UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA
KAMPUS REMBAU, NEGERI SEMBILAN
FACULTY OF COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA STUDIES
BRO 551- BROADCAST CRITIQUE
TITTLE:
REVIEW ON THE RELIGIOUS FILM ‘THE NUN’
PREPARED BY:
SITI NUR BAKYAAH BINTI JURAIMI
2018225976
GROUP:
MC243S3A
PREPARED FOR:
MADAM NURUL AISHAH BINTI AB RAMAN
FILM: THE NUN (2018)
DIRECTOR: CORIN HARDY
CAST: DEMIÁN BICHIR, TAISSA FARMIGA, JONAS BLOQUET, BONNIE AARONS, CHARLOTTE HOPE, INGRID BISU

THE NUN is an American hybrid genre movie that will be released on 2018. The movie contains two genres which are a combination of supernatural horror genre and the religious genre that have been hybrid together become one movie. The movie is directed by Corin Hardy and written by Gary Dauberman based on the story that was made by Dauberman and James Wan. The Nun has been made as a continuation after The Conjuring 2 and also the new add on movie in The Conjuring Universe Franchise. The Conjuring Universe is a franchise where there is a whole series of horror supernatural series produced by a few production companies and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The production that has been involved in this franchise is New Line Cinema, The Safran Company and Atomic Monster Productions.

Little that some viewer didn’t know that there’s another film also been called The Nun been publish in 2005 which also has same hybrid of horror and religious genre but in Spanish language. The Nun 2018 focus more on the demonic nun that want to be free while the 2005 one is about ruthless and brutal nun converted boarding school into a living nightmare for her pupils, before they could no longer stand the violence, and she suddenly disappeared. Then the alumnae are systematically killed one by one. So, there’s a different story between this two films that viewer can compare and give their own opinion about the story especially about the contents of both film that different although it related with the character of the nun.

The Nun is a story between a Roman Catholic priest and a nun at her noviciate uncovering an unholy truth in Romania in 1952. The priest played by Demián Bichir as Father Burke and the nun played by Taissa Farmiga as Sister Irene. The Satan Nun or been known as Valak played by Bonnie Aarons. The lesser key of Solomon described demon Valak or Ualac as an angel-winged child riding a two-headed serpent, credited to the ability to search for treasures. Different in this film, it’s described Valak as a demonic nun that connected with snakes, pursuing human control to flee from her imprisonment in the Cartha monastery of Romania.

Since the film contains a hybrid genre combination of horror and religious, me as a reviewer will focus on the religious genre. The reason why I focus on religious because the film begins at a cloistered abbey of St. Carta in Romania where there’s two Romanian catholic nuns with the old key go into the old tunnel to recover an ancient Christian relic where the end of the tunnel there is the door that have Latin word ‘Finite hic Deo’ meaning Gods End Here. When one of the old nun attacked by an unseen evil force and she ends up dying while the surviving nun, Sister Victoria tries to escape from the attacker by hangs herself so that the dark evil can’t possess her. This scene shows the loyalty of a nun to protect his holiness to his religion by taking her own life although the suicide is a terrible sin for all religions.

This film contains more religious genre when it’s involved the official bishops in Vatican City. Which is when the officials realize that what the nun did is a sin and ask the priest, Father Burke with noviciate nun, Sister Irene to investigate the case. It’s showed that to protect the dignity of religion, the official bishops also can be involved. Not only that, it’s also show that even bishop suspect that something is actually happening that make they want both of them to investigate it. The longer the viewer watch the film, there’s more cross sign that can be seen in this film. The reason for more cross sign to be showed because the director wants the viewer to understand that the whole film relates to Christianity.

Since The Nun is a story during 1952 I think that the setup already bring the vibe that they want to give such as the unfinished basement with all damp comb web, and the old castle that become monastery and the old grave surround the monastery that not only bring 50’s style but also bring the fear feeling. Regarding all of this I think that the basement could be little bit remodeling or maybe the nun might want it to be remodeling so that it’s can been see like someone live at there. Seeing the old basement and the surrounding it’s felt like the monastery really shuttered further from the rest of the world. That’s why the villager near the abbey say that the place got some bad lucks or evil vibe.

The content of story in The Nun is different with a normal horror religious film in Malaysia. The Nun contain different variations of mandatory religion-themed scares which is being buried alive, a sinister confessional, a weeping figure, an unexpected exorcism, a sacred relic, a portcullis, a hollow habit of its own control, a rumbling of wind in the trees on a dark night, a mysterious space that exists beyond the influence of the Almighty. Malaysia film normally contain a hatred and jealousy society that bring to revenge using the satanism and shaman that in the end ask a help from some people who good in religion such as Imam and Ustaz. This kind of film also usually has a scene where people eat some disgusting things without realize it. So, there’s different between The Nun and common Malaysia horror religious film.

As we know that The Nun is a western film, the style of their cinematographic is different with Malaysia. When it’s comes to hybrid horror and religious genre, Malaysia film will only focus on night so they should be played more on lighting but it’s harder to make the lighting look natural. While in this film the lighting looks natural even at night especially during the scene where Father Burk trap in the coffin. Although normally the coffin is always dark but to make sure that viewer see the scene, they use a dim lighting with more suspend sound effect to make sure the viewer not only focus on what they watch but also what they hear to feel a whole scene. The cons of this kind of things are too much jump scared that make them use a technological method to instilling scared rather than a deeper perception of terror.

That is why the camera setup and movement for this film is not a wowed than I expect it to be. The reason is why is that they still use a common scene when people been pulled into the dark. For those who always been a fan of the Conjuring Universe film, that kind of scene is not scared anymore. We can see all common shots that this movie always does which is close-up and wide shot that usually always been used in horror religious film. Since they use common shot and setup, the viewer can’t focus on some catholic words that been talk on the scene. While for Malaysian film they love to do a lot of experiment when it’s come to shot. They will play with any kinds of shot that makes people more excited to watch it even if it little bit weird shot.

The language that been used in this film overall using American English but since the film related with Roman Catholic, so some Latin word also been used that made me understand a bit about Latin word. For example, some Latin that been used in the beginning of story at the door that written Gods End Here in Latin. Other than that, they have used some Christian jargon that unfortunately not many viewer include me understand of it. I think they should put a lot more subtitle in the scene where the nuns recite prayer so will be more understand what the nuns pray of. For those who are Christian might be understand even when the nun recite prayer quickly but not everyone.

In my opinion, there’s certain things that I more prefer Malaysia horror religious film than The Nun. Such as Munafik 2, they explain about the religious as much as they show about horror that make the viewer more understand about the film. They explain who the cult is and how the cult been created. While The Nun, the only content about religious that can be understood is about the role of Nun, Priest and Bishops. Other information also likes between the real nun and the noviciate nun they been differentiated by avowed. The also not explain more about how Valak can be evil and so on. In Munafik 2 they even showed how they pray, recite a prayer and a lot more about Islam. The only thing we can be sure that The Nun related to catholic is by a lot of cross sign and the outfit that the nun and priest wear. Although there’s a few times they recite a prayer, and it’s always the same word been repeated throughout the film.

There’s something that shocks me as a viewer that when the producer decides to put some love line between Sister Irene and Frenchie played by Jonas Bloquet. Although we can sure that Sister will not fall in love with Frenchie because her dedication and faithful towards her God. We can say that her life’s only for her God but some of the viewer like me still hope there’s some continuation romance between both of them. The reason why reviewer think about that because we can see how dedicated Frenchie especially when Irene becomes temporarily possessed, but Frenchie manages to lay enough blood on her to save her. Even when Valak unleashes some mysterious power on Frenchie he still tried hard to save her. It might be because of common sense that he needs to save her but for some people, it feels like a really romantic move to save someone he loves from the dark evil.
Me as a reviewer realizes there’s some spiritual elements that can be seen in this film especially when there is an old relic, cross and the holy water also blood been used to trap evil. As we can see there’s some Christ statue on the the cross where some of it already don’t have the head is everywhere near the hallway, tunnel and around the monastery even there’s some at the graveyard. That’s why I feel weird when some of the villagers said that the place keeps the evil, but they never mention that all the cross might be actually keep the evil from out of that place. That’s might be the spin-off that I can see in this film.


Based on this film, what I can see that The Nun is a good story to watch for everyone. Different for someone who always watching all the Conjuring Universe collection I think it’s a little bland and boring for me. I think it can be better if there’s a lot more different style of horror that they can show. Since the Valak look like the nun, I hope they can explain more about the existence of Valak either it’s really come from the wrong practice of religion that lead to Satanism? I think it’s true that the devil has come from the wrong practice of religion. I hope it can explain more about the identity of Valak more clearly for the viewer from the early of film! Not during middle of story where we expect to be more climax or some exciting scene.
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Film review the nun