The Nun (2018) in depth review:

So when I was about to watch the nun, I was prepared to not be impressed by the movie because I felt let down by Annabelle before, so this movie surpassed my expectations in that it was actually entertaining and a good movie, but it wasn’t the horror movie it was supposed to be.

The movie takes place in Romania in 1952, and the story starts off with two nuns who are looking for an ancient Christian relic within the Saint Cartha’s Monastery. However, their journey is cut short when one nun is killed by an evil force within the Monastery which causes the other nun to commit suicide to ensure that whatever evil is in the Monastery is contained within it.

This event reaches the Vatican, who summon Father Burke to investigate this incident alongside Sister Irene, who has been experiencing visions of a nun. The two travel to Romania and are met with Frenchie, who delivers groceries to the Abbey, who then leads them to the Abbey.

Before leading them to the Abbey, something interesting that crossed my mind was this scene where Sister Irene and the Father put their luggage on this truck accidentally. Instead of having a normal number plate number, the name Valak is written on the number plate instead, which is the demon in the movie, and in the Conjuring 2.

After this, the movie just takes a downward spiral but becomes a bit more interesting to watch. When the Father and Sister Irene enter the Abbey, they talk to the ‘Abbess’, a female superior of the community of nuns, yet she isn’t a nun at all, its very clear that its an evil entity but the Father just talks to her as if this entity is actually a human being. I’m sorry, but if I enter an Abbey and see this then I would honestly run. However, this is one of the many instances where the Father just shows how incompetent he is which takes away any feelings of fear from the movie itself.

It’s important to note that Frenchie at this point was returning home from the Abbey when this was occurring and when he actually ran away from the entity instead of trying to fight it, I was actually relieved. It felt like a breath of fresh air when for once, the horror movie isn’t so predictable.

Oh, and its also important to mention that the Father and Sister Irene do have a conversation in the Abbey, and he mentions a boy who he performed and exorcism on and Sister Irene mentions visions about a nun stating that “Mary leads the way.” However, things turn South when the Father is buried alive in the forest because he thought he saw the boy and was following him into the forest.

I would’ve ignored that act of his if it wasn’t for him acting like it was a normal instance the next day, where he just picks up a book to read about the Abbey itself, whilst Sister Irene wanders off and somehow finds nuns that are apparently praying constantly to ensure that the evil entity doesn’t leave the Abbey. All I could think about was where did these nuns come from and how is she not afraid? She wanders off, meets some nuns, and just shrugs off everything and just talks to them as if the previous night didn’t happen.

She discovers that during the middle ages the Abbey was originally a castle, and the duke in charge summoned a demon through the rift in the catacombs but was killed by Christian knights. It was sealed with a vial filled with the blood of Christ, and the perpetual praying is what helped keep demon at bay. However, the events of WW2 and the bombings led to the rift opening, unleashing the evil entity again.

I have to say though, the scene where all the nuns were praying sent chills down my spine, I loved this scene because there was an overwhelming sense of connection and unity.

Never fear! The Father strikes again and by reading he discovers that the Abbess was dead and that he was talking to Valak. He, alongside Frenchie who returns to help reunite with Sister Irene, who discovers that she was in fact praying alone and that the nuns never existed in the first place. This encounter makes Sister Irene realise that she wants to be a nun and takes her vows in the Abbey’s chapel.

I felt like the movie was dragging itself at this point, and the whole ordeal from Frenchie escaping Valak in the forest to this point could’ve been cut down and not been so slow paced, as it meant that the ending had to be rushed.

Basically, the Father strikes again in being useless and gets knocked out by Valak, meaning that Irene has to defeat Valak with the help of Frenchie. Was I surprised at this point? No, not at all. The Father throughout the whole movie was honestly useless and the whole movie could’ve happened without him.

Moving on swiftly, Irene does defeat Valak using the blood of Christ, but before Valak is defeated, it marks Frenchie, and ultimately is what possesses him, which is quite sad because I loved him! The ending was the opening for the Conjuring 2, showing Ed and Lorraine Warren performing an exorcism on him, whereby she sees Valak and later the vision of Ed dying in the Conjuring 2.

Overall, I loved a few scenes from this film, but I was disappointed because of the lack of horror and how dragged out some scenes were. I feel like to make a movie compelling you need a pretty good backstory, and I think that if James Wan directed this movie instead, then it would’ve come out a lot better! But I also give credit to director Corin Hardy because it was still a good film :)

I rate this movie as a confused Wendy meme: