The Nun Is Full Of Jump Scares But Lacks True Suspense And Thrills

     

       The 2018 fall movie season brought some key box office smash hits such as Venom, the long-awaited Halloween sequel, which ultimately proved to be a faithful follow-up to the original, and Bradley Cooper's A Star Is Born which he directed and co-starred with Lady Gaga. The film that kicked off the fall movie season last year however, was a spin-off of the popular Conjuring franchise titled The Nun. The Nun had a strong opening of 53 million due to the anticipation for it being connected with the rest of the series. It's CinemaScore rating however landed at a C, being the lowest ranking of the series thus far. Being the fifth film in the Conjuring universe while serving as a spin-off of The Conjuring 2, the story was written by James Wan and Gary Dauberman with Dauberman penning the films script. Is the film really as bad as its mixed to negative reviews make it out to be? Compared to the Conjuring films, The Nun though mildly entertaining, lacks true scares and relies on cheap jump scares to frighten its audience without much form of creativity and suspense. Despite not being as well told as the films its story is loosely attached to, the movie still offers reasonable entertainment for those who manage to get scared easily.

The plot for The Nun takes place in Romania 1952 and centers around a haunted Roman Catholic priest (Played by Demian Bichr) and a young novitiate (Played by Taissa Farmiga) in the final phase of taking her vows as a nun, end up being summoned by the Vatican to Transylvannia to investigate the suicide of a Romanian nun. Upon doing so, they soon realize that both their faith and lives are at stake upon discovering a powerful demonic presence named "Valek" with unholy secrets being revealed. The Nun can best be summed up as The Conjuring's attempt at turning it's universe into a horror movie style MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), that's also tied to the Annabelle films and The Curse Of La Lorna. Despite being loosely connected to the Conjuring films, The Nun conducts its own story and does so with a lack of passion and genuine creativity in regards to making it truly effective. The film is never truly scary, and feels like it could've been something much better if more thought and effort was put into it. The film relies far too much on jump scares rather than building a steady, tense and creepy atmosphere, that proved to do much of the work in terms of terrifying the audience with The Conjuring films. What this film needed was James Wan to helm it himself as he would've not only provided the atmosphere needed to make the story more effective, but limited the jump scares throughout the film so when they happened, they not only worked but rightfully took a backseat to the story. The fact that the film utilized an excessive amount of jump scares, shows that there wasn't much else on the surface in terms of really creepy out the audience. The films acting performances, visual style of the film, and music essentially carry it where the writing and directing struggles and underwhelms.

      Despite the films troubles with its script and style of directing, the acting performances help to make up for those shortcomings. Demian Bichir delivers a strong and classy performance as Father Burke, bringing a likable presence to the character. Taissa Farmiga shines as sister Irene, showing strong chemistry between her and Bichir with the two working off each other very well. Jonas Bloquet does very well playing Frenchie, not only getting some of the films best lines but working off Farmiga and Birchir. He helps make the three feel like ideal casting choices, who feel perfect for their roles. Bloquet steals the show and his character has a nice tie-in to the Conjuring movies at the end. Bonnie Aarons does a solid job playing The Nun with her character being creepy and effective when appearing on the big screen. Ingrid Bisu delivers a nice supporting role with Charlotte Hope and Sandra Teles as Sisters Victoria and Abigail with surprise cameo performances from Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga from The Conjuring series, to bridge the stories together for the sake of continuity. As the whole, the cast is one of the strongest aspects of the film as the main actors work great off each other and feel natural as a small group. The decision to keep the films main cast small and focus on the key characters, was a smart move allowing for more depth and character growth to take over with the three main characters of the film (Father Burke, Sister Irene, and Frenchie) sharing a strong dynamic with great chemistry as a trio. The minor characters are effective when they appear mainly because they remind viewers as well as signify that something evil is near. When Bichir, Farmiga, and Bloquet are together in a scene, the film works and manages to be entertaining, saving it from the rest of its issues.

      In terms of the films directing and writing, Corin Hardy takes over the directing reigns and does a serviceable job with helming the story although he's no James Wan in terms of building up the suspense with the films story. Hardy creates a somewhat effective atmosphere, that includes the main characters walking around old and spooky castles with dark atmospheres, foggy graveyards, creepy religious imagery, a scene involving a snake coming out of a main characters mouth, and an abbey that comes across as feeling like a haunted mansion. The film has all the right elements present to make for a great horror movie, which makes it a shame it doesn't reach its maximum potential. The art-set decoration and cinematography are impressive making it a well-shot film that's visually striking to watch. The films gothic design helps make it a wild experience that goes in line with the strange creatures that pop up. The film definitely takes a less realistic and more fantastical approach than the Conjuring films, making it feel uneven with those movies. Examples are the different forms the demon takes which often make the whole scenario feel rather silly at times along with too many CGI monsters being used. The film has an hour and a half running time, that moves relatively slow enough to let the plot and characters unfold though not much happens outside of the forced jump scares for the first two thirds of the movie. The screenplay by Gary Dauberman is basic with it feeling padded with the first two acts feeling like filler until the films third act, with nothing major happening within the earlier portions of the film other than one jump scare appearing after another. There is nothing in this movie that the audience hasn't seen before with familiar subplots such as a gateway to hell presented in the story once again, the demon needing a human form to take, the past haunting the main characters, the story and screenplay don't give the audience nothing new which is underwhelming. The characters are put in situations where they shouldn't survive but somehow they always manage to do so which becomes less suspenseful after awhile cause the audience automatically assumes they'll survive because their the main characters. The films humor was a notable approach, but is ultimately a case of being hit and miss with moments where it works and other moments where it feels like it doesn't belong in the scene. The films soundtrack is top notch though and helps to enhance the presence of The Nun, making her still come across as looking powerful though less scary since she appears quite frequently in the film  which further diminishes the scare factor of her character. One wonders how much more effective her character would've been if she was shown less like the shark in Jaws.

       The Nun is not a terrible movie nor is it a great horror movie. It just falls in within the category of being ok with a reasonable level of entertainment value. It could've been a stronger horror flick had the story been further fleshed out and the movie being more creative with its moments of scares. What makes a horror movie great is not that we know the scares are coming, its the fear of the unknown and catching the audience by surprise, that makes horror movies work. The fact that the audience knows the jump scare is coming and the movie being self-aware that we know makes it less thrilling and more standard cause we know what to expect. The overuse of the scare tactic involving the camera showing there's nothing behind the main character, pans away, then pans back to reveal that something is behind them can only be done so many times before its robbed of its effect. The film though mildly entertaining, clearly misses having James Wan's directorial hand on the project and ultinately suffers because of that lack of creativity and drive to present something new. The Nun feels like a standard horror movie spin-off, which has moments where it works largely thanks to the films mood, the strong acting performances from its cast, the music, and intriguing premise though one wishes they tried harder to give the audience something fresher. If jump scares are what you want, this is the movie for you as they are planted everywhere in the film. If one wants a more well-crafted horror story, that puts style and atmosphere first with a strong story then the first two Conjuring films are worth watching. The Nun is dark and had potential to be great, but just settles for being mediocre entertainment.

Final Verdict: For fans of The Conjuring series, it's a worth a watch. For regular horror fans, the Conjuring films are more worthy of your time.