Here Comes the Nun
Directed by Corin Hardy
Starring Taissa Farmiga, Demián Bichir, Jonas Bloquet
Released September 7th, 2018
Rated R
A young nun commits suicide in early 1950s Romania. The Vatican sends Father Burke (Demián Bichir) to investigate. He brings along a nun in novitiate, Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga). Their guide is a local man who calls himself “Frenchie” (Jonas Bloquet). He’s the one who discovered the body of the nun, hanging from the abbey. Over the course of the movie the trio will find themselves face-to-face with spectres, demons, and the titular character Valak (Bonnie Aarons).
If midnight walks in foggy cemeteries are your jam, you’ll feel right at home watching The Nun. Maxime Alexandre’s Hammer Horror-inspired cinematography and Abel Korzeniowski’s bombastic score compliment each other and help create a film that drips with atmosphere. Director Corin Hardy brings jump scares to a new level in The Nun, with set pieces that have you shielding your eyes in anticipation for a scare that ends up coming about three or four moments after you expect. It’s a funhouse experience that doesn’t wear out its welcome.
It’s not all jump scares, however. We learn how the entity came to haunt the abbey and how it became attached to the Warren family of The Conjuring universe. This is the fifth film in the universe that features Patrick Wilson as Ed and Vera Farmiga (Taissa’s sister) as Lorraine Warren, and it ties in nicely with those other films. If the bottom tier includes Annabelle, and the top tier includes The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2, then The Nun occupies a comfortable mid-tier placement alongside Annabelle: Creation.
This is the first film in the franchise to lean into humor, not only with Jonas Bloquet’s one-liners, but also a few visual gags. This may rub some horror fans the wrong way, but I feel the laughs do a good job breaking up the tension. Demián Bichir brings the perfect blend of stoicism and fear that you want from a role like his and Taissa Farmiga can convey more with just her facial expressions than most young actresses her age.
I don’t believe casting Vera Farmiga’s younger sister was a coincidence and I have a theory on how they could connect the two characters in a future film in this universe. And I am all in for more films in this universe. There are rumblings about a spin-off film focusing on The Crooked Man from The Conjuring 2, but I am more curious to see The Conjuring 3, especially if the rumors are true and it takes inspiration from Ed and Lorraine’s book from the early 1990s featuring the Warrens on a werewolf adventure.