Five years after the events of The Nun, Sister Irene is tasked by the Vatican to perform another miracle, setting out to put a stop to Valak’s nunsense once again. As priests are killed off in gruesome ways, she is joined by Sister Debra, a novice going through a crisis of faith, travelling across Europe to track down the demonic entity, following its bloody warpath to a boarding school in France.
Sophie: What are we doing here?
Simone: Playing a game. It’s called The Eye of the Devil. Whatever you do, whatever you hear, don’t look away.
The ghastly Marilyn Manson visage of the blasphemous haunting nun first appeared as the main antagonist of The Conjuring 2, before receiving a titular starring role in The Nun, proving to be a potentially lucrative figure for the franchise to exploit. Even if some of the Conjuring movies have met mixed reception, the attempt to resurrect the ’70s nunsploitation horror at least showed some promise. To that extent, The Nun II does try to expand on the lore of Valak within the Conjuring universe, having a bigger focus than in other entries. Fans who like to connect dots may have some fun with this, though there are some inconsistencies that raise some questions.
2018s The Nun made use of its dark gothic setting and smaller cast of characters to expose audiences to Valak’s brand of horror, set prior to any of the other Conjuring films. Sadly, Michael Chaves’ The Nun II falls flat with unoriginal, boring attempts at scares, too many characters with little to no reason for us to invest in, and a tendency to show off the monsters of the film in plain site at every turn, effectively desensitising us to their presence with near immediate effect. The Nun‘s darker foreboding atmosphere at least provided Valak more opportunities to hide in the shadows with far more effect in this regard.
Sister Irene: You don’t know what happened at Saint Cartha. I was lucky to make it out alive.
Cardinal Conroy: You’re right. I don’t know what you faced back there. But in that Abby, sister, you performed a miracle. The church need another.
For Valak, you could say old habits die hard, which is certainly the case in The Nun II where every other appearance has her pop up after another slow pan to air yeet another hapless victim. While this is a trademark of the Conjuring franchise, it means the scares are reduced to little more than a series of slow pans and loud bangs. And not very effective ones. It should also be noted that while there are some interesting visuals, one scene in particular filling the screen with an iridescent holy light towards the climax, or the magazine rack in the dark alley as seen in the trailer, other instances of CG throughout the film are noticeably quite awful which even includes awkward green screen backdrops.
Farminga is by far the most endearing part of the film, returning to the role as Sister Irene with a strong sense of development from the first film. In the previous entry, she was timid and uncertain of herself, giving us the chance to see her develop and ultimately challenge the malicious evil. Here we see a character clearly traumatised by her previous encounter, but nonetheless capable. Curiously, Storm Reid’s Sister Debra fills a similar role as a novice going through a crisis of faith. However, she is given far less opportunities for us to connect with her and ultimately feels like an unnecessary addition, adding little to any of the scenes she’s in and ultimately coming across as a last minute addition for Irene to bounce off. There is some chemistry between the two, but just not enough for us to invest in their relationship. Jonas Bloquet returns as well to reprise his role as Maurice, this time working as a handyman at the boarding school Valak has taken residence in, with a budding romance developing with one of the teachers, tinged with a darkness that threatens to overshadow his new life. While Farminga and Bloquet provide strong performances, the rest of the characters are by and large one dimensional, with little sense of urgency, operating in a film oversaturated with familiar tropes and slow pan set ups that lack any sense of shock or surprise, let alone originality.
