The Conjuring Universe is possibly my favorite of modern horror cinema. The original film scared me to my core. The spin-offs are fun, but not always scary. That is until we were introduced to The Nun. We were first introduced to the Demon Valak in The Conjuring 2 as the film’s main big bad.

The Nun films serve as a backstory for the terrifying demon. The first film takes place in the 1950s way before we are introduced to Ed and Lorraine Warren. The story begins in a Romanian convent where we meet Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) and Father Burke (Demián Bichir). The two are sent to investigate a consent where a young nun has recently taken her own life. There they meet Frenchie (Jonas Bloquet) who plays a larger role in the franchise than we ever realized.

At the end of the first film, there is a final scene where we see the Warrens giving a lecture at Massachusetts Western University. There they show a video of an exorcism they helped with. The person in the video is Maurice, AKA Frenchie. But, how did we get here? That is what The Nun II is all about.

THE NUN II AND WHAT HAPPENS WITH VALAK

The Nun II takes place in France four years after the first film. A priest is murdered, and it seems whatever this evil is, is spreading. So, Sister Irene is once again asked to risk her life in order to take down the demon. 

While Father Burke died in the previous film, Sister Irene is not alone. This time she is followed by Sister Debra (Storm Reid), the rebel nun if you will. The two women are off to investigate and see what is going on. The women find themselves at a girls’ boarding school where they find Frenchie. There they learn of his possession and try and save him, the people at the school, as well as themselves.

I really enjoyed Farmiga and Reid together. I thought they had great chemistry and played off each other really well. 

SO MUCH LORE

Similar to the first film, The Nun II is filled with a ton of lore. This time, instead of the blood of Christ, the story follows St. Lucy – the patron saint of the blind. While I understand we need all this lore to tell a religious horror story, I also found the film to be bogged down by it. The film is full of good scares, but a lot of the setups go on too long. Sometimes it gets past the point of tension building into ‘Is it ever going to happen?’.

My best example of this is the magazine scene. I won’t give it away, but if the camera panned back and forth one more time… By the time anything happened I was over it. It’s no longer a good scare I’m just annoyed. This happened multiple times during the film.

VALAK TERRORIZES THE BOARDING SCHOOL IN MULTIPLE WAYS

I do appreciate that we get another demon to see and terrorize people. This way it doesn’t make The Nun omnipresent. So, while Sister Irene is dealing with The Nun, the girls are being terrorized by their own creation. I like to call him K-Mart “Black Phillip”. He is the goat demon come alive from a game the girls play to scare each other. 

That said, Valak was used very sparsely throughout the film. Everyone spoke about the demon A LOT. There are a couple of moments where we see it, but most everything happens via proxy for the demon. That, or it’s invisible while tossing people around. I wish we had seen the Nun more and not just with random jump scares. It almost seems like Bonnie Aarons who plays the character wasn’t available. 

STAY FOR THE MID-CREDITS SCENE!

Overall, while The Nun II had its issues I had a fun time watching the movie. I think it’s a good addition to The Conjuring universe. That said, the mid-credits scene made the entire film worth watching. Get ready for the crossover we’ve all been waiting for. 

The Nun II is now playing in theaters! Grab your soda and popcorn, and enjoy!