The Nun II is a 2023 supernatural horror film directed by Michael Chaves, produced by Peter Safran and James Wan, and written by Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, and Akeja Cooper. The eighth film in The Conjuring Universe, it is a sequel to The Nun, and continues focusing on Valak, the main antagonist of The Conjuring 2. The film was released on September 8, 2023.
In 1956, the demon Valak has traveled west throughout Europe since its release from the Romanian abbey of St. Cârța, killing priests and nuns. Sister Irene, now posted at an abbey in Italy, is contacted by the Vatican to help solve the case, learning that the demon is using her old friend Maurice, to spread terror at a boarding school in France.
Taissa Farmiga, Jonas Bloquet, and Bonnie Aarons return as Irene, Maurice, and Valak, respectively, from the previous film, joined by Storm Reid as Sister Debra, Anna Popplewell as Kate, and Katelyn Rose Downey as Sophie.
Previews: Trailer
, Teaser 1, Teaser 2
The film contains examples of:
- Artistic License – History: The movie portrays the Palais des Papes at Avignon as still being owned by the Catholic Church in 1956 and housing a vast collection of Church Archives. In reality, it has been the property of the French state since Napoleonic times and a national museum since 1906.
- Chekhov's Gun: When the boarding school is first introduced, it is shown that massive amounts of wine are stored there, left over from when it was a winery. It all comes in handy during the climax when Sisters Irene and Debra transubstantiate all of it into the Blood of Christ to defeat Valak.
- Contrived Coincidence: While investigating a murder committed by Valak in Tarrascon, Irene needs some information about a symbol, and she just so happens to have a friend at Church Archives at Avignon, 25 minutes away.
- Crisis of Faith: Sister Debra, being a black woman who grew up in 1950s America, admits that is still trying to believe in the existence of a kind and caring God, and accompanies Irene precisely so she can see a true miracle being done. Her wish is eventually granted when she sees Irene survive being immolated by Valak.
- Darker and Edgier: Due to Valak's ruthless and unrelenting nature, the Nun films are, so far, the most violent in the Conjuring universe. The films focus more on brutal kills while those lucky enough to survive still suffer a good amount of sadistic abuse.
- Demonic Possession: Valak is using Maurice to spread its terror.
- Eye Scream: Irene explains to Debra that Saint Lucy's eyes were gouged out by pagans before she was killed. Later, Irene experiences a vision that shows this very event.
- Fallen Angel: A priest tells Irene that Valak was originally an angel, but it was rejected by God.
- Gruesome Goat: One scene has the girls being chased by a goat-shaped demon.
- Hammer and Sickle Removed for Your Protection: Flashbacks to the immediate aftermath of the events of the previous film show Maurice discussing his plans to travel to Hungary all too casually for a country behind the Iron Curtain.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: In the third act, Valak is banished to Hell through immolation, the same method it used to kill a priest and nearly kill Irene earlier.
- Kids Are Cruel: The three girls who are always picking on Sophie. In their first scene, they are seen putting cockroaches into Mother Laurent's room while she is praying at the shrine she made for her dead son. Then they are shown stealing the friendship bracelet that Sophie made for Maurice, and when Maurice asks them to give it back, they say that they don't have to listen to him because he's just a custodian. Later on, they lock Sophie inside the chapel where she is soon attacked by Valak.
- Kill It with Fire: The first kill of the movie is that of a priest being burned to death while suspended in the air by Valak. Valak tries to do the same thing to Irene in the climax, but she comes out unscathed and manages to turn the tables on it by praying for God to immolate Valak, banishing it to Hell.
- Killed Offscreen: It is offhandedly mentioned that Father Burke has died of cholera.
- Mind Screw:
- When Sophie encounters Valak in the school, she sees it standing from the far side of the corridor of the Warrens' house... on a whole different continent, 21 years in the future.note
- In the same vein, a painting of Valak appears in the school in a later scene. This is the same painting that Ed Warren would create in The Conjuring 2, after seeing Valak in his dreams.
- Missing Mom: Irene's mother was taken to an asylum for being a psychic, while Debra's mother died when their home was torched by white supremacists.
- Never Trust a Trailer:
- The scene in the trailer where Irene is surrounded by the ghostly nuns never appears in the film itself.
- When the girls are cornered into Madame Laurent's residence, one of them sees Valak in her room. In the film itself, she actually sees Laurent's ghost (or rather, Valak's impersonation of her).
- Outliving One's Offspring: Madame Laurent lost her son during the bombings of World War II, and she has locked the chapel where he died indefinitely. Valak uses this against her by impersonating her son to lure her into the chapel, enabling it to kill her.
- Saved by Canon:
- Once again, the attempt to defeat Valak for good is doomed to fail, since it will eventually return to the human world to cause the Enfield Poltergeist twenty years later. While Irene and Debra do manage to banish it to Hell, it is implied that it will return through Maurice once again.
- Maurice will also have to survive the film, since he is the subject of an exorcism by the Warrens in 1970s. Therefore, the viewers will know that he doesn't really die when Irene touches him with the Eyes of Saint Lucy in the third act.
- Shipper on Deck: Sophie ships her mother to end up with Maurice, even nudging her by commenting that he is a guy who can make her smile.
- Time Skip: Set in 1956, four years after The Nun.
- Translation Convention: As in the first film, this seems to have been employed. Despite being wholly set in France and Italy, everyone speaks English (though aside from Irene and Debra, they all have an accent).
- Yin-Yang Bomb: Valak's goal is to become this by absorbing the Eyes of Saint Lucy's holy power, thus regaining the might it lost when God cast it out of Heaven. In a terrifying moment, it actually succeeds, even manifesting a halo during the brief moment before it is defeated
