The Conjuring Universe is now up to its fifth movie with The Nun, the spin-off of 2016’s The Conjuring 2.
Directed by Corin Hardy in his Conjuring debut, it traces the origins of Valak (aka the demonic Nun from The Conjuring 2) back to early-’50s Romania, where Demián Bichir’s Father Burke and Taissa Farmiga’s Sister Irene have come to investigate the strange death at the Cârța Monastery.
But although we certainly expect it to be proper frightening, especially given it had an advert pulled by YouTube after viewers complained it was too scary, is The Nun actually any good?
We’ve rounded up the reviews and while Farmiga’s performance has been praised, most of the critics just aren’t feeling this scarefest…
Digital Spy
“The Nun is a good-looking film (barring the odd dodgy lighting effects) with some strong design elements including a graveyard full of the least-reassuring crucifixes we’ve ever seen. But you’ll wait in vain for Hardy to take advantage of all he’s got and deliver some genuine scares. Let’s hope the future Conjuring movies don’t make a habit of it.”
Variety
“It certainly knows all of the tools of the trade – slowly turning crosses upside-down, casting ominous shadows, switching on old-timey radios, emerging from walls to grab terrified novitiates from behind, only to let go as soon as they scream. But as for its endgame, it doesn’t seem to have much in mind beyond punking the local clergy.”
The Hollywood Reporter
“Sister Irene, Father Burke and Frenchie eventually reunite for an underground confrontation that plays out like a sequence from a Mummy movie, complete with flaming torches and even the odd quip, courtesy of the roguish Bloquet. But it’s Farmiga who emerges as the film’s plucky beating heart, in a breakout performance good enough to make you forget her uncanny likeness to big sis.”
IGN
“While there’s certainly fun to be had here and there, it often feels like The Nun is trying to skate by on name recognition and good looks alone, leaving us with an undeniably superficial ride, albeit an entertaining one, through what the posters bill as the darkest chapter of Conjuring history.”
Entertainment Weekly
“Nothing stands out as uniquely memorable or iconic. But when it leans into its camp, (I.e. when the French-Canadian “Frenchie” is on screen), The Nun comes closest to its ideal form of go-to midnight-movie, the fun younger cousin of the Conjuring movies with less build-up but more of the money shots you’ll come to a theater to see.”
Rolling Stone
“True horror requires anticipation to work properly, but it’s hard to anticipate anything when everything’s already being thrown at us. The dread dissipates. Our screams become nothing but weary sighs.”
The New York Times
“The franchise has proved to be a reliable if variably elegant “boo” machine; the same applies here. Specters and hallucinations appear without consistent narrative logic. Characters veer off separately when teamwork might reduce brushes with demons or death.”
The Nun opens on Friday (September 7) in the UK and the US.
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