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Review: ‘The Nun’ Is An Enlightening Experience In ScreenX

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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.

Via IMDB

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.

Via IMDB

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 BeyondCity 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.

Via IMDB

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.

Via IMDB

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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News

Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

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Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

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The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
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Movies

Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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