One thing that sequels often have a hard time doing is living up to the original…unless the original just happens to be an absolutely awful movie that happened to gross hundreds of millions of dollars at the box-office because it’s a spin-off of a franchise that’s actually good, in which case all bets are off. So, does The Nun II surpass the original? I mean, The Nun set the bar so low that it was basically laying on the ground, so in that sense, yes, The Nun II is an improvement. But if you’re hoping like I was that The Nun II may follow the route of the Annabelle sequels, Annabelle: Creation and Annabelle Comes Home, which are also set in the Conjuring-verse and greatly improved in quality compared to their generic 2014 predecessor, then prepare to be disappointed.
The main issue that hurts The Nun II is that instead of focusing on any sort of solid storytelling, it bases everything off of how many jump scares it can cram in before the credits roll – and it crams in a lot. There’s nothing wrong with jump scares when they’re done well and placed properly; however, when almost every scene is trying to set one up it gets boring quick. The Nun II just can’t get enough of them though, constantly having characters creeping towards a closet or looking slowly around a room only to turn around after doing so and BOO! Jump scare! There’s only so many times you can expect your audience to sit and wait through this when they know what’s coming, but The Nun II just keeps them coming, and it doesn’t take long before you’re just numb to it.
The unfortunate part is that there was potential here to elevate this sequel to the levels I’m sure audiences hoped for. There’s a new setting in France, and it’s 1956 so electricity is so scarce that almost no rooms or streets have any sources of light. Of course, I jest, as this is a horror trope to set the mood, but while you’re waiting for the 23rd jump scare in the first half of the film, you can’t help but notice things like how many areas in a boarding school require flashlights to get around. This is one hell of a dangerous school – and that’s before a demonic presence arrived!
To kickstart the movie we’ve got a priest being lifted into the air by the demon Valak (aka the nun) and set on fire. That’s a pretty crazy first kill, and even though they show Valak right away, the initial potential is still there. It doesn’t take long, however, to realize that, as mentioned prior, this is a movie that’s obsessed with jump scares, as well as showing Valak peeking out of the shadows constantly. The more you see Valak, the less scary the demon becomes. You want those moments to leave an audience frozen without realizing that they’re not moving, but it happens so often here that you’ll probably be more worried about if your popcorn needs more butter than if Valak is around the corner.
There are two returning characters from the first film in Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) and Maurice (Jonas Bloquet), both who survived the ordeal with Valak in Romania five years prior. As hinted at in the final scene of The Nun, Maurice had actually been possessed (or at least marked) by Valak, which is what helped tie The Nun to The Conjuring 2. In that movie we see a video of Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) performing an exorcism on Maurice (played by a different actor), who is still possessed by Valak. But money talks, and The Nun made too much of it to stop there, so we’ve got a possessed Maurice going on a killing spree while on his way from Romania to France, and Sister Irene (not knowing Maurice is involved) is sent to investigate because she’s the only one who’s had experience dealing with the demon before.
Somehow, even with this being the second movie where she’s the central character, Sister Irene still feels paper thin when it comes to depth. There just doesn’t seem to be anything to her, and the lines given to her in the film just sound so scripted, with little to no emotion behind them. She’s joined by Sister Debra (Storm Reid), who has even less of a reason to be there. She’s a rebellious nun, I guess? She doesn’t like to go to confession and never really wanted to be a nun but was told to be one by her dad. The deepest she gets is when she tells Sister Irene that she’s not sure she believes in God and uses the water to wine argument, to which Sister Irene replies in a tone that makes her sound like she’s just regurgitating things that have been drilled into her head instead of speaking from the heart, “It’s our faith that makes it real,” or something along those lines. Followed up by, “Let’s hope you find your faith when it matters ahead,” which isn’t obvious foretelling at all.
The pacing of the movie also has issues, as it’s almost two hours in length, yet they could’ve easily tightened it to a much easier to digest 90-minutes by cutting out some of the drawn-out jump scare builds, as well tightening up the third act. They introduce a demonic goat monster that is on par for the Conjuring universe, who love to do this sort of thing; however, everyone is so all over the place at this point that it takes the focus off of Sister Irene, Maurice (Valak), and Sophie, who should all be dealing with a much punchier climactic battle, instead of constantly jumping back and forth between the main battle and the school kids all running away from a demonic goat monster, and various other scares that just slow the pacing down too much to accomplish their goal at this point in the story. We’re past jump scares! It’s the big third act! Why are you slowing down all the action for what feels like minutes for one kid to look around a room slowly?! That’s mid-act two stuff!
I also must point out my favourite character in the movie – and possibly the entire Conjuring-verse – and that is Father Ridley (Peter Hudson). He works in the Catholic Archives at Palais des Papes in France, and Sister Irene and Sister Debra both go to see him to try and figure out what a symbol means that’s on a rosery the priest who was burned to death owned. Now, forget jump scares, if there was a record for a supporting character so minor they aren’t even named on screen (I had to look up that it was Father Ridley) who has the most information to dump onto the protagonists, then The Nun II has locked it up.
Father Ridley is a librarian, and when the sisters arrive he tells them he’s been in contact with the Vatican and they told him that the demon had returned. I’m not sure why he knows this, but it gets so much better. The trio are trying to figure out what Valak’s origin is and what he’s after, and Father Ridley actually says, “It’s a demon and I’m just a glorified librarian, I couldn’t begin to guess – but if we’re sharing theories…” and then he goes on to spell out exactly what Valak is, and exactly how to defeat it, all with extreme certainty. The cherry on top is that he even knows the location of where Maurice/Valak would currently be. This guy, I tell ya! If there’s a Nun III (Th3 Nun?) then I need Father Ridley to appear again somewhere near the end of act two with a huge exposition dump of all the information the lead characters are after. It’s just so ridiculously convenient that I love it.
Now, don’t get me wrong, there is definitely an audience for this type of movie (as The Nun II also made hundreds of millions at the box-office) and if you enjoyed it, that’s great! I do feel it’s best suited for tweens who are entering the phase in their lives where they want to be scared and watch scary movies. Those who haven’t seen dozens of similar movies and don’t recognize the setups and cliches at every corner. Still, as the box-office receipts prove, this type of movie is critic proof and cheap to make for the return, so that’s why they keep pumping them out.
I just wish they’d put that extra level of care into the spin-offs, as there’s no reason why The Nun films, The Curse of La Llorona, or the original Annabelle (again, the sequels were really solid and highly recommended) shouldn’t all be must-see scary movies. Director Michael Chaves continuously calls The Nun/Valak an iconic horror movie monster in the special features, and that just seems silly to me, as you can’t just proclaim something of that level. It’s a title that’s earned. Is Valak scary looking? Sure, when not overused and seen every 10-minutes, for sure. Will Valak live on, side by side with true horror icons like Dracula, Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, Jason Vorhees and others in that upper echelon? Only time will tell; though I feel like he needs to get at least one strong movie under his belt before then, and The Nun II just isn’t it.
4K Blu-ray Video and Audio Review:
The HDR 2160p transfer comes from the native 4K, and it’s a good-looking movie. It’s a very, very dark movie. When I joked that France had no real electricity in 1956 it’s because even when rooms are lit, they’re not really lit. This is often done in horror films, but it’s done to extreme lengths in this film. So be prepared for a lot of shadows, but luckily the 4K picture looks sharp, so the blacks are incredibly deep and there’s no muddying in the darkness, so when eyes appear, or a hand appears, it’s clearly arriving on the scene in the “shocking” way it’s supposed to. The colour palette is mostly earth tones, and very bland, by choice. It’s fine, and does the job the creative team wanted, it’s just not overly stimulating visually.
The Dolby Atmos audio transfer delivers the goods, as I’ve found a lot of horror films in recent years have truly come to play on the home audio front. There’s some solid surround sound, with noises, creaks and banging at doors or on walls coming from all around you at certain moments, and it’s nice to have that at least elevate the scare factor when it can, as the story doesn’t do itself any favours on that front.
Special Features:
The Nun II: Demon in Paradise – This is a five-minute featurette that talks about why the movie is being made, how excited producer James Wan is about continuing to delve into the origin of the Nun (did he see the first movie?), choosing to film in France and why certain locations were chosen.
Handcrafted Nightmares – This featurette is 7-minutes in length and is where Chaves says that the Nun is an iconic horror movie series, and that the character is an iconic movie monster. Ridiculous claims, even if you’re trying to sell the movie. Just say it’s a scary character that you’re excited to make even scarier! Why do they keep pushing this iconic agenda? I believe someone mentioned it in the special features for the first film too. Maybe it’s that whole, “If we say it enough people will just believe it to be true!” subliminal type messaging.
Disclaimer: A review copy of this Blu-ray was sent to me to cover in honest and truthful fashion.
Warner Bros. Pictures Presents The Nun II. Directed by: Michael Chaves. Written by: Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, Akela Cooper. Starring: Taissa Farmiga, Jonas Bloquet, Storm Reid, Anna Popplewell, Katelyn Rose Downey, Bonnie Aarons, Peter Hudson. Running time: 110 Minutes. Rating: 14A. Released on 4K Blu-ray: Nov. 14, 2023.
About Brendan Campbell
