The Nun

"Pray for forgiveness."

2018 1h 36m EN

😐

5.9

MID

🥫

24%

ROTTEN

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

5.4

IMDB

★5.9TMDB · 7,346🥫24%Rotten Tomatoes●46Metacritic★5.4IMDB · 194,981

Horror

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A priest with a dark past and a novice nearing her final vows are sent by the Vatican to Romania to investigate a nun's death and face a demonic force.

“Pray for forgiveness.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Taissa Farmiga
Sister Irene
Demián Bichir
Father Burke
Bonnie Aarons
The Nun / Valak
Jonas Bloquet
Maurice Theriault
Ingrid Bisu
Sister Oana
Patrick Wilson
Ed Warren
Vera Farmiga
Lorraine Warren
Lili Taylor
Carolyn Perron

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Corin Hardy
Writers: Gary Dauberman, James Wan, Gary Dauberman
Languages: Latin, French, Mandarin, Romanian, English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $366M — a 16.6× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 8 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 5 languages: Latin, French, Mandarin, Romanian, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "The Nun Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

232+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Corin Hardy, shot by Maxime Alexandre. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Abel Korzeniowski. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Michel Aller shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Corin Hardy directs. Maxime Alexandre behind the camera. Abel Korzeniowski scores. Michel Aller cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in Latin, French, Mandarin, Romanian, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Grossed $366M — a 16.6× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
2Released 8 years ago.
3Dialogue crosses 5 languages: Latin, French, Mandarin, Romanian, English.
4Part of the "The Nun Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5232+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
6Directed by Corin Hardy, shot by Maxime Alexandre. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Abel Korzeniowski. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Michel Aller shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Taissa Farmiga and Demián Bichir and Bonnie Aarons carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "Pray for forgiveness.".
11IMDB entry: tt5814060 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 15 themes, including "rome, italy", "nun", "supernatural", "exorcism".
13Released under 14 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Maxime Alexandre
Original score: Abel Korzeniowski
Editing: Michel Aller
Production design: Jennifer Spence
Costume design: Sharon Gilham
Makeup / hair: Domnica Bodogan
VFX supervisor: Esben Syberg
Sound: Joe Barnett
Stunt coordinator: Kurt Bryant
Runtime: 96 min · 1h 36m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $22,000,000
Box office: $366,082,797
Return: 1664% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Nun (2018)
Rotten Tomatoes: 24% 🥫 Rotten
Metacritic: 46/100
IMDB rating: 5.4/10 · 194,981 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

2 wins & 1 nomination total

Part of

The Nun Collection

A supernatural horror film series that is part of The Conjuring universe.

Also by

Corin Hardy

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

antimony2018-09-12
★ 4/10
Appallingly cliched. Slow and boring. Not even the Conjuring hype could save this film. It moves forward at a painful pace, brings nothing new to the table, and is not even scary.
Mark Rushow2018-09-14
★ 8/10
Overall I liked The Nun it was a spooky fun movie with some pretty good shots and scenes (lighting, camera angles, and such). The transitions from one scene to another was a bit off and the story overall had a more fantasy tone over the more grounded and realistic tone The Conjuring and Annabelle movies had. Much of the story felt like it was just forced to setup a shot or scene which does hurt it. It isn't a perfect movie but I'd watch it again. It is like Indiana Jones meets Silent Hill. None of the character actors felt out of place or superficial either, I really appreciate that. Everyone felt believable and natural to their roles and environment, not forced.
Purplehearts2018-11-02
★ 6/10
Horror is baaaaack! And with a vengeance. The Nun is not for people that don’t like horror movies or burnt out on them. Don't expect character development either. Don't expect to be shock like you were when you watched The Exorcist. I’ve read several critic reviews were they just don’t get it. They use words to describe it like “using every trick in the horror trope” or “predictable”, “throwing the kitchen sink at”, or “not enough character development”. Well forget what you heard because there is more bite to this movie than you’d expect. Okay, so we begin with a spooky opening sequence where two nuns are fighting to save humanity from a malevolent presence that is about to enter our world. One is dragged into a room and the other commits suicide by hanging. Suicide is a sin, right? Makes you wonder what type of evil is powerful enough to destroy Catholic nuns? Being the beginning of The Conjuring movie universe, this story begins like this, Father Burke (Demién Bichir) is summoned by the Vatican to investigate the suicide of a nun at The Abbey, a castle located somewhere in Romania. Apparently Father Burke has a trauma and a shameful past after having failed to save a teen from an exorcism he performed. Makes you wonder why The Vatican would send a priest like Father Burke on such a dangerous mission. The Vatican doesn’t send Father Burke alone on this task though. They assign Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga), who hasn’t yet taken her vows. A nun that hasn't taken her vows yet, and not your typical nun either. She's contrary to the average nun. She seems so innocent. Father Burke and Sister Irene are taken to The Abbey by a local delivery man, Frechie (Jonas Bloquet). (You may remember Frenchie as the first exorcism performed by The Warrens from the original The Conjuring. Lorraine Warren has the painting of The Nun at their home and references it in the film.) Sister Irene was chosen to go on this assignment because she experiences visions, these visions provide the information needed to uncover what actually occurred at The Abbey. The Abbey has been the site of a malevolent force locked away for centuries. The Church took over The Abbey and placed a congregation of nuns to pray 12 hours a day to keep the evil force in control. However, after WW2 bombing weaken the structure of The Abbey, the evil locked inside of it found another way to escape, and using the guise of a nun, slowly grows in strength causing terror on those around it. Yes, The Nun is a supernatural survival horror installment of The Conjuring universe. You don’t have to be a die hard fan of the horror genre in order to be scared. Yes, there is a lot of the same tropes from the most popular supernatural horror movies and that is because this is how demonic infestation happens. Director Corin Hardy and screenplay writer Gary Dauberman do wonderfully. What this film gives us is tricky camera and visual effects that showcase how the demon works. We find out that the demon’s name is Valak–an ancient demon from Hell that was summoned by the count performed sacrificial rituals. If you are expecting character development then you’re not going to find it here. This story doesn’t need a lot of characters at all. You don’t need a lot of information about these characters because Valak is the only character this story is about.. One minute he’s behind the character’s back, the next his shadow appears on the wall, he reanimates dead corpses and even manifesting animals and the usual superhuman strength as well as taking on human form. He ghosts the characters as well. It’s always interesting to see how the director and screenwriter pull off these visual effects. Father Burke character plays like a detective searching the castle for any information he can use to exorcise the demonic spirit from the world while Sister Irene uses her visions to lead her to the truth about what occurred at The Abbey as well as discover anything that she can use to send the evil spirit back to Hell. If you like Ash from the Evil Dead horror series, then you’ll like Frenchie because he is the outsider in all of this providing necessary dark humor. Frenchie isn’t afraid to use a shotgun to blow off the heads of a couple of deadites disguised as nuns. What also makes this film enjoyable to watch with a group, is the pacing. There are enough slow moments for you to make jokes about the characters or the visual bombarding your senses. I give this film an enthusiastic 7/10 for its creepy mood and intense disturbing images. And those squeamish people, no worries. There isn't a lot of gore. Definitely a great popcorn horror flick to watch in the dark with your friends. Definitely worth the movie ticket. You won't be disappointed as long as you keep what I've said in this review in mind. If I were to rate its place among the other films in The Conjuring universe, I would rate as follows 1) The Conjuring 2) The Conjuring 2 3) The Nun * 4) Annabelle Creation