The Nun II (15)

After her harrowing experience in 1950s Romania, Sister Irene moves to France and enjoys a quieter pace of life guiding fresh-faced postulate Sister Debra. Cardinal Conroy brings dire news - the ancient evil has escaped from Romania and is moving steadily eastwards across Europe, purpose unknown. He entreats Sister Irene to stop this murderous menace once and for all, and Sister Debra defies the Abbess to provide support.

LondonNet Film Review

The Nun II (15) Film Review from LondonNet

Bad habits are repeated in The Nun II, a lacklustre ninth instalment (and counting) of The Conjuring Universe, which extends the murderous rampage of demon Valak in dimly lit set pieces that employ familiar jump tactics to feign edge-of-seat suspense. The eponymous antagonist played by Bonnie Aarons was introduced in The Conjuring 2 to strike fear into the hearts of paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) ahead of a standalone 2018 feature, which traced the source of evil to an abbey in early 1950s Europe…

Michael Chaves, director of The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, presides over a shock-starved sequel which affirms the first rule of supernatural horror films – evil never dies – and unleashes a rampaging demonic goat for its centrepiece sequence of hide and seek. Taissa Farmiga reprises her role as the wide-eyed instrument of the Lord, who mistakenly thought she had banished Valak using a vial containing the blood of Christ and must now repeat the feat – or die trying – by harnessing the power of a different religious artefact. The historical hokum provides a flimsy dramatic hook for small-scale carnage every time a character wanders alone down a darkened corridor, oblivious to otherworldly villainy slinking out of the shadows.

Four years after Sister Irene (Farmiga) first encountered the hellish harpy in a habit in the auspicious surroundings of the Abbey of St Carta in Romania, the fresh-faced disciple of God has relocated to a religious order where the most pressing concern is convincing strong-willed Sister Debra (Storm Reid) to go to confession. Other nuns are blissfully unaware of Irene’s past until Cardinal Conroy (David Horovitch) arrives for an urgent audience. Valak has returned, cutting a murderous swathe across Europe. “In that abbey, you performed a miracle. The church needs another,” implores the holy man.

Irene departs in haste for the last known sighting in Tarascon, France, and Debra risks the ire of the Abbess (Fulvia Patrizia Olivieri) to provide spiritual support. Meanwhile, at a girl’s boarding school located in an old monastery, haughty headmistress Madame Laurent (Suzanne Bertish) forbids young charges from venturing into the decrepit chapel. Ancient evil lurks in the dust-filled gloom and teacher Kate (Anna Popplewell), her bullied daughter Sophie (Katelyn Rose Downey) and resident handyman Maurice (Jonas Bloquet) will soon experience its wrath.

The Nun II commits multiple sins, the greatest being an aversion to visceral, skin-crawling terror. Stakes never feel high, even when several innocent children and one hastily sketched bully are in peril, and a frenetic finale teeters precariously on the precipice of goofiness. By the time director Chaves is going batty in a belfry, we’re counting blessings that the order of service clocks in under two hours.

– Jo Planter