If you're at all into the horror movie scene, you might have noticed that, in recent years, there's been something of a shift in both the style of and attitude towards horror movies. It seems like, for much of the past 20 or so years, the horror scene has been overrun by bloody gore flicks - think the Saw and Final Destination franchises, Hostel, Wolf Creek. While these will forever hold their place in history as iconic flicks that you watch far too young at sleepovers and give yourself grisly nightmares for a week, they don't really hold on to the heart of horror. That is to say, they seek mostly to disgust and repulse rather than genuinely frighten and unsettle. This was, of course, followed by the altogether lacklustre "found footage" based-on-a-true-story-but-not-really trend of the early 2010s (I'm sorry, but Paranormal Activity was utter bollocks and I won't be told otherwise). Thankfully, however, as the 2010s have worn on we've seemed to see a return to the roots of what made horror great - genuinely unnerving, unsettling films that don't just rely on blood and guts to put the shits up their audience. 

The Conjuring franchise is a series I feel best exemplifies horror's recent return to greatness. Directed by director/producer/writer extraodinaire James Wan, the titular films of the franchise have managed to strike a perfect balance between using the "based on a true story" trope and not relying on it solely for the fear factor. I'm a gal who loves a really good demonic possession film, and The Conjuring franchise really seemed to echo the days of yore (i.e. the 1970s and 80s) in which demon flicks had their peak. I was in love with the series from the first film and, while the Annabelle movies didn't really do it for me, I was more than a little excited for the release of The Nun and booked tickets to see it on opening night as soon as they were available at my nearest cinema. 

I'm happy to announce that I wasn't at all disappointed. The story follows a troubled priest named Father Burke (Demián Bichir) and a young novitiate, Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) as they travel to a Romanian abbey to investigate the apparent suicide of one of the convent's nuns. While there, they meet with a local known as Frenchie (Jonas Bloquet), who discovered the dead nun's body while making his daily supply delivery. As one would expect with such a film, all is not as it appears and there is much more sinister activity afoot. 

The greatest strength the film offers is the marvellous casting, with strong performances all round. Especially compelling is the performance of Taissa Farmiga as leading lady - though this should perhaps not be at all surprising, giving that she is the younger sister of Vera Farmiga, star of the first two Conjuring movies and something of a veteran of the silver screen at that point. Acting talent clearly runs in the Farmiga blood, as her performance is easily on par with that of her sister. Demián Bichir, as ever, provides a gripping performances as the troubled and surly Father Burke, and the film also has some scenes of comic relief thanks to Belgian dreamboat Jonas Bloquet's "Frenchie". I only hope, should subsequent movies in the same cinematic universe as The Nun be released, that we see the three of them return to the screen again. 

The atmospherics of the movie can also be applauded for their delicious creepiness. The score (composed by Abel Korzeniowski) manages to reflect everything that was great about those of classic horror without feeling trite, cliché or overdone. This wonderfully eerie soundtrack, coupled with some genuinely frightening imagery makes for an air of unease and fear that is rare in recent films. In particular, I enjoyed the physical appearance of the film's titular villain. "The Nun" herself is something of a horrifying demonic creature whose appearance - particularly facially - hits that sweet spot of being almost-but-not-quite-human, and is just animal enough to be genuinely frightening. 

All that praise in mind, even the greatest of films has its weak spots. For The Nun that, unfortunately, comes in the form of the film's logical inconsistencies. I like to keep my reviews spoiler free, so I won't say too much on that, but I will say that some parts of the film make little to no sense given prior scenes. The storytelling is also a rather lazy and incoherent in places, leaving a few glaring plot holes and requiring some post-watching thought to really get it to all fall into place. 

That said, the film was altogether thoroughly enjoyable from the perspective of your average horror movie fan. It doesn't rely solely on gore or jumpscares to be frightening, though it isn't without its fair share of both - if you're sensitive to either of those things, you may want to approach the film with caution. Also be aware that a suicide is depicted in the film rather graphically and there are heavy themes of the religion and the occult. Again, if you are sensitive to or upset by any of this, this may not be the movie for you. Overall, I'd rate it a total of 8/10.

Thanks for reading, 

Keep it weird,

Jazz xo