SPOILER ALERT- If you’re planning on watching The Nun II, this is a massive spoiler.
I had high expectations for the Nun II. I have always been a big fan of the Conjuring franchise and I honestly really enjoyed watching the first movie. Honestly, I can’t say it was terrible; yes, it definitely had the conjuring type feel to it, but it didn’t have the same scare level to it. This is probably due to James Wan not being the director. James Wan is one of the central parts of why the Conjuring movies are so scary, as his directing style and creative use of jump scares are really what make the Conjuring franchise so popular.
The director Michael Chaves has made a few of the lesser-known conjuring movies. In any way am I not saying he is a bad director: he has amazing talent in cinematography and honestly can make a movie interesting, however, I think that if you’re looking for a semi-scary horror movie the movies he directs are for you.
The plot was a bit generic, set in an old building where there was a tragedy. A room is being blocked off, with a rare historical item inside that a demon is trying to reach through the possession of a random character. This plot has been brought about many times, but the characters were likable. When certain relationships between characters in the film are shown, they make us relate them to ourselves and our life, however because of the whole setting up of the story taking the whole first half of the movie, the movie went by as boring and nothing more than just setting up the plot. Honestly, this could probably have been done in 15 minutes.
A part of the movie that I think needs so much appreciation is the part of the movie where a bunch of magazines flick through and it shows the outline of the nun. This was probably the scariest part of the movie and the only thing that could have made it scarier is if it wasn’t shown in the trailer. Despite this, when watching it with context in the movie it feels 10x scarier. I liked this point purely for the creativity of the scare.
The worst thing about this movie is something everyone could agree on: the CGI. At some point in the movie, a goat cross-boogie man is chasing people around the house. Despite the fact they tried to make the moment scary, it felt like I was watching an old horror movie where the effects make it funny more than anything else. However, the rest of the CGI and effects were great again to reference the magazine scene.
A lot of people ran to say “The Nun II” was better than the first, however, I disagree. Despite the majority saying the 2nd was better, it is clear that there is a massive plot hole between the end of “The Nun” and the storyline of “The Nun II”. At the end of the first movie, Frenchie is seen with the Warrens having an exorcism, linking back to the first conjuring, however, “The Nun II” is about Frenchie having the demon extracted from him without the Warrens being there in a completely different setting, showing a lack of attention towards the continuation of the storyline into the sequel of this series.
The plot of this story does not make sense within the rest of the Conjuring series or even its own original movie. This along with the fact that there was a lot of missed potential and overly predictable jump scares made this movie an interesting watch, but definitely not scary like it was intended to be.
The cinematography of this movie was by far the best thing about it. There were a multitude of different parts of the movie where the lighting, camera angles and music just made it a million times better. It was good to see Michael Chave’s incredible cinematography skills in this film.
If I’m being candid, this movie wasn’t bad at all. Though, did it live up to my expectations? Not really. However, it was an interesting and entertaining watch. It’s the type of movie you would watch with your friends and laugh at. If you’re looking for a really scary movie this isn’t the best movie for that, but in other regards this movie was good. It had a few (though predictable) jump scares that actually scared me. This movie is definitely worth watching if you’re interested in a semi-scary horror movie.
Overall, a 5/10.
