The Nun 2 Review: A Frequently Fun And Violent Romp Falls Victim To Prequelitis

This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being reviewed here wouldn't exist.

Against all odds, director James Wan's "The Conjuring" movies somehow managed to hit that horror sweet spot. It takes a deceptive amount of skill to find that special balance between brutal, nightmare-inducing scares and a refreshingly uncynical worldview — one that never took characters we actually came to love and subjected them to abject cruelty. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson's performances as expert demonologists Lorraine and Ed Warren went a long way towards grounding such supernatural antics in genuine earnestness, and their absence immediately put 2018's "The Nun" at a creative disadvantage. Detailing the origins of the sinister demon Valak (Bonnie Aarons), the spin-off/prequel film was savaged by critics (it's mostly better than you remember!) despite delivering a pair of eminently compelling leads: Taissa Farmiga's Sister Irene and her French-Canadian sidekick Maurice, better known as Frenchie (Jonas Bloquet).

Both make their returns in "The Nun II" along with their nun-too-happy foe (sorry), and together this unlikely trio treats audiences to a thrilling new dynamic between them, but things don't feel quite as new and exciting this time around. Or, rather, that potential gradually wears off the longer the sequel goes on. Despite packing in a number of nifty scares and establishing a tone that overtly embraces its own absurdity, the film's inescapable connections to the overall franchise hinder its goals more than it helps.

Ultimately, "The Nun II" doesn't come close to matching the highs of the mainline "The Conjuring" films. But neither does it succumb to the shortcomings that bedeviled its predecessor. Instead, this follow-up settles for something less ambitious — and somewhat less rewarding — as a result.

Directed by "The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It" veteran Michael Chaves from a screenplay credited to Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, and Akela Cooper, "The Nun II" initially gets off to a promising start. The film opens right in line with franchise tradition through a self-contained and wonderfully atmospheric vignette following a soon-to-be victim at the hands of Valak, the killer demon whom viewers may remember escaped at the end of the previous movie by secretly possessing the ever-lovable Frenchie. Set four years after the events of "The Nun" in 1956 France, the story wastes no time showing that our supernatural antagonist isn't messing around, killing indiscriminately in a series of brutal murders that soon attract the attention of the Vatican. With go-to paranormal investigator Father Burke (played by Demián Bichir in "The Nun") no longer in the picture, the now-ordained Sister Irene is tasked with tying up loose ends and putting a stop to Valak's reign of terror.

After catching audiences up to speed on its place in the franchise (by having a character recite a clunky recap of what happened last time, admittedly), the film quickly establishes the new faces joining the cast this time around. While Anna Popplewell (of "Chronicles of Narnia" fame) is saddled with the thankless role of single mother and Frenchie's prospective lover Kate (her young daughter Sophie, played by Katelyn Rose Downey, fares slightly better bringing a sweet dynamic to a very parental Frenchie), Storm Reid is a clear standout as Sister Debra, a fellow nun at Irene's convent with a rebellious streak. Struggling profoundly to keep her wavering faith alight, Debra is nonetheless undeterred when the secret of Irene's past dealings with Valak comes to light and never hesitates to join her on this mission in what turns out to be an absolute blast of a "Nuns on the run" plotline.

From there, however, we return to a more conventional approach when Irene tracks down clues that lead her right to Frenchie's doorstep — and that of the girl's boarding school where he works as a handyman.

As much as it was likely an easy sell to pitch a series of spin-off movies revolving around various demons like Valak teased in "The Conjuring" movies, this choice raised a more pressing creative question: How could "The Nun" movies continue to keep its eponymous villain scary, even as it inevitably demystifies the legend behind Valak? While the 2018 film largely skirted around this thorny issue by preserving some of the mystery surrounding the demon, "The Nun II" makes the mistake of delving too deeply into its antagonist's oddly straightforward motivations. The sequel's constantly silly plotting is easily forgiven thanks to the script's deft ability to remain in on the joke (at one point, the horror flick unexpectedly turns into "Raiders of the Lost Ark" as our heroes search for an ancient religious relic hidden in the school), but the damage this does to the once-unknowable Valak simply doesn't justify the trade-off.

That awfully contagious diagnosis of "prequelitis" extends even to the film's most successful subplot, as well. As the action shifts to the main setting of the French boarding school, "The Nun II" gets a ton of mileage out of the central tension revolving around Frenchie. His unwitting possession by Valak completely flies in the face of his charming and authentic efforts to be a protector to Kate and her daughter Sophie, making it impossible for him to draw closer to his newfound family without putting them directly in harm's way. While the first "The Nun" treated Frenchie's connections to the original "The Conjuring" as a shocking, last-minute reveal – the Warrens eventually perform an exorcism on him, resulting in Lorraine's terrifying visions of Valak and Frenchie's suicide — "The Nun II" attempts to refocus his tragedy on a much more personal level that dovetails perfectly with Irene's drive to stop Valak at all costs.

Still, despite its best efforts, the film simply can't wring as much drama out of this setup when both Frenchie and Valak's respective fates are already written in stone.

Mind you, none of this is to say that "The Nun II" lacks any of the magic of the franchise's high water marks. The horrifically haunting magazine sequence plastered all over the movie's marketing hits just as hard, even if the trailers "spoiled" how this jump-scare unfolds. The extended third act might sag beneath the weight of trying to juggle too many different characters in too many locations, but the heartfelt storyline involving Frenchie, Kate, and Sophie lends a much-needed counterbalance to the much more horror-laced portions of the film. And in terms of atmosphere and aesthetics, we'd be remiss to gloss over cinematographer Tristan Nyby's work. Much of the film plays out as a study in contrasts, plunging entire sets in darkness with only stark yellows and reds able to cut through the blacks. Between the evocative lighting, impressive production design, and strong central performances, viewers who catch this movie on the big screen in a full house with a rowdy crowd will certainly get their money's worth.

If it feels like "The Nun II" comes with unfair expectations of living up to the absolute best of "The Conjuring" movies, well, them's the breaks when attempting to cash in on brand recognition. One can't help but wonder how both "The Nun" movies might've played out as original scripts without any shackles to pre-established lore ... but, at the same time, one would have to assume that neither film would even exist without those connections in the first place. In the end, viewers have no choice but to accept these spin-offs/prequels as they are. Your mileage may vary on a mid-credits tease that further hints at future directions the franchise will take, yet there's no denying the grip that these movies — like Valak itself — continue to have on us.

/Film Rating: 6 out of 10