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Overall Rating : 7/10
Directed By : Ivan Zuccon
Tiffany Shepis (The Hazing)
Allan McKenna
Michael Segal
Alessandra Guerzoni
Supplied By : Director Ivan Zuccon
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : May. 3, 2007
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| PLOT NyMpha is the story of Sarah, a young English girl, who goes to Italy to take vows needed to become a cloister nun of the "New Order" Convent. The rules of the convent are very strict, so strict that they are often considered a form of torture. Sarah's path is divided into four steps, "hear" the Lord, "see" the Lord, "touch" the Lord and "talk" with the Lord… Each step will be painful for both Sarah's physical and mental self. Moreover, during Sarah's journey, she often has visions of the Convents past, visions that it was the house of a young girl named Ninfa... Ninfa's life was ruined by the religious fanaticism of her violent grandfather Geremia, who believes that he can talk directly with God. In reality, he is utterly mad, and this madness seems to be present today (within the walls of the convent) where young Sarah lives… |
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| THE REVIEW In young Italian filmmaker Ivan Zuccon's latest film, NYMPHA we follow a young girl named Sarah as she travels to Italy. Sarah, in hopes to cleanse away her sins has been suggested to travel to Italy by her church in order to participate in the steps requires to become a nun in a private convent known as "The New Order". But what Sarah is unaware of is that the convent runs under some rather unorthodox practices, and getting into this group is far more difficult than she ever imagined. The Mother Superior of the group informs Sarah that she will have to participate in a series of steps, which include; "hearing the lord", "seeing the lord", "touching the lord", and lastly, "speak with the lord". The steps are torturous and grueling and in the midst of them Sarah begins to regret her decision to join. It is then she begins to have visions of a young girl named Ninfa, whom Sarah, would see Ninfa's life replayed in her mind from birth, on to adulthood as she grew up in the same building which now houses the convent. Ninfa had a terrible childhood, growing up with her Grandfather Geremia. Geremia was a stern and grump old man whom seemed to have an obsession with God, so intense he claimed to even speak to God. Soon we know that this obsession with being holy is nothing more than a translation of Geremia's psychological madness. The main focus of these visions is a locked room, a room in which Geremia has always told Ninfa the room housed her "father" the lord, but in reality, it is where Geremia commits his sins. Within the visions, Long after the old man's self-inflicted death, his evil still seems to lurk within the walls of the convent - and as Sarah approaches her final step, "speaking with the lord, she will find herself in the room in which she saw in the visions. In the room, would she find an unseen evil, or a greater power. Before seeing NYMPHA, I had in fact heard of Director Ivan Zuccon and and some of his previous films like THE SHUNNED HOUSE, but I had never had the pleasure of seeing them. I was very honored to see this film, as it introduced me to the type of filmmaker Ivan Zuccon is, a visionary. I will be honest and admit that I have not seen as much of Italian Horror as I should have seen, but one filmmaker I do happen to follow is the great Dario Argento. And in watching NYMPHA, I was quickly drawn to it from that same eerie feeling I am used to when watching Argento. Each scene is dim and darkly lit with natural light often being the only light source, the shadows gracing the worn walls of the convent were creepy - definitely the ideal stage for the painfuly realistic torture scenes presented in NYMPHA. The story is simple when it comes to plot, but complex in how it's delivered to the on-looking audience, sure it's slow in pace, but the story is what keeps it interesting, as there's no letting up in the plot, you will keep watching just to see how the film will end. Before knowing anything about this film, my main draw was to see my pal Tiffany Shepis in the starring role. If you knew Tiff on any type of personal level you'd know that Tiffany as a nun would be a long shot, I mean that in a respectable way - she's just too cool for that. But just as many have said already, no matter how new or different the role may be, Tiffany is much more than a "Scream Queen", she is a very versatile actress that can play just about anything. This may have been different than anything she has ever done, but as a fan of all of her work, this might just be one of my favorite roles, it was something that we had never seen her portray, but there still was the same screen presence that Shepis fans appreciate! I've always thought that the most creative people, are the people that can bring their ideas to life no matter what the medium may be - and Zuccon has done just that with NYMPHA. Low on budget, but high on creativity, vision and performance by the cast. It may not have the money that some films may have but it makes up for it in practical set-up, such as lighting, slick shooting and creative angles to create a really creepy and sometimes, even disturbing film! |
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| GORE
METER 4.5/10 Many instances of gore including bleeding ears, eyes being burned by acid, a severed tongue and more - the special effects are really well executed. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 5/10 The score is actually stock music, but I have to admit, the tune used for the opening sequence was quite fitting and perfect for it. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM I really enjoyed NYMPHA, my initial appeal to this film was to see Tiffany Shepis in a foreign film. But I got much more than that, not only are there great performances, but enough fright and suspence to keep you interested until the very end. I highly recommend this one, and hope it gets a wide distribution release soon! |
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