Movie Review – ‘The Nun’
Are you brave enough to see the movie that was too scary for YouTubers?
Set almost 20 years before the events of The Conjuring, The Nun takes place in a cloistered abbey in Romania. After a nun takes her own life at the abbey, Father Burke and Sister Irene are personally selected from the Vatican to investigate. Together, they uncover some unholy secrets, risking their lives and the fate of their own souls in the process. A malevolent force has taken over the abbey, and it appears in the form of a demonic nun.
Obviously, The Nun takes place within The Conjuring universe. Though this new movie reveals the origins of the demonic nun, we were first introduced to this malevolent being back in 2016’s The Conjuring 2. In an era where every major studio wants their own cinematic universe to compete with Marvel, why has Warner Bros. been so successful with this horror franchise? Though I’m sure a lot of it has to do with the craft, style, and structure, I believe the answer really boils down to the characters.
Most horror films feature disposable characters that are already dimwitted or unlikeable. When you look at characters in movies like Slender Man or Truth or Dare, you’ll notice those characters don’t really have any sense of purpose or growth; they merely exist so that spooky things can happen. But in The Conjuring, Ed and Lorraine Warren, along with the Perron family, feel like real people. The audience can easily connect with them, invest their story, and feel scared alongside them, because their characters feel fleshed out. The characters in The Nun aren’t so different.
Father Burke and Sister Irene are likeable people. They didn’t particularly feel as grounded or as realistic as the characters from the first Conjuring film, but they were engaging enough to carry this narrative. They’re both dealing with a haunted past, and seeing how they dealt with their trauma made it easier to invest in their story. They were just easy to like. So even if The Nun introduces a cartoonish character like Frenchie, I can forgive the film because his personality is so likeable.
To be fair, I enjoyed Jonas Bloquet’s portrayal of Frenchie. He was a smooth-talker with a noble heart – character traits that aren’t usually found in horror films. His presence made the movie quite fun. Demián Bichir also delivers a solid performance as Father Burke, but Taissa Farmiga is clearly the stand out here. Sister Irene is already an engaging character, but Farmiga’s portrayal of her is just so compelling. It was wise to give Farmiga the leading role, and I have no doubt she’ll get to lead more films after her awesome performance here. The Farmiga sisters are incredibly talented, and it’s cool to see that they both exist within the same franchise now. Though I will admit I’m surprised Warner Bros. didn’t wait to cast Taissa as a young Lorraine Warren; I’m sure that as this universe expands, we’ll start seeing familiar characters pop up again.
I think it would be interesting if we started seeing characters cross paths in this franchise – they do exist within the same world after all. The Nun shoehorns in footage from The Conjuring films to remind you of the bigger picture, but it’s so awkward and clunky. There has to be a more organic way to show that these film take place within one existing universe. Intersecting characters may be one way to do that.
Or maybe Warner Bros. can make a Conjuring cross over event. One where The Nun, Annabelle, and Bathsheba make a spooky team up. Okay, that’s a ridiculous idea, I know, but The Nun already feels like a pseudo-superhero film. It has a “supervillain” of sorts, a macguffin-driven finale, and is filled with cheesy one-liners. Warner Bros. is basically just doing the Marvel model in reverse. Instead of making origin stories that lead up to the main films, Warner Bros. is releasing the main films and creating origin stories out of them. Unfortunately for us, that just means we get a new monster, demon, or spirit shoehorned into every film we can get. It’s only a matter of time before we get a movie for Daniel or The Crooked Man.
Thankfully, Warner Bros. has already established a solid tone for this universe. A campy team up movie will likely (presumably) never happen. Director Corin Hardy does a fine job of keeping The Nun consistent with James Wan’s take on The Conjuring films – perhaps even to a fault. The Nun adheres to all of the tropes and clichés found within The Conjuring. It may have new imagery and a gothic setting to differentiate itself, but it doesn’t exactly offer anything new. So while it’s good to see that The Nun fits in well with it’s own franchise, it’s also a shame to know that the film is overall a bit same-y.
Hardy may adhere to Wan’s technical craft, but he can’t quite capture the same level of scariness. For all the hype surrounding the pulled YouTube ads, The Nun isn’t all that scary. The film has some memorable imagery, and a few interesting concepts, but nothing really frightening. Fortunately, the film is held up by the likable characters, competent filmmaking, and strong thematic elements. Warner Bros. could have easily just made a cool little horror film, but The Nun is a movie that also has something to say. The Nun is a movie about faith – which seems appropriate, given the subject matter – but it’s also movie about finding light through the darkness. That’s a message that can extend far beyond just one’s own religious beliefs, and it makes for quite an engaging story arc.
