History Film / SchoolOfTheHolyBeast

''School of the Holy Beast'' (originally titled, 聖獣学園 ''Seijū gakuen'') is a 1974 film made by Toei Company. It is a Nunsploitation film which is a subgenre of ExploitationFilm.

%%* CorruptChurch: Corrupt ''Abbey'', is more like it.

%%* HollywoodNuns: Even though it's Japanese.

* AssholeVictim: Nataly Green who starts the witch hunt [[spoiler: is later killed by being pushed out of a window by Maya]] and later near the end, [[spoiler: Father Kakinuma who after having sex with Maya (culminating his committing incest though unwittingly) gets stabbed by the Abbess with a crucifix to the back]].

* CorruptChurch: Corrupt ''Abbey'', is more like it.

* HollywoodNuns: Even though it's Japanese.

* StealthPun: After Maya allows her male friend [[spoiler: to rape the Abbess in her sleep and he comes]], he makes a sign of the cross and utters "Zah-men". The Cult Epics sub only wrote it as "Amen", but those who understood Japanese would most likely have seen what they did there.

* [[AmbiguouslyBrown Ambiguously White]]: The nun named Janet, as far as her features go.
** Subverted with Nataly Green. An implicitly French nun as seen from the montage that implied she gets off from an Air France airplane and her name (though she bears an English surname), but the actress that played her didn't look rather convincing. The actress that played Janet (who is even credited as UsefulNotes/MarieAntoinette) would've pulled it off better.

* DisproportionateRetribution: Which they try to justify it's for the sake of the Lord, though they're just plain medieval looking. The aforementioned scene which the nuns whip each other was their punishment for eating the food for the inventory. And if you're a nun and you get pregnant, you'll be strapped to a chair and be brutally beaten and tortured [[spoiler: to death, though that last part may just be an inadvertent case and only if she was too weak to survive. Maya's mother was subjected to this punishment but killed herself soon after then gave birth to Maya, while Hisako may have been left and simply died on her own]].

* NeverTrustATrailer: A clip from the witch hunt scene is used and we're given the image of a nun being forced to confess who was the man she was with and the following tortures she was given. Next, there's a scene with a nun grabbing a hatchet and hacking at something. Those who aren't familiar yet with how things go in this movie might've thought she was hacking the poor woman to pieces.

* PornStash: A nun is outed for stashing lewd pictures of men and women in sexual acts inside of her pocket bible. She hides her face in shame while the nun simply decides to confiscate them.
* TheSeventies

* ActionGirl: Maya Takigawa, even in her habit. Given that she practically ''swung'' from the bell's rope like Literature/{{Tarzan}} on a vine [[spoiler: to push her captor off the tower to the window, plummeting to her death]], it's solidified right there if not the past events.

** Subverted with Nataly Green. An implicitly French nun as seen from the montage that implied she gets off from an Air France airplane and her name (though she bears an English surname), but the actress that played her didn't look rather convincing. The actress that played Janet (who is even credited as MarieAntoinette) would've pulled it off better.

* HopeSpot: The candle left inside of the bell tower where she's also held captive is a stroke of luck in her part, though it's high up on a table. She opts to knock it down risking the candle's flame from going out as it hits the floor, rendering the effort futile. [[spoiler: Fortunately, that's not the case and the candle remained ablaze, allowing her to burn through the ropes as planned]].

'''''School of the Holy Beast''''' (originally titled, 聖獣学園 ''Seijū gakuen'') is a 1974 film made by Toei Company. It is a Nunsploitation film which is a subgenre of ExploitationFilm.

** The Abbess as well [[spoiler: who was the one that tortured Maya's mother (who was also a nun, she had hung herself and then gave birth to Maya)]] and gets HoistByHerOwnPetard. See DangerouslyGenreSavvy.

* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: Maya is not one to be underestimated and can detect a cliched murder attempt with a turn of her head. [[spoiler: Especially when the Abbess tries again to kill her by sending her plummeting to a pit of boiling water via trapdoor, she struggles with the Abbess and it's ''[[HoistByHerOwnPetard she]]'' who falls into the pit instead. [[NotQuiteDead She turns out fine in the end]] though horribly disfigured]].
** A better example. When tied to a church tower and sees a candle upon a drawer and plans to burn the rope off her wrists but not before surprising Nataly who was about to poison her which ensues the fight.

* GainaxEnding

* StealthPun: After Maya allows her male friend [[spoiler: to rape the Abbess in her sleep and he comes]], he makes a sign of the cross and utters "Zah-men". The Cult Epics sub only wrote it as "Amen", but those who understood Japanese would most likely have caught up with that.

* TheSeventies

* ActionGirl: Maya Takigawa, even in her habit. Given that she practically ''swung'' from the bell's rope [[spoiler: to push her captor off the tower to the window, plummeting to her death]], it's solidified right there if not the past events.

* BlackAndGrayMorality: Corrupt abbey full of sadistic nuns that encourage medieval tortures, and run by a lecherous priest that rapes one of the nuns vs. young woman who becomes a nun to find information about her mother and is not above stirring up trouble, blackmailing and spying.

* CorruptChurch: Corrupt Abbey, is more like it.

* IncestIsRelative: The priest sleeping with Maya [[spoiler: who by now, is aware of the knowledge that it is her father and intentionally doing it to make him feel guilty of incest. Among other sins anyway]].

* BlackAndGrayMorality: Corrupt abbey full of sadistic nuns that encourage medieval tortures, and run by a lecherous priest that had raped one of the nuns vs. young woman who becomes a nun to find information about her mother and is not above stirring up trouble, blackmailing and spying.

* ActionGirl: Maya Takigawa, even in her habit.

** A better example. When tied to a church tower and sees a candle upon a drawer, she about to poison her which ensues their fight.