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Dean (6926 KP) rated The Nun (2018) in Movies

Sep 12, 2018  
The Nun (2018)
The Nun (2018)
2018 | Horror
Jump scares (0 more)
A decent film
I was really looking forward to this after watching @The Conjuring 2 (2016) which was genuinely creepy. Which introduced us to the Nun character. Unfortunately this doesn't quite create the same atmosphere of that film. Mainly going for jump scares. Which for me were predictable, the guy next to me jumped quite a bit though.
It was still an enjoyable film and links nicely to the Conjuring universe. Maybe if it was an 18 rating it would be scarier and less like a ghost story. Overall a good back story if a slightly missed opportunity.
  
Annabelle Comes Home (2019)
Annabelle Comes Home (2019)
2019 | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Just average jump scares over and over (0 more)
What can I say about this film, it was pretty much what I expected. It's not scary or even that creepy compared to the other Conjuring universe films.
The best way I can describe this film. It's like when you go into a reptile house and see a display with an impressive name. You look closely trying to spot the animal. Then you realise the display is empty. That sums this film up.
It took 75 minutes to get going, problem is it's only about 95 minutes long. It's not as good as Creation.
  
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Ross (3284 KP) Jul 12, 2019

Surely this dead horse is now just a puddle of mush its been flogged so much. Why can't they just move on?!

 The Curse of La Llorona (2019)
The Curse of La Llorona (2019)
2019 | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
I've said it before, The Conjuring is my all time favourite scary movie. However, since the success of that first movie, there have been a number of spin off movies, in an bid to build what's now known as the 'Conjuring Universe'. These movies have all varied in quality, ranging from the not too bad (Annabelle Creation) to the downright awful (The Nun). With a third Annabelle movie due out this year, not to mention another Conjuring sequel and other planned universe movies such as The Crooked Man, there's no sign of them stopping anytime soon.

Which brings us to The Curse of La Llorona, the latest entry to the universe and one which is based on Mexican folklore. La Llorona, also known as "The Weeping Woman", is the ghost of a woman who drowned her children and now cries while looking for them in the river. Nowadays, children are told to be well behaved and respectful of their elders, otherwise La Llorona will come and take them away.

This movie wasn't originally billed as being part of the Conjuring universe, and featured a pretty dull first trailer. However, a subsequent trailer featured a familiar face from the Annabelle movies in the form of Father Perez (Tony Amendola), and a link to the Conjuring universe was later confirmed, despite his presence in this movie being somewhat brief.

We're in Los Angeles, 1976. Anna (Linda Cardellini) is a widow with two young kids and working in social services. She still mourns the death of her police officer husband while trying to keep her family together and maintain her demanding job. That job involves dealing with some difficult cases involving children and one such case takes her to the Alvarez home. The mother appears to have lost her mind, while her children are locked in a cupboard that has strange markings on the door. As the title of the movie suggests, there is a curse at play and it's not long before that curse, and the horror that brings with it, is passed onto Anna and her children.

Like The Nun, La Llorona is essentially just a woman with scary face makeup who shrieks at people every so often and tries to make you jump. But thankfully, there's a little more to La Llorona than just that. Some slow, effective reveals provide some pretty decent chills and scares, making this a much more solid and enjoyable movie as she begins to terrorise the children before eventually invading their home and going full on evil.

After Father Perez brings us all up to speed on the backstory of La Llorona, and a flashback to 1763 gives us a visual and graphic representation, the family are referred to an ex priest who is better suited in helping them shake off the curse. He comes to their home in order to prepare for the arrival, and hopefully the removal of, La Llorona. It all feels very formulaic, similar to countless movies we've seen before, such as Poltergeist.

The Curse of La Llorona is pretty corny at times, attempting to inject humour which doesn't always seem to work. However, I did like it. It's certainly a huge step up from last year's disappointing Nun movie and featured enough intensity and scares in its short 93 minute runtime to make it enjoyable enough.
  
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Fred (860 KP) rated The Nun (2018) in Movies

Dec 6, 2018  
The Nun (2018)
The Nun (2018)
2018 | Horror
Good atmosphere (0 more)
Not scary (1 more)
Jump scares
Real nuns were scarier
Being a fan of the Conjuring movies & Annabelle: Creation, I was looking forward to this film. So, it was a let down that the movie was kinda lame. It totally relies on jump scares, which is the cheap way out for horror. Take these out & the movie still wasn't scary. I did like the look of the film & the acting was above average. The story was okay as well. I don't feel like I wasted my time with this, but I would never watch it again.
Sorry for the short review, but there's not much to say about the film.
  
 The Curse of La Llorona (2019)
The Curse of La Llorona (2019)
2019 | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Jump scares. (0 more)
Major plot holes. (0 more)
A few jumps scares but an inconsistent tale.
Probably one of the better films in the Conjuring universe. Some of the others kinda bored me, but this one kept my interest until the end. Frustrating that so many of these movies are so similar. The genre seems to have been done to death. This one had some decent jump scares. but a few of the details among the lore of the title deity and getting rid of her were very obviously filled with holes. Very inconsistent writing. Still a decent movie for a cheap scare on a Friday night.
  
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Kevin Phillipson (10018 KP) created a post

May 6, 2021 (Updated May 6, 2021)  
Hi to my fellow smashbombers hope u all having a good Thursday. So hopefully in 11 days time my local cineworld in Cheltenham will reopen and if it does the return of my week cinema reviews first in 7 months I have so missed the cinema the last year 😢.
Here's what I will be reviewing soon
1 Godzilla vs Kong
2 tom and Jerry the movie
3 Peter rabbit 2
4 Spiral from the book of saw
5 cruella
6 a quiet place 2
 7 The conjuring 3 the devil made me do it
8 mortal kombat
Not the best of starts but it can only get better bye
     
The Conjuring 2 (2016)
The Conjuring 2 (2016)
2016 | Horror
Contains spoilers, click to show
The Conjuring 2 is based on the events of The Enfield poltergeist from 1977 the film however starts with the Warren's involvement with The Amityville incident it is during this that Lorraine has a vision of Ed dying.
In England a single mother of four is struggling to make ends meets for her family and then one of the daughters,Janet, starts to experience waking downstairs. It isn't long till it is established its a haunting. Various experts and skeptics alike decend on to the family home till during a TV interview Janet speaks as that of former home resident Bill Watkins.
This eventually brings in the church who contact the Warren's for them to assess whether its a hoax or not.
It is definitely presented as real. Lorraine is still troubled by her premonition of Eds demise but they seem to bond with the family.
Plenty of twists and scares and huge amount of atmosphere make this, dare I say it, a more enjoyable watch then the first Conjuring.

Of course this is based on a real life situation and all the players who were involved are represented in the film. However, the Warren's involvement was nowhere near as much as portrayed here (claims that no one even knew who Ed Warren was). In the end some believe its Britain's Amityville or a clever hoax by some teen girls, the film doesn't try to get into though there is a scene which eludes to the fact it could have been a hoax.

Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are back as the Warren's and are both very good in there roles. It is however young Madison Wolfe as Janet who steals the show from confused, scared little girl to snarling demon. The TV interview scene she portrays the point where Janet is possessed superbly.
Special mention to Simon Mcburney for his portrayal of Maurice Grossae.
James Wan is a man who knows how to

In the end I give The Conjuring 2 top marks. A film I enjoyed immensely and actually preferred this to the original.
  
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Lee (2222 KP) rated The Nun (2018) in Movies

Sep 6, 2018 (Updated Sep 7, 2018)  
The Nun (2018)
The Nun (2018)
2018 | Horror
Taissa Farmiga (0 more)
Disappointing
I'm a big fan of The Conjuring movies. The original is one of my favourite scary movies, and while I enjoyed the sequel, for me it just didn't live up to the very high bar set by the first. Creepy doll Annabelle from the first movie landed her own disappointing outing, followed by a surprisingly enjoyable sequel/prequel in Annabelle: Creation. Now, next up in The Conjuring Universe is the turn of The Nun. After a brief, but very effective appearance in The Conjuring 2, The Nun movie looks to expand the universe even further, providing us with an insight into how the demon nun came to be.

We're in Romania, 1952. A large, remote, creepy looking convent is having trouble trying to contain something dark and evil, resulting in one of the nuns hanging herself. The body is discovered by Frenchie, a local farmer bringing supplies from the nearby village. When word gets back to the Vatican, priest Father Burke (Demián Bichir) is sent, along with Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) to investigate.

They learn that the convent was built in the middle ages by the Duke of St Carta who, while being possessed, also created a gateway from hell somewhere within its basement. Religious figures were able to seal the gateway using the blood of Christ, but during the second world war bombings resulted in the seal being broken, releasing the demon Valak. Since then, the nuns have engaged in constant prayer in an attempt to keep evil at bay.

As you'd expect, the whole tone of this movie is very dark, and very gloomy. It takes a while to get going, and there is nothing of interest to keep you hooked. Aside from Sister Irene, the characters are dull, and occasional attempts at humour fall flat. The tense expectation of chills and scares soon fizzles out when you're realise that there really aren't any. Just plenty of prolonged periods of quietness, followed by LOUD NOISE!! Which may work for some people, but I just found it annoying.

The characters wander around dark corridors, playing on the whole creepy castle vibe, and shadowy nuns are everywhere. Valak himself occasionally appears, but it's nothing more than an attempt at a jump scare. The whole thing just seems like such a wasted opportunity and I found myself looking at my watch even during the climactic scenes where they're trying to seal the gateway once more. Not good for a movie that's only 96 minutes long.

The one thing I did like is how they managed to link everything back to The Conjuring movies, in particular the opening scenes of the original movie where the Warrens are giving their lecture, and the consequences that brings for the rest of the movies. Aside from that I just found the whole thing disappointing.