By JASON GUYER
iRate
In the summer of 2013, “The Conjuring,” one of the scariest films from the last decade, came out.“The Conjuring” had such an immersive story that it has developed into its own universe, The Conjuring universe. Currently there are five film entries into this universe:“The Conjuring” 1 & 2, “Annabelle,” “Annabelle: Creation, a short called “The Nurse” and now “The Nun.”
“The Nun” stars Taissa Farmiga as Sister Irene and Demián Bichir as Father Burke. Sister Irene and Father Burke head to Romania to investigate a cloistered convent where a young nun has taken her own life. Burke, who is a priest with a haunted past, and Sister Irene who is a novitiate on the threshold of her final vows go to Romania only to uncover the order’s unholy secret. As the pair risk their lives, their faith and their very souls when they confront a malevolent force that is haunting the abbey in the form of a demonic nun.
Father Burke is the all too familiar character of the haunted priest who is shunned by the Vatican (until needed) and who is chosen for the haunting that no one wants to admit or deal with. The best version of this character is Father Merrin from “The Exorcist.”
Demián Bichir’s Father Burke and his version of that character type is no Father Merrin. Although he may be no Father Merrin, Bichir does give one of the better performances of this character type in years. In “The Nun,” Father Burke brings clarity and a grounded wisdom that helps make the haunting feel like something natural that occurs often.
The purpose Father Burke’s character serves is an aspect of horror films, especially hauntings or ghost stories, that is often lost in these types of films, and that is believability. Ghosts and hauntings are not real, but any good story or storyteller can and should make it feel real. One of the best ways to do that is with “the master” character, the person who knows all, has seen all, and deals with all on a regular basis.“The Nun” accomplishes this with Demián Bichir’s Father Burke.
Taissa Farmiga as Sister Irene serves a different purpose in the film “The Nun.” Farmiga’s Sister Irene is the heart and soul of “The Nun.” While Father Burke helps you to believe the story in “The Nun,” Farmiga’s acting and character in “The Nun” is one that makes you feel the film and the films story. If you get scared during “The Nun,” it is because Sister Irene is scared, if you get angry it is because Sister Irene is angry.
Farmiga is no stranger to the horror genre as she has played the roles of Zoe Benson / Violet Harmon / Sophie Green in televisions “American Horror Story” and that works in her favor in “The Nun.” Farmiga and Sister Irene carry “The Nun” and are the reason you will take anything remotely good away from “The Nun.”
Farmiga is not perfect and sometimes her character seems bored or put off by what is going on around her but she delivers in the moments that matter. One of the best scenes in the film is when Sister Irene is praying in the chapel inside the Romanian convent. The scene is creepy in setting and Farmiga plays the scene accordingly and is creeped out and scared at all the right moments.
The most prominent and the best character in “The Nun” is the setting. A Romanian convent circa 1952 was a wonderful choice for the setting of this film. Although, what else would you choose with a film called “The Nun.”
The abbey/convent they chose is as creepy a setting as you can get in a horror film. The demure convent is set against dark and gray tones that cast a haunting shadow over the convent.
Along with the convent, “The Nun” has a very simple story and normally simple stories are bad for films. However, in certain cases the opposite is true and horror films are one of them, especially horror films about hauntings. In a setting where you are already asking the viewer to believe in fantastic and unbelievable things like hauntings or ghosts, also asking the viewer to believe in some convoluted or over exaggerated story line is often asking too much.“The Nun” keeps the story simple and as straightforward as possible. The story behind the film and the convent, the convent itself, and the two lead characters that visit the convent all combine to give “The Nun” a great haunting feel.
“The Nun” will not scare many people; it does very little to get the jump from the audience and I for one find that to be a wonderful experience. The jump scare has become an overused and often cheap tactic to make a film seem scary and I am not sure there is a scene or scenario where any jump scare in “The Nun” could have beat the pop gun scene in “Annabelle: Creation” or even have come close to it.
This installment does add to the mythos of The Conjuring universe however, and it does so by doing one aspect of filmmaking better than the rest, atmosphere.“The Nun” is atmospherically creepy” and that is its best aspect.
IRATE SCORE: 3/5
Jason Guyer is an avid moviegoer and works in the Graphics Department at the Eagle Times. For questions or comments he can be emailed at [email protected]
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