A priest with a haunted past and a novice on the threshold of her final vows are sent by the Vatican to investigate the death of a young nun in Romania and confront a malevolent force in the form a demonic nun.
Director: Corin Hardy
Starring: Demian Bichir, Taissa Farmiga, Jonas Bloquet
R for terror, violence, and disturbing/bloody images
It’s been interesting to see studios and producers react to the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ever since Iron Man hit theaters in 2008, many studios seemed destined to at least attempt to go in the direction of a shared filmic universe. It didn’t take long for DC Comics to offer up their own version of Marvel’s idea, launching an identical concept with Man of Steel in 2013. Even Universal Studios jumped on the bandwagon and attempted to showcase what they called the “Dark Universe,” beginning with 2014’s Dracula Untold and progressing slowly but surely with 2017’s The Mummy. One could also argue that the “Wizarding World” featuring Harry Potter characters, or even the recent line of Star Wars spinoff films, are additional attempts at competing with the superhero behemoth. Following the critical and commercial success of 2013’s The Conjuring, a new project was envisioned. The Conjuring Universe, as it’s called, is largely a collection of standalone films that all tie back to the aforementioned 2013 release and its 2016 sequel, The Conjuring 2. Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation, and now, The Nun, make up the rest of the universe’s titles, with more on the way. Unlike the hit-or-miss successes of these so-called universes, there hasn’t been a single film from the Marvel Cinematic Universe to receive a negative critical reception. But, as studios scramble to get in the game, misfires happen on a consistent basis. The DC Extended Universe is a fine example, as every single one of its titles, with the exception of Wonder Woman, has received a mixed-to-negative reaction. This is also the case for Annabelle in the Conjuring Universe, and, unfortunately The Nun. But this particular film is different. This isn’t just a misfire. This isn’t shooting the gun in the wrong direction. This isn’t even forgetting to load the gun. The Nun is forgetting to bring a gun to fire in the first place. In other words, it isn’t a horrible film, but it wholly lacks what’s necessary in order for it to not just be effective, but to work at all.
One of the most frustrating horror films in recent memory, The Nun spends the entire first half of its runtime solely on exposition, then never really moves on. Instead, it lingers like its titular villainess does in dark halls and doorways, spying on the film’s protagonists before a predictable jump scare fails or mildly succeeds. The Nun attempts to create a creepy atmosphere, but in doing so, hardly focuses on the story at all. In fact, it’s rather shocking just how poorly the plot unfolds. The tamest of stock characters stumble their way through the film, and we’re merely along for the largely uneventful ride. This is quite evident within the first few minutes of the film. The dialogue is weak and the characters who deliver it uninteresting. One of the characters exists solely for the sake of being an unnecessary love interest and to provide comic relief, but the true relief comes when he stops talking. The titular nun even has dialogue, but it sounds like something a child would say while pretending to be “the bad guy” in a make-believe situation on a playground.
The Nun never really knows what it wants to be. At times, it attempts Fight Club-esque psychodrama, but then turns around and wants to be Don’t Look Now. One minute it’s trying to frighten, the next deliberately confuse, leading up to an underwhelming jump scare originating from a loud noise. Even the jump scares make little sense. Hallucinations of human figures turn their necks towards observing characters, resulting in a very loud cracking noise that calls into question just how incompetent the creators of the film are in presenting a sensical thrill. The jump scares also fail, for whatever reason, to motivate the characters in the film. For instance, if something traumatic happens to one of the film’s protagonists in one scene, a very similar situation will begin to emerge in a later scene, one obviously leading up to a jump scare, but that character will act as if they have no reason to be afraid and will blindly investigate a bump in the night with sheepish facial expressions. In fact, roughly 75 percent of The Nun is nothing more than the film’s characters investigating the origin of a sound at a snail’s pace. In one instance, a character spends close to a minute taking four of five steps as the ominous nun stands in a doorway, as she always seems to do. When the nun does interact with a character, it’s usually in the form of a hallucination or hooded figure that, unintentionally, never really feels all that frightening. The Nun does, however, have several moments of redemption. The performances are relatively decent, given what the actors have to work with. Demian Bichir, who plays the lead role in the film, does a decent job though his character never reaches the emotional depths needed to showcase his acting abilities. The same goes for Taissa Farmiga and Jonas Bloquet; both are probably fine actors, but in The Nun, it’s hard to tell exactly what they are capable of given the material at hand. There is some imagery throughout the film that is very effective, but these moments come few and far between. When they do occur, however, you’ll be pleasantly – or, unpleasantly, depending on your tolerance – surprised.
The Nun is a missed opportunity. It isn’t the worst film of the year, but it’s certainly one of the most irritating and sluggish. Director Corin Hardy and writer Gary Dauberman never really give us a reason to invest in the characters, and the atmospherics do more harm than good since the attention is largely placed on creepiness over everything else. This also doesn’t help given the abundance of exposition The Nun offers up. The ending is silly, and the screenplay is horrid. One can only imagine just how laughable some of the scenes must have read on paper. As with most bad horror films, there is at least one great moment of unintentional humor. The Nun is no stranger to this. There is one scene in particular, in which the nun and one of the protagonists struggle in a pool of water, that should be forever cemented in your mind once you experience it. The musical score also stands out and is, quite frankly, one of the strongest soundtracks to a horror film to be released in the past few years. It’s a shame that it didn’t have a much better film to play alongside of.