The 2018 horror film, “The Nun,” is terrifying to say the least and will haunt your nightmares. This movie was directed by Corin Hardy who also directed the 2015 movie “The Hallow.” “The Nun” stars Taissa Farmiga, who is best known for her roles in American Horror Story, Bonnie Aarons, who is best known from her roles in “The Conjuring 2” and “The Fighter”, Demián Bichir, who is best known for his roles in “The Hateful Eight” and “A Better Life”, and Jonas Bloquet, who is best known for his roles in “Elle” and “3 Days To Kill”. This haunting film explains the origins of the nun who appeared in the “Conjuring” and “Annabelle” movies. She was frightening in those movies but knowing from where she originates makes it all the more terrifying.
The movie is set in Romania in 1952 and begins with two nuns who encounter an unspeakably evil entity at the Cârța monastery; there are no survivors. Responding to this event, the Vatican sends priest Father Burke (Demián Bichir) and a young nun in training, Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga), to investigate and solve any problems. They arrive at the monastery with the assistance of a friendly villager, Frenchie (Jonas Bloquet), and they begin their investigation.
Strange things keep happening to the group that cannot be simply explained as “a trick of the eye” or “just the wind” and it only escalates from there. They then come face-to-face with the nun and learn that they must find a way to seal away the evil if they want to leave alive.
The setting of this movie was what made this movie so terrifying to me. In Romania at the time during the movie, they still use horses and carriages to travel and did not have easy access to electricity, and that scared me, because in that situation they could not easily call for help. The movie was always tinted gray, seeming like a storm would start at any minute, and the scenery in the monastery was beyond scary. Outside of the monastery were headstones everywhere, and the monastery itself was old and falling apart and seemed to scream “haunted.” There were a lot of jump scares, but they were not overwhelming and if you have seen any of “The Conjuring” or the “Annabelle” movies, you know how the directors like to use jump scares.
The plot was interesting and was unlike most horror movies by the paranormal events that happened during the movie. There were a lot more sightings of supernatural beings than most of the horror movies that I have seen and that is what set this movie apart from others. It was hard to tell what was real and what was not, and who was who they say they are. This movie is a part of a movie franchise with “The Conjuring” and “Annabelle” movies, and it may be a bit hard to follow if you have not seen any of those movies before. Overall this movie was creepy, and it is worth watching if you like horror movies.