The Nun

Great sense of visuals in this directorial debut from talented editor Luis de la Madrid, influenced by classic slasher films (Dario Argento’s Suspiria being one example) as well as modern teen horror flicks (I Know What You Did Last Summer, also winked to in the film by one of the characters).Six teenage girls attend a boarding school where an overambitious nun makes it her duty to terrorise them in the most calculated ways. When the nun discovers that one of the girls has become pregnant, she goes on a rampage. The other girls decide to help their friend, and it all ends up in tragedy, as the nun is killed.17 years later, the now grown-up girls lead separate lives in order to forget the events of their common, gruesome past. But as two of them are brutally murdered, the remaining women start to realise that history has finally caught up with them. Riding on the top of the new Spanish horror wave, De la Madrid clearly disposes over a distinct feel for filmmaking after working as an editor on several visually impressive productions (The Machinist, Darkness, The Nameless, The Devil’s Backbone), and makes a worthy feature film debut with The Nun. ELIN LARSSON