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Review: ‘The Nun’ Is An Enlightening Experience In ScreenX
One of the biggest success stories in mainstream horror the past few years has been The Conjuring film franchise. The supernatural horror series following The Warrens and their encounters with the unknown has managed to grow with spin-off films of sinister elements and characters, starting with Annabelle, and continuing with The Conjuring 2‘s featured villain, The Nun.
A prequel, the story takes place in post-war Romania circa 1952. A local deliveryman, Frenchie (Jonas Bloque, Elle) discovers a nun hung to death on the steps of an ancient abbey. Notifying The Vatican, they dispatch ‘miracle hunter’ Father Burke (Demián Bichir, Alien: Covenant) and young Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga, The Final Girls) who supposedly has some sort of connection to the area. Traveling to the foreboding abbey, they slowly discover that the nunnery is holding secrets of biblical proportions and is home to the demon, Valak… the titular Nun.
The Nun was a stand-out character of The Conjuring 2, so anticipation was high for a sequel revolving around the nefarious nun. Directed by Corin Hardy of 2015’s Irish supernatural horror movie, The Hallow, which seems like a natural fit. For the most part, the movie works in terms of aesthetic and themes. The sinister abbey that’s the setting for a majority of the film has a creepy presence and decor, that despite taking place in 1952, gives things a medieval feeling. The grounds around the nunnery being a large graveyard, complete with still attached bells for any poor soul that gets buried alive… foreshadowing a particular scare.
In a lot of ways, I felt The Nun was in homage to many euro-horror creators. The style of the castle and eerie, misty graveyards brought to mind the gothic landscapes of Hammer Films. The hanged nun, supernaturally disturbed eyes, and infernal figures were evocative fo Lucio Fulci. Specifically his ‘Gates Of Hell’ trilogy of The Beyond, City Of The Living Dead, and The House By The Cemetery and his lesser known ‘nunsploitation’ film, Demonia. Without spoiling things, a major plot point felt gleamed from Tales From The Crypt: Demon Knight. The pedigree rather clearly shows, but with enough for The Nun to stand on its own. Featuring some cool frights involving ghoulish or faceless nuns and mad visions.
The cast really shines through as well with our main trio. Bichir as a priest tortured by a past exorcism gone wrong, Bloque as the lighthearted Frenchie and his genuine reactions to hellish horror, and Farmiga as the shaken novitate nun, Irene. Oddly, despite Taissa Farmiga being the sister of Vera Farmiga who plays Lorraine Warren in the main Conjuring films, there’s never any real connection made in-story. And of course, Bonnie Aarons as the sinister sister, Valak. A force of fearful nature in every scene she appears in her ‘true’ form.
The largest fault of the film is unfortunately underutilizing the titular demonic nun. Every time Valak, The Nun in question appears it’s always memorable. But it appears in different forms in many scenes, which is cool for shaking things up, but just having Valak bringing more terror in it’s main image would have been preferable. While the movie does provide some good frights, it falters at certain points from tone and pay-off. This entry in The Conjuring verse is oddly more comical than some of the other stories, and while some jokes pay-off, things veer a bit more toward action/adventure in the climax which depresses the potential horror.
I was able to see The Nun in ScreenX, a cinematic format where the feature includes an expansion of the silver screen to 270 degrees by addition of the walls of the theater. Being a fan of the William Castle gimmicks of old, this did nothing but enhance my viewing experience, especially for a horror movie such as this with wide environments. It only activates during certain, more scare/action oriented scenes and it expands upon it. Like seeing an even wider landscape of graves or a montage of death bells ringing and the encroaching horror just in the corners of your eyes. Despite whatever flaws the movie may have, ScreenX certainly was a positive addition to the experience.
While there are definitely some faults to be had with the film, The Nun is an entertaining gothic horror movie to behold and worth a watch, especially if you’re a Conjuring fan wanting some more connections between the series
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Watch ‘The Burning’ At The Location Where It Was Filmed
Fangoria is reporting that fans of the 1981 slasher The Burning will be able to have a screening of the film at the location where it was filmed. The movie is set at Camp Blackfoot which is actually the Stonehaven Nature Preserve in Ransomville, New York.
This ticketed event will take place on August 3. Guests will be able to take a tour of the grounds as well as enjoy some campfire snacks along with the screening of The Burning.
The film came out in the early ’80s when teen slashers were being churned out in magnum force. Thanks to Sean S. Cunningham’s Friday the 13th, filmmakers wanted to get in on the low-budget, high-profit movie market and a casket load of these types of films were produced, some better than others.
The Burning is one of the good ones, mostly because of the special effects from Tom Savini who had just come off of his groundbreaking work on Dawn of the Dead and Friday the 13th. He declined to do the sequel because of its illogical premise and instead signed on to do this movie. Also, a young Jason Alexander who would later go on to play George in Seinfeld is a featured player.
Because of its practical gore, The Burning had to be heavily edited before it received an R-rating. The MPAA was under the thumb of protest groups and political bigwigs to censor violent films at the time because slashers were just so graphic and detailed in their gore.
Tickets are $50, and if you want a special t-shirt, that will cost you another $25, You can get all the information by visiting the On Set Cinema webpage.
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‘Longlegs’ Creepy “Part 2” Teaser Appears on Instagram
Neon Films released an Insta-teaser for their horror film Longlegs today. Titled Dirty: Part 2, the clip only furthers the mystery of what we are in for when this movie is finally released on July 12.
The official logline is: FBI Agent Lee Harker is assigned to an unsolved serial killer case that takes unexpected turns, revealing evidence of the occult. Harker discovers a personal connection to the killer and must stop him before he strikes again.
Directed by former actor Oz Perkins who also gave us The Blackcoat’s Daughter and Gretel & Hansel, Longlegs is already creating buzz with its moody images and cryptic hints. The film is rated R for bloody violence, and disturbing images.
Longlegs stars Nicolas Cage, Maika Monroe, and Alicia Witt.
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Exclusive Sneak Peek: Eli Roth and Crypt TV’s VR Series ‘The Faceless Lady’ Episode Five
Eli Roth (Cabin Fever) and Crypt TV are knocking it out of the park with their new VR show, The Faceless Lady. For those unaware, this is the first fully scripted VR horror show on the market.
Even for masters of horror like Eli Roth and Crypt TV, this is a monumental undertaking. However, if I trust anyone to change the way that we experience horror, it would be these two legends.
Ripped from the pages of Irish folklore, The Faceless Lady tells the story of a tragic spirit cursed to wander the halls of her castle for all of eternity. However, when three young couples are invited to the castle for a series of games, their fates may soon change.
So far, the story has provided horror fans with a gripping game of life or death that doesn’t look as if it will slow down in episode five. Luckily, we have an exclusive clip that may be able to satiate your appetites until the new premiere.
Airing on 4/25 at 5pmPT/8pmET, episode five follows our final three contestants in this wicked game. As the stakes are raised ever higher, will Ella be able to fully awaken her connection with Lady Margaret?
The newest episode can be found on Meta Quest TV. If you haven’t already, follow this link to subscribe to the series. Make sure to check out the new clip below.
Eli Roth Present’s THE FACELESS LADY S1E5 Clip: THE DUEL – YouTube
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