THE NUN REVIEW

A priest with a haunted past and a novice on the threshold of her final vows are sent by the Vatican to investigate the death of a young nun in Romania and confront a malevolent force in the form of a demonic nun.

Starring: Demian Bichir, Taissa Farmiga, and Jonas Bloquet

Directed by: Corin Hardy

Written by: Gary Doberman, and James Wan

  “Insidious” seemed to set a new era of scares, and paved the way for The Conjuring Universe.  A whole universe that’s built on scares, but the scares seem to be getting less effective as they go. It doesn’t help that what might be the best scares of the movie are given away in the trailer. Will it be any different in “The Nun?”

  Another problem with these movies is that it takes so long for them to get anywhere important. It almost seems like they make it drag just so that the scares wake the audience up. Father Burke (Demian Bichir) and Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) go to the Abbey to investigate the recent death of a nun. However, it’s a halfhearted investigation at best, and there’s nothing exciting about these characters. The only interesting character, Frenchie (Jonas Bloquet), leaves during the portion of the movie he’s needed the most.

  Overall the scares are alright, but as usual it doesn’t seem like there are enough of them. They try to keep up a level of tension by adding constant loud dramatic music that ends up being more annoying then anything. Too bad the audience has to wait to the end of the film for the nun to let loose. She’s definitely creepy and scary, and deserves more screen time in that form. Too bad for most of the film, the nun is shown coming out of the shadows, and the scares end before getting to appreciate how scary looking she is.

  Besides the slow pace, and annoying music, the most aggravating moment might have been when a small twist is revealed at the end. It draws a direct connection between this movie and “The Conjuring.” It’s the same thing they pulled at the end of “Annabelle 2.” Sorry but that’s lazy to do the same kind of ending twice. How about some more thought and originality, and include the connection somewhere else in the film? In the end, “The Nun” isn't different from the last couple of movies in this universe so I have to give it 2 pools of blood, and hope the eventually sequel is better!

  HorrO

THE MEG REVIEW

After escaping an attack by what he claims was a 70-foot shark, Jonas Taylor must confront fears to save those trapped in a sunken submersible. 

Starring: Jason Statham, Bingbing Li, and Rainn Wilson

Directed by: Jon Turteltaub

Written by: Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber, and Steve Alten

  While “The Meg” took a bite out of the box-office, did it do enough to dethrone the shark of all sharks, Jaws? This is definitely an action packed shark movie that’s perfect for summer viewing. While not able to karate kick the shark, Jason Statham does his best to take the fight to the shark. 

  However, while advertised as the biggest shark of them all, it just doesn’t do enough damage. While it has a chance to swallow tons of swimmers, it prefers to just swim around under them…why? And the few times it does attack people, there’s an extreme shortage of blood. It’s a shark movie, lets see it sink its teeth into someone. 

  There’s plenty of excitement in the final scene, as Jonas (Jason Statham) does his best to rid the ocean of this beast of a shark. It’s all good until he gets some help from some unlikely friends. Sorry, but they needed to find something a little less ridiculous and fake looking to conclude this story. "The Meg" is no "Jaws", but still worth a look, so I give it 3 pools of blood.

  

  HorrO