The Possession of Nurse Sherri (1977)

Rating: C-

Dir: Al Adamson
Star: Jill Jacobson, Geoffrey Land, Marilyn Joi, Mary Kay Pass

Cult leader Reanhauer suffers a heart attack while attempting to resurrect a member of his flock, and is taken to hospital. He dies there, but his vengeful spirit enders the body of Sherri Martin (Jacobson), an attending nurse, and starts using her as a tool to extract vengeance on the staff he blames for the untimely demise. Sherri’s doctor boyfriend, Peter Desmond (Land), is understandably concerned by the fact that his girl is turning up smeared in blood and speaking with the voice of a middle-aged religious loony. No-one really believes him, but fortunately, a black gridiron star knows what’s up, courtesy of his grandmother.

So it’s up to two of Sherri’s nursemates (Joi and Pass) to track down Reanhauer’s resting place and burn the remains, to free Sherri from the curse. It’s kinda like an episode of Supernatural, without the… Well, without just about everything, probably. There are basically two different cuts available of this. The one seen here is the “horror cut”; the other version, known simply as Nurse Sherri, has considerably more nudity, but I’d be hard pushed to claim that would do much to rescue the film overall. Adamson lives up to his reputation as a purveyor of pedestrian schlock, though actually, this is still better than I expected, which was something along the lines of an Andy Milligan flick.

The performances was not as bad; it’s mostly the production values, which left a lot to be desired, such as the startlingly bad visual effects which accompany the actual possession, which looked more as if the print had been badly damaged in transit. The script also shows us far more of a lot of things than serves any actual purpose: for instance, the cult leader’s ambulance ride. There are some cool elements, such as the way it’s actually the black nurse who is easly the most proficient. However, even allowing for its age, the prognosis for this one is bleak, and your interest likely on life-support more often than not.