The Nun

The Nun

Genre:	Horror
Photography:	Color
Running Time:	96 minutes
Country:	United States
Release Date:	September 7, 2018
Directed by:	Corin Hardy
Written by:	Gary Dauberman
Distributed by:	Warner Bros. Pictures
Starring:	Demián Bichir Taissa Farmiga Jonas Bloquet
Previous film:	N/A

The Nun is a 2018 American gothic supernatural horror film directed by Corin Hardy and written by Gary Dauberman, from a story by Dauberman and James Wan. It is a spin-off of 2016's The Conjuring 2 and the fifth installment in The Conjuring Universe franchise.

Plot

When a young nun at a cloistered abbey in Romania takes her own life, a priest with a haunted past and a novitiate on the threshold of her final vows are sent by the Vatican to investigate. Together, they uncover the order's unholy secret. Risking not only their lives but their faith and their very souls, they confront a malevolent force in the form of a demonic nun.

Bad Qualities

The film is a jump scare-fest. All of the jump scares are planted everywhere and are overused to the point where the movie's not scary anymore.
- Besides, the film isn't even scary despite the dark atmosphere.
The plot is poorly constructed. We are left with filler in the 1st and 2nd acts and FINALLY, something happens in the third act. Up until that, the film is very boring.
- Also, the film's tone is inconsistent. It goes from dark and dreading to downright silly at times.
There is no reason to make this movie. Valak barely even does anything in The Conjuring 2 and was only there in the movie just to set up this prequel, similar to Annabelle.
Valak's character design makes her look like Marilyn Manson in a drag.
The film reveals everything way too early in the movie. Not only do you see Valak in the first five minutes and see her jumping every 10 minutes, but you also hear her screaming, attacking victims, etc. repeatedly throughout the movie.
There is no tension whatsoever in this film, as it is all ruined with the cheap jump scares.
It tries to introduce a comic relief character in the movie but fails miserably as the character takes away all of the tension in the movie.
What's the deal with The Nun always screaming like an angry hyena when she appears?

Good Qualities

The performances are decent.
The CGI is amazing and better than expected.
The cinematography is dazzling, just like other films from The Conjuring Universe.
The setting is well done though it isn't enough to cover the inconsistent tone.

Reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 26% based on 188 reviews, and an average rating of 4.45/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Nun boasts strong performances, spooky atmospherics, and a couple decent set-pieces, but its sins include inconsistent logic, and narrative slackness." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale, the lowest of the series.

Trivia

There was a short, unskippable ad on YouTube for this movie that consisted of a volume pop up going up and down before going mute, which is followed by a jumpscare from Valak. It was later banned from appearing as an advertisement for violating YouTube's advertisement policy for "Shocking Content".