The Nun — Blue Fairy Film Blog

Honestly, I’m a ride or die Conjuring fan, and even with this underwhelming new addition to the films’ canon, I will continue to pay good money to watch these films. Annabelle 27:Barely a Movie at this Point? You better bet that I’m going to be middle aisle, ready to laugh, when she slightly turns her head for a quick jump scare. If I was a responsible movie goer I would not continue giving these films money, because they’re greenlit over better projects, and are made with far less care. In this offshoot of The Conjuring 2, we get an inside perspective into an unnecessary bit of background narrative that undermines the original film’s prowess.

For some unknown reason the film stars Taissa Farmiga, who is the real life sister of Conjuring actress Vera Farmiga. I kept thinking the two characters were related, or Lorraine was once a nun in waiting, but this was not the case. The narrative is actually very simple: a Romanian monastery is guarding a door to Hell with a bunch of nuns who have to continually pray to keep Valak (Bonnie Aarons) at bay. The last nun commits suicide which triggers the intervention of the Vatican. They send a priest (Demián Bichir) and novitiate nun (Farmiga) to investigate. Jonas Bloquet supports as a guide who adds nothing to the narrative but connects the mythology.

In The Conjuring 2 Valak served as a side antagonist who Lorraine battled while helping a family with a cursed home. In that film Valak added another creepy element to an already strange narrative, but here she is sapped of much of her power. Seeing a nun in a nunnery really takes away the subversion of her image. This demon may look hellish and provides several effective jump scares, but it’s no more out of place in the natural world than anything else. The Nun was filmed in Romania, and there is a certain authenticity that comes with that choice, but if I was told this was a sound stage with minimal exterior shots somewhere in the US, I would not have been surprised. I will not say that the film wasn’t made well, with decent effects, performances, and direction, but the entire experience felt unnecessary.

There’s nothing unique about this film. When it ended at the 95 minute mark I felt extremely underwhelmed and dissatisfied. Though The Conjuring was never meant to be a complex enterprise, it did invoke nostalgia for films such as The Amityville Horror and The Exorcist, and everyone loves nostalgia nowadays. The Nun doesn’t try to pay homage to its religious horror predecessors to its own detriment. Though it’s a period piece there’s little acknowledgement of its 1950s setting and there’s nothing that lands this in a nostalgic light. The nicest thing I can say about this film is that it’s not Annabelle, and the meanest would be that it’s pointless.