If you’d confessed to going into The Nun II with low expectations, you’d be forgiven for your sins. While The Nun (2018) was the highest-grossing installment of the Conjuring film series, critics had little praise for it outside of its foggy Hammer Horror atmosphere and Taissa Farmiga’s lead performance. Where The Mary Sue’s Princess Weekes summed up The Nun as a “typical paint-by-numbers horror film in a really cool-looking church,” its follow-up expands the action to a French boarding school, expands the victim pool to kids and school staff, and milks the big bad monster for smarter spooks this time around.
In this ninth entry in the ever-expanding Conjuring universe, Sister Irene (Farmiga) of the first film is back with a new habit, paired with younger novice Sister Debra (Storm Reid). Debra is a more cherubic version of The Exorcist’s Damian Karras—that is, the younger clergy member whose faith will be put to the test in the face of evil.
The power of Christ compels the devotional duo to investigate a slew of church-related deaths across Europe. The events of the first movie (which took place four years before in movie-time) took a lot out of Sister Irene, but she begrudgingly accepts the assignment and, with Sister Debra, begins following the trail of clues to find out what is killing priests, and why. This is where the Nun films find their footing apart from their Conjuring brethren; among all of the interweaving arcs, it’s fun watching the Sisters embark on a Gothic National Treasure hunt, solving puzzles and locating ancient religious relics to defeat the demonic baddies. As long as one of the Good Nuns makes it to the end credits, this could prompt as many sequels as there are cursed artifacts in the Warrens’ creepy Conjuring occult museum. Surely, the next installment is already on the way.
When we’re not watching the Sisters play detective, the Nun of the title wreaks havoc on everyone Irene cares about. The demon Valak is back in the form of a nun (Bonnie Aarons) who doesn’t just possess souls, but manipulates space and time like Freddy Krueger might. So while there are a few predictable jump scares involving the nun suddenly popping into frame, there are more taffy-pulled scares that stretch the dread for maximum fun. Valak can conjure itself into tangible existence via newsstand magazines or a shadow on the wall, or just hang out behind an unobservant victim while the audience squirms.
And like Freddy (or perhaps Pennywise the Dancing Clown), Valak plays on the vulnerabilities of its prey; someone whose child died long ago is sure to see a macabre vision of them just before the nun strikes. In service of that, nearly every core character gets a backstory in which said vulnerabilities are revealed; this results in a rhythmic trauma-dumping that sets up Valak sequences to come. In tandem with the Sisters’ uncovering of Valak’s intentions (one character is solely dedicated to explaining how to stop Valak, never to be seen again), there’s a noticeable amount of exposition that dampens the mood. Then again, long-winded exposition was a sin of the Annabelle entries in the Conjuring-verse, and like the Annabelle entries, the sequel shows significant growth over the o.g. What matters is that these characters are tangible—a bullied child, a bitter matron, a traumatized nun searching for a real miracle—something that was woefully missing from the first movie.
Director Michael Chaves is from the Conjuring stable, having already helmed The Curse of La Llorona (2019) and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021). Between the three films a growth trajectory can be seen as this feature successfully spins several plates to include characters who matter, compelling visuals, and more than a few well-constructed frights.
These scares, like the first film, are immersed in moody set pieces that outdo their predecessor, from a dusty decommissioned chapel to a massive, booming bell tower. Add to it the bonkers-in-Yonkers energy expected to come from a script co-written by Akela Cooper—she of Malignant, M3GAN, and Hell Fest—and it pays some fantastic dividends, like a lively opening scene and a notable amount of mean-spirited kills. It feels like a more commercial version of Italian gothic horror films of yesteryear, and the standard energy continues with a mid-credits scene clearly mimicking an MCU cameo/sequel springboard.
Rightfully so; this is a long-running horror franchise with mainstream appeal, borne of the 2010s. If you’re looking for Lucio Fulci-style nunsploitation, you won’t find it here. But you will find a series that doesn’t take itself too seriously and makes fun war-waging with the body and blood of Christ. The Nun II doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it rolls well, and much better than The Nun did. While it might not be the most terrifying or unexpected of the Conjuring movies, Chaves delivers a solid entry in the franchise and provides sound footing for more to come.
(featured image: Warner Bros.)
Published: Sep 15, 2023 11:19 am