The Nun 2 is the sequel to The Nun, which follows the demonic nun that haunts the Catholic Church in the Conjuring universe. Released on September 8th of 2023, the Nun 2 picks up on the story of the original by revealing that the demon Nun was, in fact, not destroyed by the protagonist, Sister Irene, in the previous movie. We follow the Nun’s murders in the gloomy town of Tarascon, France in 1956, while Sister Irene begins to have visions of the Nun. As she rushes to figure out where the Nun is, the demon is busy in an all girls boarding school, killing delivery boys and eventually the headmistress. As it turns out, the Nun is after a powerful holy relic hidden in the boarding school.
In the beginning of the movie, the dark and disturbing setting made the scenes, even the ones without the demon Nun, feel ominous and uncomfortable, building tension for scares. Dark basements, the foggy and bleak streets of the cramped town of Tarascon, France, and the old abandoned chapel that is always locked up next to the boarding school are all unsettling by themselves, and with a demon lurking in the many shadows and corners, the anticipation is almost overwhelming.
Although I found the beginning of the movie to be truly terrifying, and even heard people in the movie theater screaming, the second half of the movie began to feel less scary. As the Nun begins to make its presence more known, the mystery and the tension behind the demon is diminished. This feeling only grows as Sister Irene arrives at the boarding school. She easily faces the demon and ties it up, making the buildup feel unnecessary and the monster feel weak. Even with a lackluster middle, the end of the movie revives the eerie feelings and horror established in the beginning of the movie. As Sister Irene nears the holy relic, we see that the demon has awoken again and broken loose. The Nun summons a devil goat monster to add to the chaos. While the children in the boarding school are chased by the monster, the Nun makes her way towards the holy relic, and the final showdown between Sister Irene and the demon begins. Overall, the ending creates a creepy and intense situation for the characters and really brings the movie back from boring and predictable, to exciting and scary.
Overall, the Nun 2 was a decent watch and is a good movie for this Halloween. I would give this movie a 3.3 out of 5 stars. The acting was nothing special, and the plot was slightly cheesy. I loved the setting and the scares in the beginning and end, but would have loved more in the middle of the movie.
