Film Review: The Nun

I really like what they’ve done with the Conjuring series. While the first Annabelle remains their sole bad entry, they have been a fairly consistent series creating well crafted horror films that, despite unabashedly mainstream sensibilities, are afforded a level of high production values, and seasoned actors that most horror films simply don’t have the budget for. The two Conjuring films are legit classics, and Annabelle: Creation is a spectacular spook house picture. It’s funny yet weirdly appropriate that this franchise managed to build a whole universe, even if any semblance of rules are not well defined. After all, the Warrens have a literal closet full of spin-offs ready to go, and here, we get a look at an early story about the Nun that freaked us all out in The Conjuring 2.

The Nun takes place in the year 1952, and it involves a jaded priest, Father Burke (Demián Bichir) and the young novitiate, Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga), are sent by the Church to investigate the supposed suicide of a nun at a monastery in Romania. Once they are led there by a local nicknamed Frenchie (Jonas Bloquet), things soon take a strange turn, and it revolves around the presence of a sinister Nun (Bonnie Aarons).

That’s really all there is to it. It’s a very straightforward, just-over-90-minute riff on haunted house and possession tropes that we’ve come to expect from this series. But as with other entries, the film elevates the simplicity through craft and commitment. The film is written by Gary Dauberman, who wrote the Annabelle movies, as well as the It films, and he isn’t particularly stretching himself here, but he does provide director, Corin Hardy, the perfect template to apply his flair. This is Hardy’s second film, after making his 2015 debut, The Hallow (which is really good, by the way, I believe it’s still available on Netflix, give it a look), and he shows that he is no one hit wonder here. He knows how to milk a location for everything it’s worth, and he has a more than solid grasp at building dread and tension in between moments of character building.

While the skeleton of the film is more of the same, it’s impulses are far more weirder, fantastical, and honestly, quite a bit sillier than all the previous Conjuring films. While it may sound like a turn off, and it undoubtedly will be for some, I think those aspects worked to the film’s advantage. The biggest reference point to the film’s aesthetic and tone is that of Hammer, especially something like To The Devil A Daughter or their Dracula films. It’s super atmospheric, with fog flowing all around the vast abbey, which is already surrounded by crosses. Jump scares are kept at a surprising minimum, compared to previous films at least, instead allowing the audience to soak in the moody production design and oppressive Catholic imagery, which – as a non-Christian, has always registered as creepy thanks to pop culture. I was also surprised how restraint the film was in its use of the Nun, or Valak, I guess. The demon appears very sparingly, and it’s most effective that way.

It also helps that the performances are strong, and you wouldn’t expect anything less. Taissa Farmiga carries herself well, almost eerily replicating her older sister, Vera’s ability to sell the occasionally clunky mythological exposition dumps with total sincerity. And Demián Bichir has always been a strong performer, and he gives the kind of authoritative presence that would have totally been played by Peter Cushing had this been an actual Hammer film. They’re both compelling actors, and they easily add some genuine emotional resonance to what are honestly thin characters on paper.

So, yeah, while I did enjoy this quite a bit. It’s far from great. The film begins setting up various details that seem important but don’t add anything that significant, making the plotting feel a bit cluttered, which is thankfully streamlined in the climax when it becomes a simple McGuffin hunt that ties everything together. Like the previous films, the movie has a tendency to not properly set up what the demon can and cannot do, so certain moments can come off as contrived or convenient. The character arcs aren’t properly defined or dramatized particularly well. These wouldn’t be that big a deal, but given the film isn’t aiming for any grand statement or idea (like another nun related horror movie you should absolutely watch called The Devil’s Doorway) from what I can tell, it makes the lack of tightness in the script that much more apparent, giving a more disposable quality to the whole thing.

The Nun was obviously never going to be as good as either Conjuring films, but it does land in a sweet spot between the two Annabelle films. It’s not a great film, but I had a blast with it. It’s very fun and engaging, and it really comes to life when it taps into that bonkers b-horror movie energy. While the plotting and characters wear out a bit thin as it goes along, it’s precisely why you get someone like Corin Hardy to direct, it’s why you get folks like Farmiga and Bichir to act in it, it’s why you get so many talented people who can take something simple and somewhat banal, and turn it into a very well made and atmospheric horror romp that doesn’t overstay its welcome, and still manage to be several levels above most studio horror fare.