We’ve come to love the horror genre in the 2000s due to James Wan and Leigh Whannell who put their heart and soul into their films. James Wan has grown as a director and a producer where some of his best work is in The Conjuring series. This latest movie, The Nun (2018), is another in the universe to add to your collection. And if you’re the type who dislikes demons dressed as nuns, then you may want to skip this one. But if you’re a fan of The Conjuring films, you should see this to get a complete story but beware — James Wan did not direct this and it shows. Let’s go!
The Conjuring Universe
The Conjuring is one of the few movies in history which can give me goosebumps as an adult. That’s the equivalent of someone jumping in a scare from a startling scene so take it as a compliment Wan! The lighting, timing, silence, blurred out backgrounds, and patience used in that film as well as The Conjuring 2 stood out. I’ll even go to the pacing and lighting of Annabelle (John R. Leonetti) matched those films. Annabelle 2 changed it a bit but still had a great result.
The Nun was different. Directed by Corin Hardy, the film paced differently, was pretty much dark the entire time, and settled for a couple of cheap scares but only hit the nail on the head once. You can tell because the audience all jumped at that scene yet I never received any goosebumps. But that shouldn’t deter anyone from seeing the film as it has plenty of creepy scenes and of the acting, anyone dressed in a nun’s habit did a great job – most notably, Taissa Farmiga (Sister Irene) of American Horror Story fame. Her eyes, innocent face, and reactions were on point as the star of the show, The Nun (Bonnie Aarons) creeped along the scene.
As far as the story goes, you wonder how The Nun winds up in The Conjuring 2. You’d have to wait until the end of the movie to see how that all is revealed. The beginning takes us to 1951 Romania at an Abby where two nuns enter into a door with a haunting on the other side knowing trouble is afoot. I always wanted to use “afoot” in a sentence. They don’t have the best luck as one is swept beyond the door and the demon is after the other. So, what do you do in that situation as a nun? You jump out of the window in the most glorious fashion.
How The Nun Begins
The story begins after a man named Frenchie (Jonas Bloquet) discovers the young nun’s body and decides to store her away. This death leads to our future nun, Sister Irene and Father Burke (Demián Bichir) are sent from the Vatican to investigate. They meet up with Frenchie and travel long and far to be shown the body. The story and weirdness starts there. And it takes a while for the jumps to occur but there are many ghosts and demons around them.
Due to a night of silence, the priest and young novitiate are placed in the Abby by other nuns. This is where things get weird and the demons haunt the halls putting the audience through some scares. I won’t go into details because the scares happen in different times and tell a story with each. But I can tell you the story is intricate and detailed but not as deep as it can go to connect the origin of The Nun. Demons exist and this one takes the form of nuns. That explanation is in the film but not how or why the demon came to be in the first place. I suppose that leads us to The Nun 2, huh?
We Recommend It On A Sunday Night
Either way, James Wan’s directing is missed in this and it’s a good enough horror film. I think the creepiness factor should’ve existed a bit more allowing the audience to fester in the anticipation a bit more. There are hero moments as with each film but this one feels differently. Continue seeing the film and stay to the end for the explanation as to why the demon shows up in The Conjuring 2. But even that felt rushed as opposed to the surprise ending Annabelle: Creation had that connected it to Annabelle. Let us know what you thought. Were you scared? Did you find something missing?
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