It’s a scary world out there, and if you’re not paying top dollar for a premium YouTube account, creepy footage of nuns could pop out when you least expect it.
As some unlucky folks have recently discovered, an unskippable ad for The Nun is making its rounds on YouTube, freaking out unsuspecting users who would normally avoid jump-scares because of anxiety, hatred of scary movies, or other very valid reasons.
The Warner Bros. horror film hits theaters next month on September 17, and comes from The Conjuring universe (didn’t realize nonsuperhero movies had “universes,” but cool). It follows a group of people at the Vatican trying to investigate a nun’s suicide, and obviously some spiritual demons and evil things are involved. The ad itself begins with a volume sign being turned down before quickly cutting to a super horrifying scene from the movie with loud screaming.
As Polygon reports, one warning on YouTube has garnered over 90,000 retweets, with hundreds of replies echoing concerns about the ad.
Some folks expressing concern are parents wondering if it’s safe for their kids to use YouTube. Others are people who are annoyed they’re confronted with something that will give them nightmares when attempting to watch comedic clips or music videos.
There’s a small Reddit thread dedicated to the topic, which also includes complaints about Slender Man ads. “I just got an ad where a fucking tarantula crawls out of a girl's mouth when I just wanted to listen to The Offspring and I'm fucking pissed now,” one user wrote. “Why the fuck can I not report ads.”
The Nun clip puts into question, once again, YouTube’s advertising policy. Per Polygon, the platform does prohibit scary or shocking content, but only if the footage is real. There is a way you can filter ads though, by going to the Google ad settings and disabling the horror category, and any other categories of ads you may or may not want to see. Doing this will definitely help prevent any unwanted nuns from popping out during an otherwise enjoyable internet experience.
