For one reason or another, horror in 2019 was the year of the nun. There were four films (that I saw) that featured nuns as the primary antagonist (to an extent). St Agatha (Darren Lynn Bousman’s best film to date), The Devil’s Doorway(decent found footage debut from Aislinn Clarke) and Heretiks (there was a reason why this was in production for years) were the three I saw at Frightfest and the fourth, and final nun film, was Corin Hardy’s The Nun which was the biggest horror film of the year (and the biggest disappointment).
Continuing on the mythos of the Conjuring Cinematic Universe (CCU), TheNun sets out to tell the backstory of the demon Valak who has been troubling the Warrens (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) for most of their professional lives. Set in 1950s, Father Burke (Demián Bichir) is sent to a creepy abbey in Romania where a nun has committed suicide. With novice nun Sister Irene (confusingly played by Taissa Farmiga) assisting with the investigation, the pair stumble upon something more deadly than they had anticipated.
The Nun was eagerly anticipated, and it was destined to be as big as ITwas the previous year, however the disappointingly poor quality of the film will hamper it from reaching the heights ITreached. Where the film fails is in how generic it is. The two Conjuring films that came before it were hardly beacons of originality, but they were brilliant made, had moments of inventiveness, were very creepy and had a highly appealing 1970s and 80s aesthetic that gave the movie genuine quality.
The problem with The Nun is that everything is so telegraphed, if Valek doesn’t appear where the movie suggests it would, it would appear in the next frame. It’s a little repetitive, but that’s not to say the movie isn’t without its moments. The abbey certainly makes for a foreboding and creepy location as its old, decrypted style gives the movie a gothic feel and film’s dark cinematography does its best to add to the foreboding mood created by the film’s eerie location.
The central performances from Bichir and Farmiga are good (though I’m still staggered by the curveball appointment of Farmiga) but they are given very little to work with. Sadly, despite eagerly anticipating it, I was left nun too pleased with this effort.
2.5/5.
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