If you can’t keep track of the surprisingly sprawling Conjuring universe, you’re not alone. Since the release of The Conjuring in 2013, which starred Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson as occult investigators/shameless grifters Lorraine and Ed Warren, a further seven feature films have been released, all rather tenuously linked. And now here comes a ninth film, with The Nun II creeping into Australian cinemas on September 7.
As keen readers have no doubt already sussed out, this one is a direct sequel to 2018’s The Nun, which saw Demián Bichir’s Father Burke Taissa Farmiga’s Sister Irene investigating strange doings at a remote monastery in 1950s Romania. The Nun II picks up the action some four years later, with Sister Irene once again battling the evil demon Valak in a French boarding school.
Bichir isn’t back for this one, alas, but joining Farmiga in the battle against supernatural evil are Jonas Bloquet as Frenchie, reprising his role from the previous film, plus Storm Reid, Anna Popplewell, Katelyn Rose Downey, and Bonnie Aarons, once again being hella creepy as the demon Valak, aka the nun of the title.
Directing chores are being handled by franchise veteran Michael Chaves, who previously called the shots on both The Curse of La Llorona and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, proving he knows his way around a dimly lit set.
No amount of divination has been able to conjure up much in the way of concrete plot details, sad to say, although that does strike us as being thematically appropriate to no small degree. At a guess, expect at least one demonic possession, a good half dozen jump scares, plenty of Catholic iconography, a solid turn from Farmiga, and an obvious sequel hook. It’s a formula, sure, but if it ain’t broke, why try to fix it?
