The Nun: Movie Review

Sequels and prequels have a tendency to disappoint, even more so in the case of horror movies. Yet, this particular movie had the burden of some high expectations given how impressive the previous instalments had been - The Nun.


'The Nun' is the prequel to the highly acclaimed horror movie series called 'The Conjuring'. The first Conjuring movie was definitely a surprise in how it deployed the element of jump scares and is definitely on my list of top scary films, but the second one left me wanting for a deeper storyline. A demon called Valak is the source of all misery in these films and appears in the form of a nun with yellow eyes and terrifying features. This prequel dives into the story of the demon and its history in the 'Conjuring' series.

We follow the journey of a priest and a nun-to-be around the events dated to have taken place in 1952 in post-war Romanian backwoods. That sets it up nicely for a gothic feel with a massive Christian abbey that is in half-ruins thanks to the air strikes during the war. The story begins with a nun taking her own life, a big sin in the Christian faith, and Father Burke (Demian Bichir) is sent by the Vatican to investigate. He is also assigned a nun-in-training, Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) but is not given a clear explanation as to why she would be specifically handy in the circumstance.

The two make their way to Romania and find the man who had discovered the body of the nun, a character mainly referred to as Frenchie (Jonas Bloquet), for being French-Canadian. He was a soldier in the war and has since turned to farming and helping out the Romanian village near the abbey. He is the third man in this straight-forward horror script and plays a pivotal role in the 'Conjuring' series.

I chose to watch 'The Nun' in IMAX to get the best sounds for all the horror movie jump scares and I'd say it was almost worth the weekend ticket rates. While the build-up to most spooky moments was fairly obvious, some were truly unexpected and did offer a good yelp of fear. The scenes are fast paced and the graphic details add to the storytelling as our characters battle with the various challenges and battles that the evil nun puts them through.

While I did have my eyes covered for the gorey scares and extreme close-ups of the horrifying nun (played by Bonnie Aarons), the plot itself did not give me the chills and there were times when the stupidity of the characters was almost comical.

Director Corin Hardy teams up with the writer of  'The Conjuring' universe James Wan for this action-packed horror movie and delivers on the entertainment aspect for 'The Nun'. Wan has a wide range of movies to his credit as a writer and or producer, but he clearly has a knack for the horror genre and he also started the 'Annabelle' series of horror films that also exist in the same 'Conjuring' universe timeline. He is also the producer for the 'Insidious' horrow story series and the 'Saw' movie series. This guy is basically credited with the 'best' of the modern-day horror-movie multiverse. But he does seem to falter when it comes to sequels to some of his own fantastically good films.

Did it live up to the hype? Not in my books. But it is still a decent scary movie to offer some jumps but does not send a cold shiver down your spine like the first instalment of 'The Conjuring' series or the fantastically petrifying 'A Quiet Place'. I'd rate 'The Nun' 7 out of 10 relics.

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