at the convent, Suzanne is the subject of the lustful desires of her fellow nuns, most notably the Mother Superior who immediately falls in lust with her. As a result, Suzanne earns the jealously of Sister Teresa, the Mother Superior's lover and next in line to succeed her.

When the Mother Superior catches two nuns fondling the convent's mute handyman, she lines them up for a good topless whipping! Their pert breasts sway back and forth into the lens of an eagerly awaiting camera. It's the first of many flagellation scenes in this movie.

D'Amato quickly loses track of the story in order to treat us to some purely gratuitous nun nudity. For example, every single scene with Sister Agatha has absolutely nothing to do with the plot, but everything to do with the film.

She is first seen oggling the muscular mute handyman who delivers buckets of water for her laundry. He pours bucketsful of hot water between his legs into Sister Agatha's tub in a not-so-subtle metaphor for the torrent that's waiting for her between his legs.

Later, Sister Agatha hallucinates (for absolutely no reason at all) and sees a statue of what looks like the bishop (or perhaps the convent's patron saint?) come to life. She fondles him and masturbates over his stiff body. Realizing her error, she returns to strip down and whip herself. If you're counting, this is whipping scene number two.

Finally, Sister Agatha has her way and visits the handyman for a silent romp over the dinner table.

As you can see, her role is completely gratuitous, but then again, that's what we like about Joe D'Amato.

As Sister Teresa grows more bold, Suzanne's life gets tougher. A group of nuns loyal to Sister Teresa treat Suzanne to a crotch whipping -- something I've never seen in any exploitation film ever.

Wrought with guilt over Suzanne's plight, the Mother Superior knows what she must do. Can you guess? She strips down and whips herself! Yes, it's the fourth whipping scene in the movie. Although it's the shortest, it's my personal favorite. As far as older women go, Karin Well is one sexy actor. Seeing her topless in this film is just magnificent.

When the Mother Superior falls ill, Sister Teresa is in charge and she calls in the Holy Inquisition to make the nunsploitation checklist complete! The Inquisitor, convinced Suzanne is possessed, attempts to expunge the demon insider her by giving her a Holy Water enema! Again, something I've never seen before in nunsploitation, or any film for that matter!

If you're looking for a movie that has something to do with Denis Diderot's novel, you're in the wrong place. This movie is pure exploitation with wall to wall nudity, four whipping scenes, topless nuns, lesbianism in the convent, and -- who could forget? -- a Holy Water enema. I'm pretty sure that wasn't in the book.

Joe D'Amato delivers what he's known for -- pure eroticism. He makes good use of the sexiest European actors he can find and doesn't waste anytime getting them out of their habits! Convent of Sinners delivers!