As of this writing, The Nun sits with a lowly rotten score of 26% on Rotten Tomatoes. The score did nothing to turn away moviegoers because The Nun opened to a franchise-best $53.8 million for The Conjuring universe. Some movies are immune to toxic feedback from some critics and this seems to be one of them. The franchise is actually mostly fresh and the other rotten entry, Annabelle, still opened to $37.1 million and grossed $257 million worldwide on a $6.5 million budget.
I was honestly prepared to be one of those critics that would rip apart The Nun. The character, who made her debut as a demonic presence that Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) kept seeing in The Conjuring 2, did seem to have the potential for a spinoff but the marketing build-up didn’t entice me. A lot of the trailers were by the numbers and with horror stepping up its game in a big way lately, I thought The Nun would an example of falling short.
Despite my initial misgivings, I came out of The Nun pleasantly surprised. Sometimes I’ll go back and look at complaints from other critics and end up scratching my head because their experience with a project was so different from mine. The complaint about the film is that it’s very familiar, the scares are easily telegraphed and it’s built on set pieces that are just set up to make way for the next jump scare. This may all be true but director Corin Hardy attacks this familiarity with a distinct visual style and superb atmospherics. I’m not a fan of jump scares but I won’t deny when they’re well-executed and there are more than a few here that actually got me. Combined with some haunting imagery and strong performances, The Nun is much better than it has any right to be.
Set in 1952, the film follows Father Burke (Demián Bichir) and a novitiate nun, Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga, sister of The Conjuring’s Vera Farmiga) who are sent by the Vatican to investigate a nun’s suicide at a forlorn Romanian castle-convent, which it turns out is home to an ancient evil. Father Burke and Sister Irene are led to the dilapidated convent by Frenchie (Jonas Bloquet), a French-Canadian villager who delivers supplies every week and was the one to find the body. He’s been making deliveries for two years but had never actually seen anyone come out of the place until he saw the nun hanging from the window at the end of a rope. This then sets up our characters entering the convent and experiencing the evil first hand.
Let’s get the major complaint out of the way: after an impressive opening sequence, the film suffers from some major pacing issues. Yes, the setting is set up in an eerie fashion, but nothing really happens for the next 45 minutes. A lot of this time is spent doing character building and while it works, they aren’t put into a perilous situation soon enough. I could feel the film losing me a bit as the narrative moved along but thankfully The Nun begins to provide sufficient jolts and once it starts, it never really lets up.
The first of these jolting scenes takes place in a cemetery where Father Burke has been lured by an image of a possessed boy he once exorcised. Soon Father Burke finds himself buried alive and Sister Irene makes her way there due to her own haunting experience at the convent. The sequence is effective because it utilizes the claustrophobia of being buried alive along with a clever way to provide misdirection. When she thinks she hears where he’s buried by him ringing a bell, the other bells on the headstones begin ringing in a sadistic way to throw her off track.
Visually, the film is very strong. The setting in itself is a character and it looms heavily over the narrative. Period piece horror films can be hit or miss but Hardy nails the look and feel of the period. The convent is suitably creepy and getting lost in its halls and hidden passages induce its own brand of fear. Along with the visuals, there is some creepy imagery that sticks with you, including a snake coming out of a boy’s mouth and the overall presentation of the titular character being a bit frightening as well. Interestingly enough, the character isn’t used all that much which is a benefit to the film. The character mostly looms in the shadows and we don’t really get full glimpses of her until the film’s climax. Speaking of the climax, it’s also very strong and while a lot is going on, the director never loses focus of the action. It might feel familiar but he attacks the climax with the necessary intensity.
The acting is top notch from the three leads. Despite my complaints about the slow start, the character building does allow them to flesh out their characters fully. Taissa Farmiga possesses an instant naivete that makes us instantly connect with Sister Irene. Vera Farmiga may get most of the family acclaims but Taissa seems more than able to walk in her sister’s shows. Demián Bichir provides the film with a solid foundation. He’s polished and strong in his presence but I’m also glad the role was written or acted in a way that seems to be typical of these characters in films of this sort. Finally, Jonas Bloquet is on board to lighten things up a bit with a little soft comic relieve and he actually succeeds. The character isn’t totally silly and he isn’t just utilized to get a laugh. His character does get an arc light in the film that sets up a strong conclusion for the film.
Speaking of the ending, which I won’t reveal here, it ties in nicely into the whole Conjuring universe. I was wondering how they would tie it in beyond what was presented in The Conjuring 2 and the decision made here makes for a satisfying conclusion. Sometimes we harp on universe building because everyone seems to be doing it but The Conjuring has been surprisingly intricate in tying their stories together through their spinoffs. The Nun isn’t the second coming of horror, but it’s a solid effort that deserves a bit more positive praise than it is receiving.
