The Nun *** (2018, Demián Bichir, Taissa Farmiga, Jonas Bloquet) – Movie Review

Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy night in the convent with that pesky Nun, in this spin off from the Conjuring universe.

Corin Hardy ‘s The Nun (2018) is a silly but slick and satisfying horror movie, the next installment of James Wan’s blockbusting ‘Conjuring Universe’ franchise, made for New Line/ Warner Bros. It tells the story of the demonic figure that menaced Ed and Lorraine Warren in The Conjuring 2.

Demián Bichir plays Father Burke, a priest with a haunted past, by the Vatican to find novice nun Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) to help him to investigate the death of a young nun in Romania, who was found hanged outside a convent/ abbey by Frenchie (Jonas Bloquet), aka the French Canadian Marcel.

The trio arrive at the huge eerie place, and are sort of welcomed in, the way Dracula welcomes visitors at his castle, and spend a busy, bumpy night trying to confront a malevolent force in the form of a demonic nun that has come up through a portal from hell, reactivated by aerial bombing in the Second World War. I told you it is silly.

It helps that there are three really decent actors in the main roles, though the Mexican and the Belgian Bloquet are hard to understand from time to time, but that may well be an asset, as this kind of dialogue is best mumbled, and the director can get on with the task in hand, delivering an intense, relentless series of scares and shocks, which he really does remarkably well.

James Wan and Gary Dauberman provide the story, and Gary Dauberman the screenplay. If not exactly inspired, the story and screenplay, supposedly based on a true story from 1952, are certainly at least serviceable.

Director of photography Maxime Alexandre makes it look tasty, with the help of Jennifer Spence’s production design, and Abel Korzeniowski’s music score is corny but effective. It has a good, old-fashioned traditional horror movie look, which works to its advantage. There is CGI of course, but the film isn’t drowned in it. It doesn’t cry ‘fake’.

James Wan produces with Peter Safran.

It is Hardy’s second feature film after he wrote and directed his debut feature The Hallow in 2015. That was promising but The Nun is a bit more accomplished.

Taissa Farmiga is the younger sister of Academy Award nominee Vera Farmiga. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga appear very briefly in their roles as Ed and Lorraine Warren from The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Movie Review

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com

Frenchie (Jonas Bloquet), aka the French Canadian Marcel.