Terror  | 1978 | Italy | Franco Prosperi

While the more well-known title of Last House on the Beach may seem derivative, this Italian rape-and-revenge shocker is actually fairly worthy of its own praise for its taut acting and reprehensible antagonists. After a bank heist, three criminals evade the authorities by invading a beachside property occupied by Sister Cristina and her student charges whilst they rehearse a Shakespeare play. Instantly, the thugs begin to torment the women in the most grotesque fashion with gratuitous degradation, sodomy, rape and sexual assault. With Sister Cristina struggling to justify any sort of response due to her faith, her eventual line in the sand is crossed when the thieves escalate to murder. Thoroughly callous and nasty, the film also had the misfortune to share a title with Norman J. Warren’s Section 3 film, leading to the film being snatched by overzealous officers.