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| The titular nun in the confession box looking less than saintly on this dark poster for Michael Chaves' The Nun II |
Sister Irene leads a quiet convent life, when she is once again tasked with dealing with the lethal demon nun Valak, who seems to be sweeping across Europe, leaving behind a trail of satanic-themed deaths.
The Nun II is written by Ian Goldberg (Eli (2019)), Richard Naing (The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)) and Akela Cooper (M3GAN (2022)) and directed by Michael Chaves (The Curse of La Llorona (2019)). It is the 8th film in the Conjuring universe and the sequel to spin-off The Nun (2018).
Quality plummets here in a strictly commercially mandated followup that lacks the Gothic luster and gloomy fun of the first film by Corin Hardy. Chaves' modus operandi is to quickly set up characters and situations without much believability, inherent interest or audience investment, and then to attack them; either killing them in death scenes that usually last less than 10 seconds, or to menace them for longer, - mostly if they are young females, - in which case they get expanded screen time to scream, scream, - and then to scream some more.
The film may be a scary experience for young first-timer audiences in the horror genre, but for veteran fright fans, it is regrettably a quite tiring chore to sit through. The appealing Taissa Farmiga (The Long Dumb Road (2018)) is trapped in a cynical and boring contraption here. A cast of young characters with perfect skin and perfectly plucked eyebrows attempt various European accents while failing miserably at presenting any semblance of authenticity as a present day version of 1956 Europe. No story or character details are followed up. The nun doesn't get really scary scenes that stand out. She is overcome with a nonsensical story of religious magic, and her backstory remains unexplored, despite it being the obvious place to go for a Nun movie.
The first film's unconvincing but model-looking Jonas Bloquet (Par le Sang (2018)) is brought back for a bigger, central role in the new film that also fails to deliver scares or rack up interest. Basically his lamely friendly boarding school repairman becomes overtaken by a demon at times. It is unclear whether he is overtaken by Valak the nun, because she is also busy spreading frenzied terror on her own elsewhere.
The fright scenes are fast and rely heavily on CGI, mostly to little effect besides incessant screaming from the girls on-screen. The danger scenes lack originality and directorial vision. But despite the lowly movie at hand, its impressive commercial results mean that we might as well start bracing for more nun-sense to come.
Related posts:
Conjuring franchise: 2019 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2019 in films - according to Film Excess
Annabelle Comes Home (2019) or, Annabelle: Bored to Death!
The Nun (2018) - Hardy succeeds with old-timey Gothic horror on FX steroids
Annabelle: Creation (2017) - Sandberg's orphanage doll prequel is slow but rewarding
The Conjuring 2 (2016) - Wan's sequel is a long horror treat with terrifying periods
Annabelle (2014) - Leonetti's creepy if derivative Conjuring spin-off
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess
The Conjuring (2013) - Best horror film in 7 years
Watch a trailer for the movie here
Cost: 38 mil. $
Box office: 205.3 mil. $ and counting
= Too early to say but already a big hit (has returned 5.40 times its cost to date)
[The Nun II was released 6 September (Indonesia, Mexico, Uruguay, Philippines) and runs 110 minutes. Shooting took place around October 2022 in France. The film opened #1 to a 32.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it has currently held #1 for its first 3 straight weekends. The film has one slated market left to open in; Japan on October 13. Chaves does not have his next gig announced yet. Farmiga is slated to return in a feature titled She Taught Love. The Nun II is rotten at 52 % with a 5.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of The Nun II?
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