Film
Review
Based in the same universe as The Conjuring and Annabelle movies, and featuring the demonic nun (Bonnie Aarons – Annabelle: Creation) that scared viewers in The Conjuring 2, The Nun takes us on a trip away from the bustle of the city and suburbia, and to Romania where Father Burke (Demián Bichir – Alien: Covenant) and Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) have been sent to an old abbey to confront evil, and face their fears.
With Sister Irene not having taken her final vows, and Father Burke unsure of what is to come, the two are lead to the area by Frenchie (Jonas Bloquet – 3 Days to Kill, The Family).
Read the full SAMDB review of The Nun.
Re-watch Value
Re-watch value on The Nun is average. It is certainly worth further viewings, especially if one is a fan of The Conjuring Universe. But many of the tense, scary moments would be lost in subsequent sittings. Still a good scare, and some creepy horror to enjoy.
Disc
Overall, this is a decent disc technically, with an enjoyable main feature.
The Nun is available now, to purchase on disc, in South Africa.
Video
Video is encoded at a medium average bitrate. With the disc using just over the space provided by one layer, one wonders why the bitrate might not have been increased, or more bonus material added.
There are no visible artefacts on-screen. Colours are vibrant where needed, with no visible colour bleed. Darker scenes, of which there are several, maintain a decent amount of detail.
Viewers with the necessary hardware or software could scale up to a larger or higher resolution screen, should they wish.
Audio
Audio is compressed at a high average bitrate, and presented in a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack.
Dialogue is clear via the centre channel, with great use made of the surround channels, and LFE channel, especially during the more intense scenes.
There is a decent amount of use made of the surround channels, with discreet effects and ambience.
Navigation
Navigation is simple, with a static main menu and accompanying music. The background is a poster for the film. There are text links to play the main feature, scene selection, languages, and special features.
The scene selection sub-menus contain six and five medium, colour, still thumbnails each, for a total of eleven chapters. While these are numbered, they are not labelled, meaning that navigation to a specific part of the main feature would require some guesswork. There are also no package inserts with chapter listings included in the packaging.
The languages sub-menu has a text list of audio languages (including English Descriptive Audio), and a text list of subtitle languages (including English for the deaf or hard of hearing).
The special features sub-menu has a solitary text link to the only bonus feature on the disc.
Bonus Features
A New Horror Icon – This short featurette gives the viewer a look behind the scenes for some of the film, it introduces to Bonnie Aarons, and provides insight into The Conjuring Universe, and how The Nun fits in. Spoiler alert, so best to watch this after seeing the main feature.
There are no trailers that autoplay at the beginning of the disc.
Packaging
Packaging for The Nun is a standard DVD jewel case, with poster on the front. The back has a short synopsis of the film, a few stills taken from the main feature, and the usual technical information and logos.
There are no package inserts in the case.