By: JWBM
This centers around—you guessed it—a diabolical nun that has a one-track mind to kill. Where it gets strange is she has the power to distort reality and trap people within this normal looking suburban house. For a gal named Anna—who's about to move out with her family to a place of her own—it just turned into her worse nightmare she never knew she had when she's suddenly terrorized by Sister Catherine.
This goes for a sort of "The Evil Dead" tone where it straddles between being dark to almost cartoonish and self-aware. It likewise has a low budget, but the former still managed to concoct a constant barrage of creativity, atmosphere, and down-right zany creations. Essentially, where it goes off the cuff or makes fun of itself, it has three more tricks up its sleeve to win you over. "Curse of the Nun" injects some personality and doesn't take itself too seriously at times to not end up feeling like your typical, wooden horror feature. Though it also doesn't always come with the same amount of unique aspects or ambiance that would put to rest some of the short comings it points out itself. There is action here, yet most likely due to budget constraints the characters also have tendency to bide their time by talking or hiding.
This turns your standard linear story up on its head in how what you see, feel, or hear can't always be trusted or relied on. It uses some drama and backstory to establish Anna and give her a constant driving point to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Her back and forth struggle with the crazed nun is like an unwelcome boot camp in how she's constantly running, ducking, and putting her body to the test. I feel like they established her well and gave her room for some range of emotions, yet I can't help but feel the undead nun angle is slapped in. There's no tragedy or intrigue related to Sister Catherine, just one weak excuse to throw her in there. It makes it a challenge to fully get behind that.
On the one hand the story is using an unlikely place you'd least suspect to create horror, though it's still an unexplainably dark and twisted nun haunting a modern house that never changes the look and feel of being, well, an average home. Sure, lure them into what looks like something out of "Pleasantville," but then they should have slowly peeled away the layers of its true identity with something more infectious and gravitating. Take the classic "Dead Dudes in the House," for instance. That way there's more dynamic with making the home a character in itself. Otherwise, it causes its world view to be somewhat limited and your imagination to stop expanding.
If it's any consolation, I can imagine this was fun to make for those behind the scenes. There was also enough effort past the norm or just getting by that I can see the next project being capable of working through some of its kinks to suck you in further.
Rating: 4.5/10
Director: Aaron Mirtes (Clowntergeist)
Actors: Lacy Hartselle, Brad Belemjian, Jonathan Everett, Rae Hunt
Info: IMDB link
Trailer: YouTube trailer
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