The Nun Movie Review

The Nun (2018)

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Written by: Gary Dauberman (screenplay by), James Wan & Gary Dauberman (story by)
Directed by: Corin Hardy
Starring: Demián Bichir, Taissa Farmiga, Jonas Bloquet, Bonnie "Aarons, Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Lili Taylor
Rated: R
Watch the trailer

Plot
A priest with a haunted past and a novice on the threshold of her final vows are sent by the Vatican to investigate the death of a young nun in Romania and confront a malevolent force in the form of a demonic nun.

Verdict
While this provides great imagery, it doesn't develop the tension enough. This has a great setting with effective props, but The Nun relies too much on jump scares. The biggest issue is the plot grinding to a halt half way in just to scare us with various set pieces. The plot is lacking because these characters don't really have a reason to exist other than to fight evil. As good as the setup was, the last half wasn't.
It depends.

Review
This is a spin-off from The Conjuring 2 (read my review), and I really liked that movie.  It was a sequel on par with the first The Conjuring (read my review). This spin off is from only one scene in The Conjuring 2, which happens to be the best scene in the movie where one of the protagonists encounters a painting of a nun.

There were discussions of a Nun sequel that would tie back to The Conjuring, though as of yet that hasn't progressed.

This has a pretty standard teaser introduction. One nun enters a scary room to retrieve an unknown artifact, but I wondered why she left the door open if there were scary things in the room and why was there fog on the floor? Sure it looks cool, but is it realistic? Written above the door entered is "God ends here." How ominous.

We're then introduced to the protagonists, a priest and a nun who has yet to take her vows. The obvious question is why were they picked to investigate? The assumption is he must be some kind of demon hunter or exorcist and she must have a past related to demons. I was curious as to why the Vatican is so secretive about the operation.

I really like the setting of 1950's Romania. It has a cool vibe, but I'm always wary of horror movies. It's easy to resort to cheap scares. The trek to the isolated monastery by wagon could have been a great moment to develop these characters. It doesn't do that. We skip right to the monastery where our protagonists first realize everything isn't as it seems. Their reactions are rather subdued considering they're being attacked by demons. I get Father Burke has seen this stuff before, but the the nun and farmer haven't. I have to imagine the average person would run away screaming.

This movie never quite has a handle on being creepy. I want the tension to slowly build, but far too frequently the movie introduces set pieces, throws out some quick scares and moves on. The mood is never where it should be and that comes down to directing. The production design and cast are more than capable. Taissa Farmiga has some really good scenes.

Half way in the plot screeches to a halt and we get what is a scare montage with all three characters isolated. Scares are great, but it shouldn't stop the story. It's trying to show off, but we get jump scares. That's just too easy. Even the story of why an evil force is in the monastery is a bit far fetched even considering what this movie is. The last half can't hold up to the first half.

The movie has some really great imagery. There is a sequence with nuns that have black faces masks and black gloves. It's really unsettling, but the movie doesn't do enough with it. I don't know why the evil force dresses as a nun unless it's an attempt to blend in. That's a failed attempt.

How does this monastery recruit? I can't see too many people volunteering for this job.
The conclusion has a call back to the beginning where the villagers spit to ward off evil. Spitting definitely plays a factor in defeating evil.

Being a spin off based on one scene, I didn't expect much. This is alright, but without James Wan directing it really loses the creepy factor that he so deftly created in The Conjuring.