High hopes for the release of “The Nun” were left unsatisfied as the film failed to piece together a compelling story worthy of its predecessors in “The Conjuring” franchise.
Copyright-free photo by TheHillaryClark — Courtesy of Pixabay
A rendition of a nun’s silhouette in a church similar to the demonic nun in the haunted abbey in Romania where “The Nun” was set.
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Other actors in the film include Taissa Farmiga, who plays Sister Irene, who uses her “prophetic visions” to help kill the demon, and Demian Bichir as Father Burke, who is called upon by the Vatican to investigate the holiness of the abbey. Nonetheless, “The Nun” will piggyback on the success of the “Conjuring” movies and be a sought-out date night flick for a couple weeks, making it millions. As of Sept. 30, it has managed to rake in $109 million in the box office, but I predict as more people hear the reviews those numbers will quickly fall off.
As a prequel of the “Conjuring” movies, the film carries the reputation for success those horror films made, and the director had every ingredient to make it a hit.
Scary demonic nuns, an abandoned castle deep in the woods of Romania and religious lore to build on. The basis of any potential great horror flick, but instead they relied on predictable jump scares in a poorly pieced-together plot.
What every horror film fan wants is to be in the edgy soft spot of suspension, subtlety and confusion up until the terrifying third act that brings together the pieces they picked up along the way.
“The Nun” relies way too much on the latter of the three and lacks any sort of suspension or subtlety.
Within the first 5 or 10 minutes of the film’s opening the producers immediately show the demon killing one nun and forcing another to choose whether she wants to be possessed, allowing the demon to walk free, or hang herself. Nothing about the demon is left to the imagination.
The hanging sparks an investigation into the castle, which was assumed to be abandoned.
Throughout the film, the plot continues bringing up more and more information that seems unrelated to what is happening, as if the writers knew they needed more content so they managed to detail the plot with random pieces leading up to random jump scares to fill time.
By the time the final scenes come, I was invoked with more laughter than fear because there was nothing to be scared about, so instead I was left looking at the lackluster editing and special effects that accompanies most horror films.
As far as characters go, there were only three main protagonists, and easily the best performance was delivered by Belgian actor, Jonas Bloquet, who played a local field hand and delivery man, named Frenchie, from the remote village near the abandoned abbey.
Only thing is, Frenchie was barely in half the movie.
All three actors predominantly play roles in horror flicks and shows, such as “Alien: Covenant,” “Orphan,” “3 Days to Kill” and “American Horror Story.”
For what they were given to work with, all three actors did well in portraying their characters. Unfortunately, what they were given to work with just wasn’t enough.
Luckily, I managed to see the movie on a $5 Tuesday night special, and even now I’m sitting here questioning whether it was really worth it.
Alexa Tippett 
Jack Gienke 
Emma Tihen