Full of opinions, but free of spoilers.
The latest feature to come out in the megaplex was the highly anticipated spooky movie, The Nun. The Nun follows the origin story of our good pal, Valak. Sister Valak made her first appearance in s hared universe The Conjuring 2, when she appeared for our favorite ghost hunter, Lorraine Warren. Valak undeniably made a lot of hearts stop and eyes hide behind fingers in her big screen debut, so the likelihood of her getting her own movie was very strong from the get go. When the news broke that Valak was getting her own movie for real, I was super pumped! I mean, she was terrifying in The Conjuring 2 and I craved more of her black sunken eyes and pointy nose. Then the first, and only, trailer came out for The Nun and I was still intrigued but not as hyped as I was before the trailer existed; I still had hope that it was going to be a pretty good movie. After we got the one and only trailer for the remainder of the time leading up to the release, my expectations started to drop. The only thing that made the trailer scary was honestly the ridiculously loud volume, it was not intriguing or had me wanting more; and that kind of sums up the movie for me.
The movie starts out informing us that the year Valak is causing havoc was in 1952, but because the location is set in Romania the year sometimes resembled 1852 instead. One of the aspects I can be super picky about in movies is the acting, and I really didn’t have any problems with anyone. Taissa Farmiga, who you will most likely recognize from American Horror Story, portrays the character Sister Irene. She does a fine job, nothing spectacular but good. Demián Bichir plays Father Burke, and you may know him from The Hateful Eight. Again, he was good, but it wasn’t a grand performance. One thing I will say about The Nun was that some scenes, to me, were shot beautifully. Now, there were some parts that were lackluster and amateurish for me as well. Someone on the directing board really enjoys fog, and it was apparent. The fog was flowing heavily in this one, so they got their money’s worth for the fog machines they invested in for this movie. I feel like if you must rely on heavy uses of a fog machine to make a scene creepy, you’re not being creative enough, especially in 2018.
For me The Nun was fine; it was just meh. It wasn’t terrible, it just did nothing unique. It’s a movie that in five years I will probably remember coming out but will forget what happened in it. Will I purchase it when it comes out on Blu-Ray? Maybe; only because my significant other and I are maniacs and in the month of October we watch a scary every day. Spooky season is a serious yearly event. Don’t get me wrong, I adore horror movies and I love the Conjuring and Annabelle (Annabelle Creation, not the first one, the first Annabelle is garbage) movies that make up the universe they all belong in. The Nun is just so mediocre. The scares were all cheap jump scares in addition to scary faces you would see at your local haunted house attraction, or Universal Horror Nights. To add on to the cheap jump scare frustration, the one and only trailer scene ends up in the movie, and by that point it loses any scare factor. There’s also a semi love story line that is completely pointless and does nothing for the overarching plot. That’s a little nitpicky I know. I understand that this movie was made to reach a wide audience, so that may be the reasoning for the certain route it took with the scare tactics. I think I have concluded I like our pal Valak as a supporting spooky monster that lingers in the darkness, rather than a main spooky monster that comes at you with Pennywise teeth. I’m going to rate The Nun three out of ten nuns on the life size poster you can find at some theatres.
If for any reason your mind starts speculating about whether you should bring your four-year-old child to see The Nun, let me assure you this one is not for the kiddos. I know this, not strictly from common sense, but from the reaction of the actual four-year-old child that graced us with their screams that night- leave the kids home for this one folks!
Let’s chat! What are your opinions about the movie? What upcoming release should I check out? Email me at ocrutchf@aum.edu.
-Hey, my name is Olivia Crutchfield! I’m not a movie expert but I just so happen to live with one, and our love for movies takes us to the movie theaters every single week to see new releases. So, be on the lookout for a review from me almost every week.
If you consider yourself a movie expert or you just really love them like me and want to listen to three guys giving their opinion on movies, all the while being hilarious, you may want to check out the podcast Best Pictures anywhere you get your podcasts.