


The Nun Movie Wearing A
Instead, Maxime Alexandre ( Annabelle: Creation) serves up cinematography so dim and grey that it threatens to strain the eyes. The latter is one of the more ridiculous inclusions, and inspires a moment seemingly ripped from a film with more comedic self-awareness than this grimly serious effort ever musters when Frenchie exclaims “holy shit!”, Father Burke counters “yes, the holiest”.Also hindering rather than helping is Hardy’s insistence that dark, murky images inherently impart a chilling sheen, especially if they’re cloaking crosses, altars, vestments, quivering nuns-to-be and stalking demons in shadow. The young actress also boasts a credible student/teacher rapport with Bichir, who gives his role more gravitas than the material ever calls for — another rare highlight in what swiftly dives into inane, illogical, almost-amusing B-movie territory.No sooner have Bichir’s priest and Farmiga’s nun-in-training talked Frenchie into escorting them to the abbey, wandering through eerie woods and a crucifix-strewn cemetery to get there, than Hardy and screenwriter Gary Dauberman ( Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation, IT) lay their cards on the table: despite the emphasis placed upon its eponymous figure (Bonnie Aarons), also known as the demon Valak, The Nun is essentially a haunted house movie wearing a perturbing habit.Finding it difficult to track down the convent’s remaining living inhabitants, Irene and Burke are swiftly left wandering around the sprawling building, trying to ascertain the cause of the sinister chaos, as things keep going bump in the night.As formulaic as it sounds, the narrative’s by-the-numbers approach can’t conjure up sustained interest or patch over the messiness, with Dauberman connecting the storyline to ancient evil, the Second World War and the blood of Jesus.
Of course, a sequel to The Nun has already been floated by Wan, although not officially slated as yet — however a third Annabelle movie is due in 2019, a third Conjuring installment is a matter of when rather than if, and yet another spinoff, The Crooked Man, is also in development. The end result feels like an exercise in joining obvious franchise dots and paving the way for future films.
