This movie grabbed my attention for one reason: the image used to support the movie on Prime aka a demonic nun in all white, headpiece included with neon green eyes that are glowing, visible blue veins and the mouth is also glowing. Since I’m a visual person, that drew my attention.
Okay, so what is this movie?
This movie is called The Convent and it’s from 2000. Let’s recall movies from that decade: Scary Movie, Shriek if you Know, Ginger Snaps, American Psycho, Hollow Man, The Cell, and Final Destination, just to name a few. So this is when we’re getting an interesting mix of horror movies that are getting to be unique, parody, risk taking, horror.
The Convent was fun. It was cheesy at times, the dialogue was a bit corny, rough or a bit outdated. I actually liked 3 characters, all of which were female characters and everyone else, meh. Adrienne Barbeau is fun to watch on screen, nice to see her as a badass. The other two characters Clorissa (Joanna Canton) and Mo (Meaghn Perry) were the ones you’d also watch as well. The other characters were quite vapid and not much of a character development that you’d root for them
It gives off a mixture of Night of the Demons, a little Evil Dead, okay basically a lot of it reminds me of Night of the Demons but what sets this movie apart is the visual imagery. I really liked the look of the demons, it’s not typical. Normally, we see more of a realistic mixture of real and fantasy, warm colors, flesh tones but this movie? Nah. From the jump, we get so many colors. The glowing eyes, the glowing mouth and teeth, the very pale skin and blue veins And the kicker, they don’t bleed “blood” red, it’s various bright colors like pink or orange. The way the demons moved together was almost zombie like but there’s that “fast paced” camera work effect that can make you a bit dizzy** on them and for them only.
The kills are entertaining, some of the humor is funny, some aren’t. The lighting is pretty cool, lots of green lighting. The gore factor is present, the ending is a bit predictable but it also doesn’t make a whole lot of sense either?
The Convent is directed by Mike Mendez and stars Joanna Canton, Meaghn Perry, Adrienne Barbeau, Liam Kyle Sullivan, Coolio (yes, Coolio), Bill Moseley and Kelly Mantle of future RuPaul’s Drag Race fame.
I give The Convent 3 out of 5 stars. Just camp. Pure camp.
**HUGE WARNING: If you have EPILEPSY, do not watch this film.
Shots of Horror 