The Nun (C- or 1.5/4 stars)
'The Nun' (directed by Corin Hardy) is a franchise spin-off of Annabelle & James Wan's The Conjuring 2; set decades before the evil that haunted Connecticut's ghost-hunters, Lorraine & Ed Warren (Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson). After a young nun commits gruesome suicide at a cloistered abbey in Romania, in 1952, Father Anthony Burke (Demian Bichir) - who is experienced in exorcisms - is suddenly summoned to the Vatican in Rome. From there, he is dispatched by the Catholic Church hierarchy to investigate the sacred, shadowy sanctuary, accompanied by young, high-minded novitiate, Sister Irene (Vera's real-life sister Taissa Farmiga, of American Horror Story fame), who happens to have occult visions.
Taking a horse-drawn buggy to the St. Carta Abbey, a medieval castle that is avoided by superstitious villagers, they are joined by "Frenchie" (Jonas Bloquet), a French-Canadian man who found the ghastly nun corpse while dropping off supplies to said abbey. Evidently, 2 nuns confronted a demonic presence in a portal to hell in a taboo corner of the abbey, where a sign says: "God Ends Here" -- 'cause that sounds re-assuring. One of the nuns is consumed by darkness {lol} while the other hangs herself while grasping a mystical key. The cadaverous Abbess, whose face remains cloaked behind a veil, isn't helping our protagonists, nor are the other screeching, petrified nuns -- some of whom are set aflame, dangling their rosary beads in deep prayer.
Well. This prequel simply wasn't any good. Despite a promising premise & spooky European locales - this 5th offering in the super popular Conjuring franchise is nowhere near as inspired, logical {for as far as supernatural horror films CAN be logical}, and it is bereft in finding new ways to scare an audience. I was intrigued early on by the creepy, candle-lit goings-on. The tactile cinematography, macabre production design and "boo" music that permeates each scene, got me in the mood ... but nothing really clicked. Any ominous dread I felt dissipates as the movie drags on. The characters feel like archetypes and not real people. Oscar nom Demian Bechir didn't pull me in. And though I've liked Taissa Farmiga in other projects, I found her inconsistent in this role; her wide eyes felt put-on and not imparting genuine terror. I did, however, enjoy Bonnie Aarons' depiction of the titular 'Valak'.
The action takes place at night, so the filmmakers cloud everything with an achromatic dimness. That grey palette presented a numbing sameness to everything; preventing distinction from set piece to set piece for 96 minutes. Scenes that could have been atmospheric or terrifying then play out like silly action scenes, with characters wrestling sharp-toothed zombie nuns or chasing demon-possessed children through the forest. Throughout the cacophony of noise & blurred CGI images, it's easy to realize that there reallllly isn't much of a plot here ... nor much of a point? Worst of all, it's just such a step down in overall quality from the original films in this franchise. There are small pleasures to be found here, a couple of fun scares, but I sure hope the next film in this horror series is light year better than this one.
Taking a horse-drawn buggy to the St. Carta Abbey, a medieval castle that is avoided by superstitious villagers, they are joined by "Frenchie" (Jonas Bloquet), a French-Canadian man who found the ghastly nun corpse while dropping off supplies to said abbey. Evidently, 2 nuns confronted a demonic presence in a portal to hell in a taboo corner of the abbey, where a sign says: "God Ends Here" -- 'cause that sounds re-assuring. One of the nuns is consumed by darkness {lol} while the other hangs herself while grasping a mystical key. The cadaverous Abbess, whose face remains cloaked behind a veil, isn't helping our protagonists, nor are the other screeching, petrified nuns -- some of whom are set aflame, dangling their rosary beads in deep prayer.
Well. This prequel simply wasn't any good. Despite a promising premise & spooky European locales - this 5th offering in the super popular Conjuring franchise is nowhere near as inspired, logical {for as far as supernatural horror films CAN be logical}, and it is bereft in finding new ways to scare an audience. I was intrigued early on by the creepy, candle-lit goings-on. The tactile cinematography, macabre production design and "boo" music that permeates each scene, got me in the mood ... but nothing really clicked. Any ominous dread I felt dissipates as the movie drags on. The characters feel like archetypes and not real people. Oscar nom Demian Bechir didn't pull me in. And though I've liked Taissa Farmiga in other projects, I found her inconsistent in this role; her wide eyes felt put-on and not imparting genuine terror. I did, however, enjoy Bonnie Aarons' depiction of the titular 'Valak'.
The action takes place at night, so the filmmakers cloud everything with an achromatic dimness. That grey palette presented a numbing sameness to everything; preventing distinction from set piece to set piece for 96 minutes. Scenes that could have been atmospheric or terrifying then play out like silly action scenes, with characters wrestling sharp-toothed zombie nuns or chasing demon-possessed children through the forest. Throughout the cacophony of noise & blurred CGI images, it's easy to realize that there reallllly isn't much of a plot here ... nor much of a point? Worst of all, it's just such a step down in overall quality from the original films in this franchise. There are small pleasures to be found here, a couple of fun scares, but I sure hope the next film in this horror series is light year better than this one.