A NUN’S CURSE **** U.S.A. 2020 Dir: Tommy Faircloth. 73 mins
A group of friends, on their way to a holiday home for a weekend of serious partying, soon find themselves stranded in the middle of a forest, after Ashley-Kae (main character) insists on making a stop at Horse Creek Church (nice ‘Horse Creek Productions’ reference there) to take pictures of the ruins. She explains that a famous Nun, Sister Monday (Felissa Rose), lived there many years ago. This Nun was accused of murdering many people, but disappeared before she got caught…Anyway…They’re about to leave, when they notice their car keys have mysteriously vanished, and a huge storm is approaching them, so they decide to take shelter at the very place that this Sister Monday (The mass murdering nun) once worked.. and killed a lot of people… brutally!
Ashley-Kae is all for exploring this apparently haunted abandoned prison, as she clearly has an obsession with creepy nuns (due to her father telling her scary Nun stories as a child at bedtime.. not at all disturbing!)
Her older, bratty, incredibly spoilt sister Gabby, however, has no interest in exploring at all, and would rather be out partying with her boyfriend Michael, and in an argument between the two sisters, Gabby goes on to explain that this Nun didn’t even exist, that their father had made the whole thing up just to scare Ashley-Kae, so she wouldn’t want to go to her older sisters Catholic private school, as they couldn’t afford to send both girls there. So this gets you thinking, is this Nun thing real? Or is Ashley-Kae just super crazy? It’s always the quiet ones you have to watch!
After this incredibly entertaining sister argument, the group divides. Ashley-Kae and Anthony go exploring, whilst Gabby and her boyfriend Michael stay downstairs. Throughout the film, we’re introduced to flashbacks to when the prison was open, and the evil Sister Monday, carried out her brutal murders.
There seems to be a connection between Ashley-Kae and the Evil Nun, as Ashley-Kae finds her drawings in one of the rooms, that she did as a child (creepy) .
Eventually it gets really dark, and things start to go horribly wrong for the group of friends..who all hate each other really..and a secret about Sister Monday is revealed.
So what’s good about this film?
Actually..a lot! I like the whole ‘Mass murdering Nun’ idea. The location is creepy as hell, in the middle of nowhere, an ideal setting for a prison, haunted by a crazy, zombie like Nun. The dialogue is well written, very funny at times. The characters are likeable. There’s also a really sweet scene between Anthony and Ashley-Kae. The killings don’t happen until late into the film, and this gives plenty of time to build up tension, keeping me nervous as hell, wondering when the Nun is going to make her appearance and kill the crap out of everyone .
So what’s not so good?
The whole reason they took shelter in that prison was because of the horrific storm coming their way…but each time they went past a window, it was clearly sunny outside! The sunshine beamed through every window, which for me, took the creepy feeling away from the film…but not for long though!
A few of the murders weren’t quite as realistic as they could have been, and none of them tried to defend themselves at all. I’d like to think that if I was them, I might try to save myself..but then, this is a crazy, long dead, zombie like Nun, so maybe there’d be no point, as she’d obviously win!
So my final thoughts?
I really loved watching this film, especially the second time, as I wasn’t quite as scared, and I got to appreciate the well written script. It was fun, it had Nun puns. It would be perfect to watch with your mates on a movie night, or on your own. It has more than one twist at the end, which for me, made it even more exciting..I loved it…go watch it, you won’t be disappointed!
Review by Lorna J Child