The Nun II Review

During the ‘shared universe’ era, The Conjuring Universe has been one of the most successful. The Nun II is both the second film in The Nun series and the ninth film in The Conjuring Universe.

Four years after the events at Saint Cartha’s monastery, Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) has become a committed nun, and she has taken on a young nun, Sister Debra (Storm Reid) under her wing. The events of the past come to haunt Irene when representatives from the Vatican tell Irene that several priests and nuns have been killed from Hungary to France. Irene must go to France to investigate what’s happening.

In France, Maurice (Jonas Bloquet) has become a caretaker at a boarding school. He has befriended Kate (Anna Popplewell), a teacher at the school, and her daughter, Sophie (Katelyn Rose Downey). However, Maurice doesn’t realise he is possessed by the Valak and she has brought her reign of terror to this institution of learning.

The Conjuring Universe has yo-yoed in quality. The main Conjuring films have been solid horror films, but the spin-off has been poor. The only exception has been the prequel Annabelle: Creation which has been met with positive critical and audience reviews. The Nun II seems to have used Annabelle: Creation as a guide and it worked for The Nun II’s benefit.

Annabelle: Creation was set in a children’s home, so it’s easy to see the parallels The Nun II was aiming for. Children in peril automatically ensure a level of empathy. The film emphasises Maurice having a friendship with Sophie. It was a bit corny, but it gave the film some heart and emotional stakes. Maurice and Sophie were a surrogate father and daughter to each other.

Maurice was a good and caring man, but he didn’t realise that there was evil inside him. This storyline added to the personal drama and threat since Maurice became a Jekyll and Hyde-style figure. During the day he was the kind caretaker whilst at night he was in a trance so the Valak could go on the attack.

The Nun II had a dual narrative. It was both a haunted house story and a paranormal investigation. As the film progressed it turned into an Indiana Jones/Robert Langdon treasure hunt for a lost religious artifact. I am a sucker for a treasure hunt story. This dual narrative had advantages and disadvantages for The Nun II. The Nun II had a much more interesting story than its bland predecessor and there was more emotional weight due to the character interactions. However, the dual narrative made The Nun II a fractious film as two different sets of characters were converging towards the same point. Irene and Debra’s story needed to be beefed up because if they were simply looking for Maurice it would have been a case of the film going through the motions.

It didn’t help that The Nun II had dialogue that was so predictable that I could quote the lines before they were completed. The film did go off the rails with its third act where there were many mad actions going on at the same time. The screenplay did setups and payoffs for the third act but some of these ideas didn’t fit for the universe. A monster felt like it came from another film.

The Nun II was a mainstream horror film, resulting in the film being jump-scare-heavy. Fortunately, the jump scares were nowhere near as egregious as some other mainstream horror films, like Insidious: The Red Door earlier in 2023. The Valak had the ability to appear and disappear through pictures which led to some effective horror imagery. This gave The Valak an ability similar to the Weeping Angels in Doctor Who.

There has been a noticeable rise in religious horror films in recent times. There has been Prey for the Devil and The Pope’s Exorcist and a sequel to The Exorcist is coming out soon. The Nun II stood out because it wasn’t an exorcism film filled with all the cliches that come with that sub-genre. The Nun II had a different story whilst playing up its religious themes.

The Nun II was an improvement over its predecessor, which wasn’t hard considering how poor The Nun was. The Nun II was a standard studio horror film made for a broad audience. There were decent ideas in The Nun II that made the film watchable.