THE NUN

My mother kicked a nun in the face once. She insists it was an accident
and is
rather embarassed by the whole ordeal. Some part of me however
wishes there was something more at work. Some little bit of rebellion,
some nudge against the status quo, against perceived moral superiority.
Maybe that kick was against the shackles of hierarchy, against
organized religion's ability to pervert the teachings of love into
prejudice and unchecked intimidation. Still, she says no and since she
is a very religious person, I am inclined to believe her. Oh well, a
son can dream.

I have a few friends from past and present who went to Catholic
schools. None of them had a very positive story to tell and none of
them felt like they were bettered by the conditions. The gals in THE
NUN didn't have a great time during their learning years either, thanks
mostly to the title character. The main nun at their school ruled with
an iron fist. She seemed to believe that it was her job to purify the
world of its sins, starting with her pupils. The only way to do that,
she believed, was through physical and emotional punishment and
torture. Wow, what a peach.

Years later, all the girls from the school have grown up and many have
started families of their own. Still, they never talk about what
happened during those formative years and each is still haunted by
nightmares of their treatment there. Eva (Anita Briem) is the virginal
(hence, heroine) daughter of one of the girls. When she arrives home
after her graduation party, she sees her mother having her throat cut
by a figure clouded by plumes of water. What she can make out is that
the figure was wearing a nun's habit.

Eva is informed that her mother was not the first victim. She was
supposed to meet up with the surviving students to return to the scene
of the crime and find out what's going on. What went on is that the
kids did something that the nun obviously didn't appreciate and she has
returned in supernatural form to punish their wickedness. As the body
count rises, Eva feels a need to solve the mystery herself and that
means returning to the now-abandoned boarding school.

THE NUN is one of the final productions from Brian Yuzna's Fantastic
Factory. It is based in part on a story idea by Jaume Balagueró, the
man behind DARKNESS and THE NAMELESS as well as the new film FRAGILE
(which - surprise, surprise - we're still waiting for in the States).
The actual screenplay chores were handled by Manu Diez while the
direction is from Luis De La Madrid. Both of these people are newcomers
to their respective jobs, but they have a keen eye for what works and
deserve some props.

One of the main things THE NUN does so well is combine Asian horror
aesthetics - in this case, a demon born of water - and combine it with
Spanish religious tradition. It is important to note that despite by
comments earlier, THE NUN does not thumb its nose at religion, merely
those who distort it. However, it does touch on some very topical
issues that have tainted the image of the church as of late. People
have reported abuse that bordered on torture in Catholic schools,
especially boarding schools overseas. The Church has continued to
disavow the abuses documented at orphanages and halfway houses like the
Magdalene Laundries (graphically and heart-wrenchingly detailed in THE
MAGDALENE SISTERS), despite volumes of sworn testimony and mountains of
daming evidence. In the United States, the Church has come under fire
as scores of priests have been accused of sexual abuse as church elders
have been caught red handed covering up the evidence and placing the
offenders in arenas where they would have direct contact with even more
children.

Buired, but not too deep, in this story of an evil water wraith, is a
damnation of these abuses and the powers that allowed them to continue
for so long. At the same time, most notably in the character of Gabriel
(Manu Fullola), a monk in training, is also preaches understanding,
balance and that the time has now come for a change in the way things
are run.

It is also yet another film to use horror's favorite villain of the
moment - bad plumbing. We have an angry bathtub in BOOGEYMAN, the
ridiculous killer toilets in THE RING TWO, demons in the pipes of THE
AMITYVILLE HORROR and the dark water of... well, DARK WATER. What
separates THE NUN is that the water makes up an important component of
the antagonist. I'm thankful that THE NUN has the good graces to do
some interesting things with it's liquified evil, rather than focus on
dripping faucets for 100 minutes.

There are some parts of the film that lean towards the predictable. We
figure out what happened to the nun to make her so p.o.'ed long before
Eva, even if we don't know the reasons why. Oddly enough however, while
the main points of the film are a bit predictable, other revelations
late in the film are unexpected.. There were a great many sidetracks
the film takes that may come as no surprise to the truly jaded horror
fan. However, the choices were so out of left field in the context of
the piece, it was a surprise. It's a testament to the film's fine
pacing that even these double-take moments work in the finished film.

Like all Fantastic Factory films, the cast is international and not
always up to snuff. Briem is very good in the lead. However, some of
the grown women being stalked by the nun are not convincing. They seem
to be wrestling with the material to a degree that prevents them from
truly inhabiting their characters.

Still, THE NUN is mostly a success. It has a solid story combined with
the nice polish the Factory gave to its productions. It is going to
look a lot better than you expect it to and could in fact hold its own
against any of the effects-laden theatrical horror films.

Religious-themed pictured have gained sway recently. People who have
taken THE DA VINCI CODE way too seriously are causing all sane people
to chuckle while those who got way too much inspiration from the two
hour torture show, THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST make us squirm. For horror
fans, THE NUN is a decent film with some religious themes that slips
under the radar enough to certainly avoid creating any hysteria. And
really, thank God for that. As it stands, THE NUN may not be reason
enough to believe in a higher power. But for the day to day grind of
finding a good horror film, it will do and it will do nicely.