The Nun II (2023) Review

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

The Nun was the second spin-off part of The Conjuring franchise that got everyone's attention due to the demon Valak (Bonnie Aarons) being a scene stealing villain in the second film starring Ed & Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson & Vera Farmiga). However, the 2018 film did not match the quality in the same vein of Annabelle, yet it still made enough financial success for Warner Bros. to keep the money train flowing. Was it worth it? I guess so.


PLOT


2023's The Nun II takes place in 1956, only four years after the events of the preceding film. Sister Irene works in a convent in Italy, while Maurice aka Frenchie works at a boarding school in France as a handyman. Things would not remain normal for long once a series of unexplainable deaths start occurring throughout Europe. Around the time she is dispatched to investigate, she has a vision of her friend asking for her to save him. With Father Burke announced dead of cholera, young novice Sister Debra joins her to investigate. Upon reaching Tarascon, Irene starts becoming haunted by the demon she thought to have defeated, Valak. She & Debra then meet an altar boy named Jacques (Maxime Elias-Menet) who gives them the rosary of Father Noiret (Pascal Aubert) who was immolated. At school, a girl named Sophie, daughter to the teacher Kate, both of which are friends to Frenchie, gets bullied by other girls into being trapped a deconsecrated chapel. There, they frighten her with the story of a stained-glass window where a goat's eyes will go red and the devil will appear when the sun shines. The story is seemingly proven true when Sophie is haunted by Valak as well. At Palais de Papes, both nuns meet a librarian who shares more of the demon's past. Apparently, the demon was once an angel rejected by God and the emblem of Noiret's rosary is Saint Lucy's family crest who was martyred during the Dicoletianic Persecution era; She never burned when not on fire and her eyes were gouged out, recovered by her family. The theory is that Valak will kill St. Lucy's descendants to achieve the relics that were stored in a monastery that has now become the boarding school. As the night occurs, headmistress Madame Laurent gets killed by Valak after catching Maurice sleepwalking. Realizing Maurice is possessed by it and will be disposed of once the eyes are found and gain great power, the nuns rush to the school to prevent so. With it being the night after the headmistress' death, the demon announces its presence and attacks Kate & Sophie. Frenchie does warn Irene that Valak is back once they reunite, but would be surprised he is its host. With the truth out, the demon completely takes over his body to find the relics. Irene & Debra do their best to stop this when the latter incapacitates and restrains him, giving them a little bit of time to look for St. Lucy's eyes. Inside, they use a flashlight to make the goat's eyes in the window glow and guide them to it, but it also allows Valak to briefly transform into a demonic goat. As Valak haunts the whole school simultaneously, it tries setting ablaze Irene but she doesn't burn either, confirming her to be St. Lucy's descendant. Realizing this helps her associate with the relic and with Debra, they recite the Words of Institution which then leads to old wine barrels in the room becoming the Blood of Christ, banishing Valak again. Although the sun rises again, Irene still grows worry of Frenchie. The film ends in a mid credit scene, with Ed Warren being called by Father Gordon to investigate the latter.


THOUGHTS


I don’t think it’d make any kind of sense to have any kind of expectations, having any spinoff match the quality of the main franchise. Annabelle was lucky to have improvement in quality once sequels got greenlit, but I didn’t expect The Nun to have something similar. Michael Chavez steps into the director’s chair, as he did for the tolerable threequel, The Devil Made Me Do It, and oddly enough he made this sequel to be at that level. The jump-scares from Valak feel way more effective because even though who have an idea where the story is gonna go, the pacing is better executed. So scenes like a priest getting caught on fire without gasoline or the headmistress getting killed by the demon under the guise of her dead son before roaming as a goat were scary enough to keep me onboard. And most importantly, the visuals were at their best with the magazine scene. When you’re trying to not shit your pants over an evil entity, the film still does a better job in reminding people the assurance of hope you can still have when you feel isolated by the constant obstacle evil incarnate can be. This was the whole point in having Taissa Farmiga return as Irene who never yet understood her purpose to be a servant of God, but still did it anyway because it always felt right when she put God first. Knowing it was because she’s St Lucy’s descendant and her clairvoyance was passed from his mother only made it clear for once. The only true sacrifice was confronting her closest friend. Frenchie is of course the most tragic figure in this franchise since it’s set in stone he’s bound to be a host for much longer enough to the point the Warrens had to get involved as we remember in the very first film. The fact that Jonas Bloquet still got to show him as a guy who still had enough control to be an approachable one proved he had enough will to keep going, whether or not that was really Valak being manipulative. While this dilemma lasted longer for him than he wished, it is good to know he got eventually saved. The only takeaway was that his friend couldn’t pull it off sooner. At the very least, he still had other friends by his side before and after the revelation of what he was going through. Storm Reid was a good replacement for Father Burke because Debra relates to Irene for having enough selflessness to do right by others and not be clouded by whatever judgment she could have. She does rightfully feel bothered of being sent away by her dad who believed she was meant to be a nun, but it ironically became the blessing she wouldn’t expect since she was able to help Irene when most needed. Off of that, I hope they remained close after this experience. Moving on, I though there was a believable dynamic for Kate & Sophie because ideally, Anna Popplewell was able to depict the former one who has the loudest beating heart in my opinion as she constantly expresses comfort to everyone around her. When not being protective towards her daughter, she basically welcomes Frenchie with open arms because she doesn’t expect him to harm a fly until the cat is out of the bag. As for Katelyn Rose Downey, she too does great expressing the latter to be the lightness we all seek when the world is surrounded by darkness and I think Maurice got along with her so well since she shared that spirit with Irene. Because of that bond, I hope she and her mom got to remember him for the good she saw in him before the Warrens got involved. I may give this movie more due credit than one would say it deserves and having said that, it doesn’t excuse some moments that don’t make much sense storywise. For instance, I don’t believe the claim the most blasphemous disguise a demon can take is a nun when Jesus Christ or God himself are ideally more blasphemous. And if Maurice has been possessed for four whole years, I feel like Irene should’ve gotten visions sooner. It then feels more annoying that not only Irene was told of Burke’s death just after she asked for him, but was offered no backup until Debra snuck out. Hell, I’m trying to figure out if she hid in a car the whole time since she had to board a train as well. There’s also no point for Valak to leave out after scaring Sophie throughout the first two acts when it didn’t hesitate with the trail of blood it’s already made at this point. The same statement applies when the nuns arrive in time for the climax. On top of that, Kate doesn’t even feel too worried spotting Sophie upstairs until after finding her. It’s even a stretch on Valak being busy killing St Lucy’s descendants, but not actually knowing where the eyes are when it could’ve possessed the oldest descendant to find it sooner. And whoever ran the monastery first should’ve taken the eyes before selling the place if he didn’t want demons trying to access it. And most importantly, no one suspected Frenchie to be responsible before Irene and not even he guessed the coincidence of people dying when he’s there from job to job, place to place. Lastly, was it Irene that told Father Gordon about Frenchie? I’d like to know since there would be a better connection to why the Warrens get involved afterwards. If you can ignore these issues however, you’ll enjoy what this movie is going for. In short, The Nun II is enough of an improvement to get new viewers onboard for the creep-factor of horror. If you’re into the supernatural, I’m sure you’ll like this sequel very much.