Editorials
I Survived a Night with ‘The Nun’ in Mexico City [Video]
Promising to be the darkest chapter yet in The Conjuring universe, The Nun sees its title villain terrorizing a secluded convent in Romania, in 1952, long before the demon ever crossed paths with Ed and Lorraine Warren in The Conjuring 2. Directed by Corin Hardy (The Hallow), and starring Taissa Farmiga, Demián Bichir, and Bonnie Aarons, The Nun explores the origins of the terrifying demon Valak. Ahead of its theatrical release on September 7, select members of the international press were invited to a special, spooky experience in Mexico City, at the Ex Convento Desierto de los Leones, to face off against Valak.
Tucked away in the mountains, the 17th century convent has its own extensive history with earthquakes, thieves, and ghosts, proving to be the perfect setting to experience The Nun. We arrived at the convent during a heavy thunderstorm; the hail, thunder, and torrential downpour making for an ominous greeting. Quietly ushered into the chilly chapel of the convent, cast in an eerie red glow, we were the first to set eyes on The Nun, a requirement if we were to have a chance at surviving the evil of Valak later in the evening.
From a visual standpoint, this entry in The Conjuring series is absolutely breathtaking. Director Corin Hardy weaves in a number of influences to create a lush gothic horror story that feels both vintage and modern at once. The Nun essentially feels like a modern Hammer House of Horror film, and nods to Mario Bava. It’s dripping with visceral, bloody gothic imagery. There’s a rich world of mythology behind the origin of Valak that’s introduced, begging to be explored further; this is the most epic-scaled film in The Conjuring series yet. It’s bloody, dark, and yet feels right at home with the world James Wan and screenwriter Gary Dauberman created.
The Nun ties back to the original films in a surprising way, though it doesn’t quite hold up to scrutiny. As for Farmiga and Bichir, both are strong, amiable leads, though it’s tough to follow Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga’s charming versions of Ed and Lorraine Warren. Jonas Bloquet is the biggest surprise as Frenchie, bringing levity to a nonstop spookfest. Of course, Bonnie Aarons shines in the title role, and Valak retains the crown as the most terrifying entity in the franchise.
Once given enough time to catch our breaths and settle our heart rates after the screening, we were broken down into smaller groups and escorted through the convent by a pair of nuns. It didn’t take long into the tour for Valak to make its presence known, and one of our group members went missing almost immediately. Rooms were littered with dead bodies, crosses turned themselves upside down if we lingered too long, and powerful reenactments of scenes straight out of the movie served up scares as we trekked further and further into the convent. Eventually, the nuns led us straight into the bowels of the convent; the dark, creepy catacombs. We weren’t alone. It was here in the dark, with only candles and our lanterns to illuminate the way, that the haunting presence of the Demon Nun closed in. Members of our group lagged behind, and their screams of terror signaling Valak was coming from behind.
Eventually, our quest brought us back above ground to a graveyard, where our missing team member had been locked in a coffin in parallel with a character’s journey from the film. Releasing him from his coffin trap meant the final piece of the puzzle needed to escape Valak’s clutches. We survived! But when The Nun arrives in theaters on September 7, will you?
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Daniel Kraus took the literary world by storm back in 2023 with the release of his hit novel Whalefall. A terrifying yet intimate survival thriller with mythological undertones, the book was almost immediately bombarded with offers from movie studios wanting to adapt its claustrophobic imagery to the big screen.
Fast forward to June of 2026, and we finally got our first glimpse at Brian Duffield’s long-awaited adaptation of Whalefall, starring Austin Abrams as our unfortunate lead who gets swallowed alive by a sperm whale. While this two-and-a-half-minute teaser only covers the beginning of the story, it’s already been making waves online (and in-person at select 4DX promotional screenings) as one of the most stressful cinematic experiences of the year.
In fact, my own wife had to cover her eyes and exclaim, “You’re definitely not dragging me to watch this one” when we saw the whale’s jaws begin to close in on Abrams, with this incident alone already leaving me convinced that this will likely be one of the biggest genre hits of the year. With that in mind, I’d like to invite you to take a closer look at the teaser in order to break down interesting details and get a better idea of what’s in store for genre fans when the movie finally comes out this October.
Of course, as usual, don’t forget to comment below if you noticed something we didn’t!
Now, without further ado, here are five things we learned from the Whalefall trailer!
5. Austin Abrams Performed Many of His Own Stunts
Much like in his previous film, No One Will Save You, Duffield insisted that this visceral experience should be grounded by our main character’s believable reactions, regardless of the plot’s effects-heavy setup. That’s why the camera always makes sure to linger on Abrams through his diving mask, so we know that it’s really him going through this ordeal alongside the audience.
While plenty of CGI was used in order to bring this larger-than-life story to the big screen without killing our leading man, Abrams apparently insisted on performing many of his underwater stunts himself (several of which are visible in the trailer) – much to the chagrin of a worried Duffield and the flick’s stunt coordinator, Shauna Duggins.
4. The Film Seamlessly Transitions Between the California Coast and Underwater Sets
Duffield obviously wasn’t about to drag his crew out to the middle of the ocean and shoot inside a real sperm whale, but it’s reassuring to see the filmmaker blend on-location footage with the underwater tank segments and the literal belly of the whale set.
There may be plenty of CGI stitching these elements together, but the trailer shows us that only the truly impossible shots are completely digital, meaning that the filmmakers didn’t take the easy way out when it came to adapting this unique story.
3. The Whale is Only Part of the Story
Book adaptations tend to leave out inner monologues and the occasional flashback in order to streamline the narrative (which is one reason why it’s so difficult to translate Stephen King novels to the big screen), but a claustrophobic parable like Kraus’ Whalefall would get a bit dull after a while if the whole thing was entirely set within the creature’s stomach.
That’s why it’s such a relief that the trailer hints at how Duffield will also be adapting many of the book’s introspective moments chronicling our protagonist’s harsh upbringing under his troubled father. Not only do these inclusions give the audience some much-appreciated breathing room, but they also give Josh Brolin a chance to shine as a truly complicated character.
2. The Movie is Keeping the Book’s Scientific Accuracy…
While Kraus’ novel was inspired by a viral video of kayakers nearly being swallowed by a humpback whale, the writer ended up consulting with marine biologists about exactly what kind of situation might lead to a whale actually eating a human being alive.
The answer was surprisingly specific, as cetaceans are almost universally known to be friendly towards humans. However, even a gentle giant can make mistakes, and as we see in the trailer, Abrams’ unpleasant fate is more of an accident than anything else – with the massive sperm whale only trapping the poor diver in the first (and thankfully acid-free) chamber of its stomach due to a mix-up involving a giant squid.
Fortunately for the film’s special effects artists, they can now reference the first-ever footage of a real-life sperm whale chowing down on one such squid, as this freaky recording was released late last year.
1. …With a Catch!
Duffield may be doing his best to recreate the grounded (or is it submerged?) thrills of Kraus’ novel, but there are limits to what can be depicted onscreen while still guaranteeing an entertaining movie. That’s why it’s no surprise that Whalefall will take advantage of certain cinematic parlor tricks as the director tests the limits of both physics and biology so we can actually watch his movie.
For starters, the innards of the whale itself have been greatly exaggerated so there’s enough space to make out the action, and in the spirit of movies like Neil Marshall’s The Descent, there also seems to be plenty of non-diegetic lighting meant to show us what’s going on even if Abram’s character wouldn’t necessarily be able to see anything.
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