The Nun (2018) Dir: Corin Hardy
- Ridley Coote
- 16 hours ago
- 2 min read
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When I worked my way through the four 'Conjuring' films, it reminded that I had completely forgotten how many other films are in that universe. Not only are there three 'Annabelle' films, but there are also two of these 'Nun' films, all in the same cinematic universe as 'The Conjuring'. This spin-off was directed by Corin Hardy, and looked to explore part of the story behind one of the more memorable spirits in the main franchise.
I have never found myself particularly blown away by these supernatural horror films, but this one seemed to fall short of even the fairly unexceptional bar set by the other films in the 'Conjuring' universe. In fairness, there was one very good shot towards the start of the film, as well as one near the end that I liked, but I really feel like these films have always been screaming out for some good cinematography. On a minor, more positive, visual note, I thought the costume design and makeup for 'The Nun' herself, played by Bonnie Aarons, looked really creepy.
What really irked me about this film was its absolutely nonsensical story, which lacked any suspense or effort. The film just lugged lazy jumpscare after lazy jumpscare at the audience, as if that counted as effective horror - it doesn't. All it did was make the film feel extremely repetitive, as well as poorly written. I do think religious horror always runs the risk if seeming to be either preachy or silly, but this one really didn't help itself with some of its dialogue, at times.
Taissa Farmiga does not have the screen presence of her vastly more experienced and acclaimed mother, but this was not actually a bad performance from her. This film had many, many, issues, but she was not one of them, at least as far as I was concerned. Demián Bichir was much less impressive, in my opinion. He showed some promise initially, but ended up feeling like a very boring protagonist who I really did not care about at all. The same can be said of Jonas Bloquet, who I liked even less. For some reason, he was written to be the typical rebellious anti-hero type, which didn't work from an acting point of view or a writing one.
Overall, this was a really poor supernatural horror film, which felt like it purely existed to make money off of the popularity and success of its wider universe, rather than because of any desire to tell a legitimately important or compelling story. Not every film has to be great - the main 'Conjuring' films aren't - but I do want to feel like those who made it cared about it, and I didn't feel like the writers cared enough about this one. It felt so throw-away, as it pertained to its characters and story. I actually would class it as a bit of a missed opportunity, considering how creepy its titular antagonist is.
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