The Nun, the
newest chapter in the Conjuring series,
is set in 1950’s Romania. Chronologically, it is the earliest film in the Conjuring universe, taking place a
couple years earlier than the bulk of the events that occur in Annabelle: Creation. The film centers
around a Monastery located deep within the woods outside of a remote Romanian
town that the local’s fear is cursed. When a townsman named Frenchie (Jonas
Bloquet) stumbles upon the body of a nun who had hung herself outside of the
Monastery, word quickly spreads to the Vatican. The church decides to send Father
Burke (Demián Bichir) to investigate and see if the Abbey is still holy. The
church also wants Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga), a young woman who is training
to become a nun, to accompany Father Burke. Sister Irene has had visions in her
childhood of a nun that the church believes may be directly linked to the Abbey
and can help Father Burke in his investigation. Father Burke and Sister Irene travel
to Romania and enlist Frenchie to take them to the Abbey. When they arrive,
they find that the body of the nun that Frenchie found has moved and is now placed
in a different position. Upon examining the body, Father Burke finds that she
is clutching an old key that he keeps, thinking it may come in handy. As they begin their investigation, it quickly becomes
clear the that there is indeed an evil presence throughout the Abbey. This evil
presence reveals itself to be Valak, the demonic nun that was introduced to the
series in The Conjuring 2. Valak
begins to torment Father Burke and Sister Irene and they vow to do whatever they can
to try and destroy it.
The Nun features
multiple nods to former films in the franchise. These are more of a bonus to
those of us who have seen the other films and in no way would detract from
viewers who are taking their first plunge into the Conjuring universe. The Nun
has its moments, and it is a decently entertaining film, but the scares are
overly lacking. There are only so many times you can enjoy watching a character see a shadow or
creepy possible apparition walking away from them and decide absentmindedly
that it would be in their best interest to follow it. I know this is common in
horror movies, but it seems played out and by the second or third time this
exact situation arises in The Nun, I
was ready to see something else. The lack of scares aside, the most
disappointing part of the film was the fact that it's peak suspenseful moment was
ruined by the trailers that have been in rotation for weeks. The Nun does have a good balance of
comedy and horror with Frenchie primarily serving as a source of comic relief.
I would personally trade in some of the humor for a greater dose of memorable
scares, but that is not the direction that the film takes. 
The creative team behind The Nun features Corin Hardy directing with Gary Dauberman penning
the screenplay based off of James Wan's story. Dauberman and Wan have
extensive knowledge of the Conjuring universe with Dauberman writing Annabelle and Annabelle: Creation and Wan writing the Conjuring 2 and directing both Conjuring
films. The Nun on the other hand
seems different than its predecessors. The Conjuring
and Annabelle films felt more
creative, like they somehow tried more. The
Nun came off a bit lazy in that regard, as if the success of the Conjuring universe would be enough to
propel it. This was evident throughout, especially when instances arise where
future scares become so obvious that everyone in the theater can see them
coming a mile away. After Annabelle: Creation,
what I thought was an incredibly successful installment in the series, I was very
much looking forward to The Nun and
the film ultimately fell very short of my expectations. It is by far the
weakest chapter in the Conjuring
universe, but I have no doubt that future installments will be able to rise to
the level of earlier films in the series.
Rating: 2 out of 5
