Colin Hardy’s “The Nun” is a chilling horror movie about a nun named Sister Irene who is called to a monastery in Romania to investigate the suicide of another nun. “The Nun” is a spin-off of director James Wan’s successful “Conjuring” movie series.

The budget for this film was about $22 million and it made over $50 million in box office sales just in its first week, surpassing past “Conjuring” movies first week sales. Despite the commercial success, it has received many mixed reviews. Movie review websites like Rotten Tomatoes have given the movie a low rating because many critics think the project is gimmicky. Horror movie fans as well as critics feel the story was underdeveloped and that the “jump scare” tactic that most horror movies use was too repetitive. Mostly, audiences who saw the film felt that it wasn’t scary enough compared to other films that have come from “The Conjuring” franchise. Whereas, other websites like Fandango have raving reviews of the movie. Fandango critics say that the flick “…was so scary that I almost got up and walked out” and “Exceeds expectations!”

My honest opinion of the movie was that it was decent, but I still had a hard time placing it on the same level as the others before it. I’m not a huge horror movie fan, but what I do know is that if I pay to see a scary movie, I need it to be scary. “The Nun” had a solid story and for the most part kept me interested in wanting to know more about what kind of demon they were dealing with. The movie lacks a bit of suspense. The demon pop up scares were predictable every time and took away from the ‘edge of your seat’ feeling all scary movies need to have in order to be deemed a worthy horror film.

The characters in appearance and acting were spot on. Bonnie Aarons played the demon Valak and had an eerie look to her that translated well on screen and gave her character that demonic presence. Taissa Farmiga, who played Sister Irene, looked the part of a nun, innocent and pure.
Another positive aspect of the film was the monastery itself seemed very accurate and fit well within the plot. The scenery makes the viewer feel like it really is set in Romania.

On a scale from one to ten, “The Nun” deserves a solid six. However, the majority of the points are coming from the story and not how scary it was.