The Nun Review – Spoiler Free
The Nun is a horror film which comes directed by Corin Hardy who some may know as the director of The Hallow (2015). The film stars Demián Bichir, Taissa Farmiga, Jonas Bloquet and Bonnie Aarons. The Nun is a horror film which is set in the same universe as The Conjuring and Annabelle, but focuses on a completely new scary character known as ‘The Nun’.
Before going in to see The Nun, I was actually quite excited about it. I have enjoyed all of the recent film entries from The Conjuring universe and have been a fan of the recent Annabelle films. Basically I love them all and I want more of them. The Nun was a character that had been teased a little in previous films and now has her own standalone film. Before going in to see it I felt I was in for something really scary. Maybe even on the level or more than what we had with the original Conjuring.
But as the film ran by and I sat there to the end of it. I realised that what we have with The Nun, while it has scary moments for sure, it does fall short on the scares and it’s actually not scarier than Annabelle 2. Strangely enough it offsets this lack of scares in two ways, first of all there’s quite a few comedic moments scattered throughout which actually are kind of funny and lighten up the whole experience. Secondly, The Nun does have a better story than the previous films in the Conjuring universe and spends a lot of time developing the sister Irene character. In some ways as well, The Nun spends the most time compared to other films in the franchise before it building up a considerable amount of lore for how the universe works and how the evils within it came about. In many ways these extra factors do help to make The Nun a worthwhile entertainment experience at the cinema this weekend.
The actors all do their best. I really enjoyed the performance from Taissa Farmiga who is actually Vera Farmiga’s sister in real life and is 21 years younger. It’s an interesting piece of trivia to know that Taissa’s sister Vera starred in the first Conjuring film which was the beginning of the entire franchise. Taissa did well in all of her scenes and had a few terrifying moments. Taissa played a nun herself called Sister Irene who was sent to investigate what was going on where the bad Nun was hanging out. I also enjoyed the performance from Damian Bichir who played Father Burke, who was also sent to investigate what the bad Nun was doing. The two acted well and I enjoyed watching them investigate where the bad Nun was. The best scene for them was a rather enjoyable scene early on in the film where Father Burke accidentally fell into an empty grave, got buried alive and Sister Irene had to come dig him up. It was rather good to be honest!
It’s hard to write about much more of the film without going into spoiler territory. While I didn’t feel the film delivered what I was looking for with the scares I wanted to have or feel. I do feel it did deliver on the side of things being spooky. There’s a slight difference between things being spooky and scary in film and there was definitely a lot of spooky stuff in there. The special effects are very well done though and the Nun is particularly scary looking. You wouldn’t want to see her in person at all. The smoke/fog effects and the setting inside an almost castle like Nunnery added to the spooky feeling.
Overall, while I do whinge about the film not being as scary as I was hoping and don’t feel it was more scary than Annabelle 2. It does have a lot of spooky moments and I appreciated the amount of work put into furthering the lore for the franchises universe. I also liked that there was some time put into developing the Sister Irene character. Both Taissa Farmiga and Damian Bichir stood out as the best actors in the film and the two had their fair share of good moments throughout. You can definitely go and see this film at the cinema this weekend and if you’re looking for a horror film experience it’s one of the few movies out right now that can provide that. But it just so happens that other films in the franchise before it either are much more scary (The Conjuring) or have a more iconic character (Annabelle), whereas The Nun herself has her moments, she somehow isn’t as scary as a doll. I enjoyed the film overall and left happy with it on the night, but as films go this weekend, there might be stronger options. Lean towards seeing it though if you’re a fan of the Conjuring universe as the story and the setting are the highlights of The Nun experience. But just don’t place your expectations for The Nun too high.
