The Nun Movie Review: A few predictable jumpscares and that's it

A collection of genre clichés, The Nun follows an elderly magician (Demian Bicher) and a young novitiate (Taissa Farmiga) worked together to investigate the apparent suicide of a nun at a remote nunnery in Romania. Both of them immediately have to face with an outrage demon bent on terrorising the residents of the secluded convent and the closeby village.

Tepid jump-scare tactics, a murky visual aesthetic and a deafening soundtrack merely induce feelings of déjà vu. Faux-religious iconography abounds and the protagonists go through the familiar motions of throwing themselves into harm’s way repeatedly as they stumble towards the overwrought finale.

This film is a jump-scare fest. The writing lacks substance and ends up being a poor origin story with: a rushed introduction that comes off as choppy, a messy middle with little plot consisting of jump scares that become exhausting and predictable because of its abundance, and a bizarre and over the top ending. The characters are wooden and over the course of the movie do not show much dynamic.

The story is basic, the timing of humor is laughable and the excessive amount of screentime - for that which petrified us with hardly any in the Conjuring movies - makes the Nun into something we hoped it wouldn't be. And unfortunately the great scenery, actually horrifying scenes and amazing soundtrack just can't lift this movie beyond 'just another horror movie'.