‘The Nun’ Review: Creepy Score but Little Else

The Conjuring universe has had its fair shares of ups and downs, with the original The Conjuring still being miles ahead of everyone else in terms of horror quality. I still can’t get invested into its Annabelle spin-offs, for instance, despite the creepiness of the porcelain doll. The Nun is the latest addition to the franchise and marks the return of the demon possessed nun who made her debut in The Conjuring 2. While better than Annabelle, The Nun still struggles to achieve the level of fright the original The Conjuring had, favoring quick jump scares and trying to connect to the bigger overall film universe.

Following a nun’s apparent suicide at the Cârța Monastery in Romania, the Vatican sends Father Burke (Demián Bichir) and Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) to investigate the mysteries surrounding her death. With the help of the local resident who found the body, Maurice “Frenchie” Theriault (Jonas Bloquet), they’re able to get to the Monastery, but almost immediately they’re greeted by strange happenings. There’s an evil lurking within its halls, and it wants out by any means possible.

If you’re a fan of the Conjuring universe and have following along with the rest of the film then you’re in for much of the same with The Nun. There’s plenty of blatantly obvious jump scares, dark shadows that mess with your mind, and back-and-forth pans that reveal what was lurking in said shadows. If you enjoy all of that then that’s great, but personally I was hoping for something better. I wasn’t scared as much as I was bored. Horror has gotten a lot smarter in recent years with films like Hereditary, A Quiet Place, Get Out, and IT, but The Nun feels like its rehashing old scares. Five years ago that might have been fine, but now it just doesn’t cut it.

The Nun does tie back into the whole Conjuring lore but honestly I didn’t remember much besides the nun/demon Valak itself. There’s no “a-ha” moment that connects with the other films; just little bits and pieces of archival footage that make it apparent that this is within the same universe. Everything the characters do lacks intelligence. I will say that the score is very good and wonderfully captures the eeriness of the monastery and there are some enjoyable moments. Still, I the scene I enjoyed the most was when the end credits began to roll.