Ebert Did It Better: Gasbag Reviews

The Nun II – 2023

Director Michael Chaves
Screenplay Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, Akela Cooper
Starring Taissa Farmiga, Jonas Bloquet, Storm Reid, Anna Popplewell, Bonnie Aarons

The second feature film presentation of Valac, The Nun is really the fourth film that the character has appeared within The Conjuring Universe. The first film was The Conjuring 2, and the scene inside the den in the middle of the day stands as one of the most effective horror sequences ever. A surprise followup in Annabelle: Creation only served to strengthen the mythos and make the upcoming feature surrounding the character highly anticipated. Unfortunately, that film was just PG-13 average. There were a couple of effective scenese and a wasted Demián Bichir performance, but not much more.

More unfortunately, The Nun II plays like the last gasp of James Wan’s extended horror franchise. Though there are definite seeds of a story that is moving towards the Western Civilization of Ed and Lorraine Warren, it’s moving too slowly to get anywhere before its viewers lose patient or interest. The film is shot with tension building, rather a repetition of tropes, over and over, to the point where each scene plays ignorant of the next.

Farmiga does yoman’s work as Irene, a survivor of the previous film who unwittingly left fellow survivor Maurice (Bloquet) carrying the curse of Valac. Now Valac’s intention revolve around the search for a MacGuffin. The search has handyman Maurice wandering through Europe, performing jobs and killing those who are related.

This is the most one will get of the plot. There are enough loose threads to make one aware that there is a plethora of cuts to the film out there that might help things make more sense, but likely not make it much better.

Storm Reid plays like someone wiht modern sensibilities. The result makes her character stand out, but not in any good way. Bloquet actually does a nice job walking the line between kindness and brutality.

The worst part of The Nun II is the overuse of its titular character. The demon makes so many appearances in the first two acts, the effect has worn off well before the final act. The mythos has taken such a hit by now as to no longer be more than a circus freak show. It takes more than flickering lights, repeat viewings of old chapels, hallways and loud bangs to make something stand out. It takes silence and well thought out camera placements.

It is unclear how much more of the Universe is sitting in the works. There is one more primary film, The Conjuring: Last Rites which is supposed to wrap up The Warren’s films. Aside from this, there could be another Annabelle film. The returns of The Nun II could help answer how many more films studios greenlight. That there hasn’t been a really good film since 2017’s Annabelle: Creation should tell Wan to put more creative forces into future efforts or just give up these ghosts.

(* out of *****)