Post by StevePulaski on Sept 9, 2018 12:00:15 GMT -5
The Nun (2018)
Directed by: Corin Hardy
Directed by: Corin Hardy
Rating: ★★
With each sequel, spin-off, and now, prequel to the prequel to the original, the Conjuring universe is in a similar mess that the Paranormal Activity franchise was not that long ago. A fleeting, critically acclaimed breakout movie that asserted itself in a sea of bland horror movies only to be succeeded by a series of bland follow-ups that seem determined to squeeze the last drips of creative juice out of what was a captivating idea. The Nun is the latest film to do that not named Annabelle or Annabelle: Creation, and it's considerably weaker than both those films — even the very disappointing latter. An uninspired assortment of jump-scares, routine scares, thin characters, ambiguous stakes, and convoluted plotting, the film caters only to those who felt the promotional nun from Annabelle was so jaw-droppingly scary they had to make a big enough deal of it on social media. Look at the monster they've created.
Set in 1952 Romania, the film opens with two young nuns entering a catacomb of an abbey that is so demonic in its spirits and haunted to its very core that even praying is a futile effort. Taken by the overpowering forces of whatever gets inside her head, one of the nuns commits suicide, prompting the Vatican to send Father Burke (Demián Bichir) and understudy Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga, the younger sister of Vera Farmiga from The Conjuring and its sequel), who is close to taking her final vows to become a nun, to determine what exactly is haunting the location. Sister Irene has a checkered history with experiencing visions, and the two are also accompanied by a local French-Canadian nicknamed "Frenchie" (Jonas Bloquet), who guides them through the abbey — and provides comic relief when they become entrapped in one of its sections.
The nun is played by Bonnie Aarons; an elusive force who wanders the halls of this massive cathedral and appears for barely a second at a time, with her presence usually accompanied by a jarring orchestral riff that lets us know that it's time to jump in fright. To make a long story short, she's employed exactly how you think she'd be — as a device without much depth and explanation.
The Nun is defined by many elements The Conjuring rejected. Where both Conjuring films felt developed both conceptually and intuitively, finding an equitable relationship between frights and exposition, The Nun completely mishandles both. The stakes are never adequately defined, and neither are the motivations of Father Burke and Sister Irene. Most of the film involves the two thinly veiled characters scrounging through the abbey and then reacting in horror that they've become entrapped in this creepy tomb.
The film's drab visuals don't help matters either. The Nun takes place mostly indoors, with a blue and gray color palette dominating the look of the film. When we do venture outdoors, it becomes the pits because we can barely make out what's happening. One of the most frustrating things a horror film can do is disorient you with a combination of poor lighting and excessive darkness, but even when The Nun is using interior settings, a gray mist seems to engulf the characters, making for an ugly presentation. You wish you could take a rag and some Clorox to the screen.
Both Bichir and Farmiga are solid, but underused, with Gary Dauberman's (writer of both Annabelle movies as well as It) screenplay ineffectively incorporating them into a film that's more interested in finding the next opportunity to produce a jolt as opposed to producing an investing storyline. Bloquet's Frenchie is a real dud of a character too, providing only contrived comic relief at inopportune times, and sometimes, through flirting and just sheer stupidity, rendering an already tension-lacking film completely lag.
Like the subsequent Paranormal Activity films, The Nun asks more questions that we are almost certainly not going to get the answers to anytime soon. Perhaps most disappointingly, however, James Wan is an executive producer on this film. There was a time, not too long ago, in fact, that Wan's name on a film gave it some gravitas; it showed the sign that there was some quality control in said project (Saw, Insidious, etc). Too many Annabelle: Creations and Nuns have warranted his namesake about as trustworthy as the nebulous phrase "based on true events." The mighty hasn't necessarily fallen, but he's certainly become far more mortal in the eyes of many.
Starring: Demián Bichir, Taissa Farmiga, Jonas Bloquet, and Bonnie Aarons. Directed by: Corin Hardy.