The Nun - Movie Review

The Nun – Movie Review

I have strayed from my usual genre for this film review and I have decided to review ‘The Nun’ – one of the many spin offs from the hit modern-classic film, ‘The Conjuring’. I watched it only recently, with high hopes, with my knowledge and viewing experiences from the rest of ‘The Conjuring’ franchise. I feel like ‘The Nun’ was different than the others, however. Of course, as the title suggests, it concentrates a lot more heavily upon the ideas of religion and it’s relation to demonic possession, which has become extremely popularised in recent years as a topic for the horror film genre.  
   The crosses slowly turning upside down and bursting into flames after the suicide in the opening scene was extremely effective and perfectly establishes the tone to this film. The opening scene not only establishes the creepy tone, but also just how heavily the impact of the Nun will be for the entire film duration. The suicide in the opening scene was also extremely effective, establishing full fear within the audience (or at least the audience I was personally sat with!). This already hints at the religious controversy within the film and how it will play an important role.
   From the title card and opening scene, the next thing that it witnessed by the audience is almost an entirely different shift in tone, where the colours are extremely bright, especially the green of the trees and grass that surround the rural area, connoting a new growth and change, this convention is quickly diminished when one of our main protagonist, ‘Frenchie’ finds the hanging, dead body of the nun who took her life to rid and banish of the demonic spirits that resides within one of the nuns.
   It is extremely clever, with the Nun being a symbol of how easy it could be for danger in real life to be hiding in plain sight and how we never know what could be hiding the next corner. This film didn’t rely on many cheap jump-scares or your usual horror movie conventions in order to establish dread and fear towards it’s audience. The establishing shots are eerie, while keeping a sense of light, almost hope. They don’t rely on extremely dark lighting or a score to establish fear – in fact, there is very little musicality found in the film; making the fear it creates all the more impressive.
    There is no cheap shots or gimmicks, there is just gripping, fearful entertainment from start to finish, where you genuinely empathise for the characters involved, the protagonists, and want them to succeed, no matter the cost. However, this is a horror film, we are discussing, so what is the likelihood that this was going to be a sunshine and flowers ending? Not very, when you compare this film to the rest that are a part of ‘The Conjuring’ franchise. Although, this particular film could easily be a stand-alone, without the montage at the start containing scenes from ‘The Conjuring’ – this film could have been a success without relying on the rest of the franchise.
   All in all, I would personally rate this film a 4 out of 5 stars. I don’t know whether I am in any way biased, I just thought it was beautifully constructed and executed.