The Nun – USA, 2018: updated with more clips and 17 reviews

‘Witness the darkest chapter in The Conjuring universe’

The Nun is a 2018 American supernatural horror feature film directed by Corin Hardy (The Hallow) from a screenplay by James Wan (The Conjuring; Saw) and Gary Dauberman (IT; Wolves at the Door; Swamp Monkey; et al). The movie stars Taissa Farmiga, Demian Bichir, Jonas Bloquet, Bonnie Aarons, Charlotte Hope and Ingrid Bisu.

When a young nun at a cloistered abbey in Romania takes her own life, a priest with a haunted past and a novitiate on the threshold of her final vows are sent by the Vatican to investigate. Together they uncover the order’s unholy secret.

Risking not only their lives but their faith and their very souls, they confront a malevolent force in the form of the same demonic nun that first terrorised audiences in The Conjuring 2, as the abbey becomes a horrific battleground between the living and the damned…

As with the Annabelle movies, The Nun is an offshoot from The Conjuring franchise as part of a new universe of supernatural-themed scare movies. It is rated ‘R’ by the MPAA for “terror, violence, and disturbing/bloody images. The reported budget was $22 million.

Reviews:

“The Nun enjoys a lively sound design, showing more skill with eerie noises than visual aggressiveness, finding crude CGI ruining the potential for gory encounters. The central appeal of Valak and her cold stare remains, but Hardy doesn’t do enough with the monster, while Dauberman’s writing gets bogged down in Christian mythology…” Brain Orndorf, Blu-ray.com

” …while it’s not a particularly scary film, it’s still a tense narrative that further binds James Wan’s cinematic universe together. Even better, Corin Hardy’s direction slickly presents it all with a confident flare of someone who truly loves horror films, and it shows in every frame.” Mike Reyes, CinemaBlend

“Even with a few stumbles and played-out tropes, The Nun provides audiences with another solid entry in a franchise that just will not quit […] Backed by outstanding performances, striking cinematography, and an interesting tie-in to the other films, there is plenty here for horror fans.” Katherine Szabo, Cryptic Rock

” …there’s a great setting and great performances, but there are a handful of scenes that really help this movie stand out for me, including a segment at a local graveyard that is one of the highlights of the film. It shows that the movie has enough tricks up its sleeve and doesn’t need to overuse Valak to make you uneasy, focusing more on character and the creep factor than on gore.” Jonathan James, Daily Dead

“Unlike the other movies in the franchise, it’s not portentous and obsessed with convincing the audience that the events we’re watching actually happened – The Nun is campily funny and it’s clearly meant to be. Fun one-liners and the frequent appearances of Valak at the end of various long corridors (definitely this demon’s MO) feel like cheeky winks and stop The Nun from feeling purely like a crass cash in.” Rose Fletcher, Den of Geek! UK

“It’s certainly not scary, and the family dynamic that made the characters in the earlier films somewhat empathetic is missing here. Burke and Irene are paper thin, Frenchie is on hand for some tonally jarring comic relief, and we see far too much of The Nun — early and often — to allow her to be a truly frightening presence.” Don Kaye, Den of Geek! USA

“The Nun is a good-looking film (barring the odd dodgy lighting effects) with some strong design elements including a graveyard full of the least-reassuring crucifixes we’ve ever seen. But you’ll wait in vain for Hardy to take advantage of all he’s got and deliver some genuine scares.” Hugh Armitage, Digital Spy

” …what’s missing (the scares, the character development, the engaging mythology) isn’t necessarily the stuff that costs money or demands a grand scope. If you have a scary movie that isn’t scary, without potent character development, an engaging story, much in the way of visual flourish and a bare minimum of wit, what exactly do you have? It turns out that you have The Nun.” Scott Mendelson, Forbes

” …in jettisoning the focus on family of the previous films, it gives us characters whose interactions with each other feel less than detailed, and who are more archetypal than real. But it’s good clean fun nevertheless, and the set pieces expertly supply the tension-and-release satisfactions of the genre.” Harry Windsor, The Hollywood Reporter

” …The Nun stumbles by not delivering any real terror or investment in its characters, instead resting on its strong visuals and atmosphere and, strangely, humor. Fans of The Conjuring franchise itching for more lore to pore over will get what they came for, but if you were hoping that this would be the scariest film in the franchise… keep praying.” Tom Jorgensen, IGN

” …once you strip away the boo moments, once you sort the living from the dead, the only ‘outside reality’ to which The Nunrefers is the (fraudulent) world of the Warrens, and the only place for which Vakal seems destined – perhaps after another sequel outing or several – is the Warrens’ room of curious cabinets where all these stories are ultimately contained. The Nun is effective as visceral, in-the-moment horror, but there is little of substance beneath the wimple.” Anton Bitel, Projected Figures

“Once everyone gets to the abbey, the film simply gives up the ghost and cynically indulges every horror trick in the book. Hands burst through doors and grab people; crosses magically turn upside down; nuns go flying or are set aflame […]. A little of this stuff goes a long way, and a lot of this stuff doesn’t go very long at all.” Bilge Ebiri, Rolling Stone

“Bookending its own story between flashes of The Conjuring 2and a scene from the original movie which ties a few things together might prove exciting as the series continues too, but despite those glimmers of promise, The Nun, which has proudly been calling itself ‘the darkest chapter’ in the series in the run-up to its release, winds up being the dullest instead.” Amy West, SciFiNow

“The Nun works neither as a stand alone horror film, nor as an extension of the Conjuring universe (such a weird thought). It’s a boring, uneventful, downright ludicrous attempt to capitalize on less than four minutes of screen time in an infinitely better film. It isn’t the first time a film attempting to capitalize on success will have failed, I guess I just expected better.” J Hurtado, Screen Anarchy

“In the absence of much plot or character complexity in the script […] Hardy revels in the opportunity to tell the story as a series of eerie set pieces. Until a computer-enhanced finale somewhat deflates things, he wrings chills from carefully crafted cinematography and production design, imaginative staging and creepy locations (some in Transylvania itself) that add to the authenticity.” Michael Gingold, Time Out New York

“Farmiga and Bichir are as reliable as ever in their whisper-slight roles, yet it’s the charming Paquet who threatens to run away with the film, tackling his character as a sort of hipster Bruce Campbell amidst all the straight-faced gloom-and-doom. Indeed, The Nun’s most interesting touches come when the film’s craftsmen try to bring some anachronistic life to the identikit Gothic environs…” Andrew Barker, Variety

“Scares are often on the generic side (pitch-black doorway, hand reaches out), and while some wild effects work enjoys the zanier side of Hell’s mouth opening up to spit venom across Earth’s surface, it’s missing the masterfully torturous tone that Wan’s universe otherwise aims for. Again, though, that’s not totally a bad thing!” Matt Donato, We Got This Covered

Cast and characters:

Taissa Farmiga as Sister Irene
Demián Bichir as Father Burke
Jonas Bloquet as Maurice “Frenchie” Theriault
Charlotte Hope as Sister Victoria
Ingrid Bisu as Sister Oana
Bonnie Aarons as Valak / The Nun
Jonny Coyne as Gregoro
Mark Steger as The Duke
Sandra Teles as Sister Ruth
Manuela Ciucur as Sister Christian
Ani Sava as Sister Jessica
Jared Morgan as Marquis
August Maturo as Daniel
Claudio Charles Schneider as Demon
Michael Smiley as Bishop Pasquale

Filming locations:

Principal photography for the film began on May 3, 2017 at Castel Film Studios in Bucharest, Romania. Scenes were filmed in the Palace of the Parliament building in June, for a fee of €5,000 per hour. Filming also took place at the Corvin Castle in Hunedoara and in Sighișoara, Transylvania. Production wrapped on June 23, 2017, after 38 days.

Production companies:

Atomic Monster/New Line Cinema/Safran Company

Running time:

96 minutes

More nasty nuns on HORRORPEDIA

Image credits: Warner Bros. Pictures

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