Virtuous nuns chase that nasty old biddy Valak across Europe in The Nun II. Eliza Janssen is happy to report that if you thought the first movie was a hellish let-down, the smarter sequel should be the salvation you’re seeking.
In the ever-expanding Conjuring canon, you can never trust a flickering fluorescent light. Or an innocent children’s toy, or an errant soccer ball. You’ll also want to avoid mirrors, curtains, windows, attics, staircases, basements, and basically any attempt to dig into the sordid history of your elegant pre-war home.
Ever since James Wan’s OG entry set the tempo for this pulse-quickening, never-ending funfair ghost train of a franchise, spin-offs like Annabelle and The Nun have hoped to trade on that same repetitive rhythm. Some ungodly knick-knack from the occult collection of Ed and Lorraine Warren gets introduced in a The Conjuring instalment, and if it’s spooky enough, it’ll be blessed with a star vehicle of its very own.
2018’s The Nun didn’t do justice to Valak, the gaunt, demonic sister introduced in an awesome scene in The Conjuring 2—so it’s a delight to see her get a second, scary chance in far-better sequel The Nun II.
Much like the noticeable improvements of Annabelle: Creation, this fairly standard frightener gets its juice from a new director—Corin Hardy swapped out for Michael Chaves. Weirdly, Chaves was also responsible for the deadly dull CCU (Conjuring Cinematic Universe, keep up) entry The Curse of La Llorona and so-so threequel The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It. With producer Wan guiding the ordeal as usual and his Malignant co-writer Akela Cooper on board, though, the project excels beyond feeling like an inevitable sequel, with more inventive scares and an exciting, hell-breaks-loose finale.
Taissa Farmiga brings a butter-wouldn’t-melt wholesomeness to her returning nun heroine. There’s an unavoidable contrast here to her sister Vera’s recurring role as The Conjuring’s Lorraine Warren: Sister Irene is just as spiritually strong, but a little more green, more fragile. Four years after she first banished ol’ Valak or whatever, she’s in hiding at a new convent until the Vatican sends her off on a trans-European mission in the name of the Lord. It seems the nasty nun may have possessed Irene’s former friend Maurice (Jonas Bloquet), now the hunky caretaker of a Hungarian boarding school. And so, with sassy novice Sister Debra (Storm Reid, underused) in tow, the young bride of christ is back in demon-slaying mode.
The sequel’s narrative is mostly split in a somewhat annoying fashion, cutting between a bullied schoolgirl gettin’ spooked over in Hungary while it takes our leads way too long to realise that’s where they’re meant to end up. There’s a cutesy romantic subplot between Maurice and the school’s kindly teacher (Anna Popplewell): he’s basically auditioning to be her nervous daughter’s new dad, and we watch the hot groundsman and pigtailed kid adorably bond for far too many scenes. But once Valak is properly on the scene, hunting down an ancient relic of a Catholic saint’s lost eyeballs for some reason, that addictive quiet-quiet-LOUD formula kicks into high gear and we are on.
The best bit in The Nun II takes place while Farmiga’s nun is chasing down an altar boy who witnessed Valak immolating a priest. Losing track of the kid in Gothic alleyways, she faces a dimly-lit magazine kiosk, clocking that the nun just may be around when the display’s pages begin to flicker madly. It’s a visually exciting, conceptual scare, with cheery advertisements and articles slowly coming to resemble that ominous, penguin-like shape. Even without the score going GAHH! at just the right time and Valak finally manifesting, the moment would cleverly make its impact. Watching mean little schoolgirls get thwacked around by the forces of evil is pretty fun, too: take that, Madeline.
With her lanky physicality and striking mug, Bonnie Aarons is the irreplaceable face behind The Nun (you might also recognise her as the terrifying bum in Mulholland Drive). It’s wild that, as this superior sequel creeps into cinemas, the actor is suing Warner Bros. for not receiving her rightful cut of the series’ merch and box office takings.
The Nun II redeems its less-than-divine predecessor, and is packed with plenty of solidly spooky, memorable moments…but nothing might be scarier than the cost of your movie ticket not properly compensating the creepy character you bought it for.
