Four movies deep, The Conjuring universe is now widely considered to be a cornerstone of Hollywood’s horror scene. Not bad for a film franchise that flickered into life only four years ago.
In that time, James Wan (Aquaman) has delivered The Conjuring and its sequel, The Enfield Poltergeist, while director John R. Leonetti broke course to focus on the nightmarish little doll known as Annabelle. A worldwide haul in excess of $256 million was enough to warrant a sequel (read: Annabelle: Creation), which is now available via Blu-ray and DVD.
Not only was it another feather in New Line’s cap – Creation topped its predecessor’s haul by almost $50 million at the global box office – but David Sandberg’s chilling follow-up helped expand The Conjuring universe into uncharted territory. Next up? The Nun, which recently got hit with a delay, pushing it from July 13th to September 7th.
Set within the universe created by Chad Hayes and Carey W. Hayes, we don’t know too much about the pic just yet, but during a recent appearance on The Movie Crypt podcast, director Corin Hardy let a few new details slip, teasing that the film will favor practical effects over CGI – which is great to hear.
“I’ve come from a love of practical,” he said. “It’s not just nostalgic, it’s things being real and tangible, and you can light them in front of the camera if they’re there, you can touch them, people can see them, you can make them wet and they look great. All of that stuff you can do in CG but it takes such a lot of work to do it to the right level…I always want to say, ‘Let’s do everything as much as we possibly can for real, including in-camera stunts, effects, and then use the CGI to be beautiful, original, invisible tool.‘”
Continuing on, he also touched on the pressure that comes along with making a movie in The Conjuring franchise, saying:
“There’s a lot of pressure because of the incredible success of these movies. But then, you’re so focused on what you’re doing, you don’t really think about that. You’re just making a movie as good as possible. Maybe that will hit when it’s starting to come out, but really there’s just too much to do to be worried about that. You’re just wanting to make sure you’re hitting a level of quality, and originality, and making sure you love what you’re doing, and it goes down well. If you think about the pressure then it’s a little scary.”
Finally, when pressed for plot details, Hardy remained tight-lipped, but did say that it doesn’t feel like a sequel or remake:
“I can’t obviously talk too much about what happens. But it was really exciting, when I read the script, that it was something new. So, it’s part of this universe that’s been established, with a character that appeared in a movie, but it wasn’t like doing a sequel or a remake.”
Headlined by an all-star cast that includes Taissa Farmiga, the sister of series stalwart Vera Farmiga (Lorraine Warren), Demian Bichir, Bonnie Aarons, Charlotte Hope, Jonas Bloquet and Ingrid Bisu, The Nun will be unleashed upon horror fans the world over on September 7th. Beyond that, there are also plans in place for a third Conjuring movie and The Crooked Man, neither of which have firm release dates at this time.
