Review: The Nun II

Directed by: Michael Chaves

Written by: Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, Akela Cooper

Starring: Taissa Farmiga, Jonas Bloquet, Storm Reid, Anna Popplewell, Bonnie Aarons 

Rating: [1.5/5]

When operating within a universe of various demons and spirits, getting a sequel focused solely on one after it seemingly got vanquished came at a surprise. Well, the surprise lied solely on narrative sense not when money can get printed upon the release of a follow up. This is where we find ourselves in The Nun II where somehow Valak has returned, it makes no sense, and it somehow ends up as an even more boring venture than its predecessor. 

Four years following her first encounter with the demon disguised as a nun, Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) gets called upon once again to investigate another possible sighting of it at a school for young girls. While there, she sees the demon has begun to possess individuals and like before wants to reach some relic for undoubtedly evil reasons. 

Having now a third film featuring Valak the demon is not something I figured would ever happen following its initial bone-chilling appearance in The Conjuring 2 and since then this revisiting of the past appearances of it result in some diminishing returns. As with many things in horror, the most terrifying elements of it center on the mysteriousness surrounding it. The less we know about Valak the more terrifying its mere appearance had on us as audience members. With this now third film but really second truly focusing on the demon it feels like nothing other than treading water at this point, which pretty much summarizes this film viewing experience. 

Obviously a financial reason exists for this film to exist given that there’s something about a demonic-looking Nun that will perpetually put butts in seats and this feature did just that making almost seven times its budget back through the box office. No matter how this film would end, it pretty much guarantees we will get a third film somehow, which makes no sense because it feels Valak has been defeated and destroyed multiple times now. However, we must carry on and I made the conscious choice of watching this film and therefore have to write about it. 

Much like its predecessor, this feature struggles in building out much of a story outside of the jump scares it seeks to unleash upon the audience. We have Sister Irene back but now with new characters and setting for Valak to wreak some havoc. In this film specifically it impacts a girls’ school with the students and staff within the midst of this dangerous demon. Sister Irene has more experience than anyone else with Valak so she gets called in and not one bit of the story comes even close to scratching being memorable. As boring and plain as it gets, which summarizes the entire viewing experience. Everything in this film feels painstakingly unoriginal and unappealing in the way it tells its story. None of these characters carry any depth and Sister Irene does not become even the slightest more interesting to follow. All it leaves are the scares to get us through the experience. 

No horror film will have a 100% hit rate with how the jump scares land, but The Nun II struggled in delivering even halfway decent ones. Much of them followed the same formula that did nothing but cause loud jolts, but one in particular saved this from an even lower score for me. This happened at a magazine stand where Sister Irene begins to see publications fly through its pages and it utilizes the images within them to create something disturbing. Incredibly inventive and effective that genuinely brought some thrills but even then it was not enough to make up for everything else it completely lacked in delivering to an even competent degree. 

Instantly forgettable but one that certainly made its money back, The Nun II exhibits the gravy train can certainly continue to roll for this franchise. Even when this feature has the lowest returns yet for a film featuring Valak but it still somehow grosses the amount of money it does as compared to its budget, then these will continue to find its way to theaters. I cannot get too angry about it because I continue to patronize it in the hopes of getting something good again, but as this franchise has proven, if the film does not involve Ed and Lorraine Warren, it will struggle. We get that one again in this very lacking sequel.