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“The Conjuring” universe has been a staple of the horror community since its creation in 2013, with its writers slowly expanding upon the different evils that real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren had to face. On Friday, September 7, a new addition to the series called The Nun was released. The film is meant to elaborate on the origin story of the demon, Valak, that we see in The Conjuring 2.

In the beginning of the movie, Father Burke and Sister Irene, played by Demián Bichir and Taissa Farmiga, are called by the Vatican to investigate the suicide of a nun in Romania. They are accompanied by a French villager who goes by “Frenchie,” played by Jonas Bloquet, to show them the way to the abbey, which is also a castle. The audience immediately finds out that the villagers who live near the abbey have deemed it as cursed and believe that there is a horrible evil inside.

From start to end, the trio is tormented by the spirits within the abbey as they investigate why the nun may have killed herself and delve further into the past of the castle. The audience is tormented, too, with jump scares that will probably still have you feeling prickles underneath your skin while you’re driving home. It also ties neatly into the other movies in a way that should be satisfying to fans of this universe.

However, while the movie does succeed in being creepy and will probably give you at least one good scare, some of the acting leaves something to be desired, and, without giving spoilers, the last battle with Valak is disappointing. Towards the end, the film tried to mix in humor with horror. While it worked sometimes, other times it just took away from the suspense of the situation and the build up of the end of the movie. Also, while Frenchie definitely has his lovable moments, he failed to be as freaked out as he probably should have been. He was merely a villager, after all, who had never dealt with the supernatural before.

All in all, The Nun is probably not the best movie in The Conjuring universe, but it isn’t an all bad one, either. It has strong points in its story, it’s creepy and suspenseful and for anyone that wants to expand their knowledge of The Conjuring universe, this would definitely be a good film to go see. So if you and your friends are looking for a movie to see this weekend, The Nun maybe shouldn’t be your first choice, but it would definitely make a strong second.

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