While The Nun was far from being a beloved entry in The Conjuring Universe largely because of its overreliance on usual franchise trappings and struggles to deliver memorable scares, the sequel had the opportunity to learn from the first film’s mistakes. Unfortunately, The Nun II is a bland carbon copy that follows too closely in the footsteps of its predecessor and ultimately underwhelms.

Fans once again follow Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) as she’s tasked with stopping the demon nun Valak (Bonnie Aarons) from causing immense death and destruction across France. While Irene has been able to move on for the most part, she comes to realize that her old friend Frenchie (Jonas Bloquet) is under Valak’s control. So – with the help of fellow nun Debra (Storm Reid) – Irene travels to the all-girls school Frenchie is working at to put an end to Valak’s possession of him. However, she realizes that Valak is much more powerful this time around and is after something that could make her unstoppable.

When it comes to the film’s scares, they are incredibly weak and familiar. There are a couple good scares that see director Michael Chaves use good misdirection and play with the audiences’ expectations. For instance, there’s a moment where Chaves throws in a solid jump scare of Valak appearing after a sequence of Valak bending the reality of a young student named Sophie (Katelyn Rose Downey). It comes out of nowhere, delivers a really strong shock, and sucks you into the moment. The Nun II desperately needed more moments like this as it feels devoid of anything outside of the usual tricks and traps of The Conjuring Universe.

The Nun II embodies the most typical and uneventful style of scares this franchise is known for. There are sequences that stretch out the suspense too far – to the point where it almost feels like a parody or keeps viewers from staying on the hook. The jump scares are highly predictable and ineffective. There aren’t even any eerie visuals and/or creepy atmosphere that stand out – aside from a couple things Valak does in the final battle. Valak, in general, is starting to lose her intimidating screen presence as well. She definitely needs to find new ways to scare people and there are some incredibly bizarre additions to this film that are clearly there to try and up the scares, but ultimately fall flat – including a weird goat demon.

Worst of all is that the film tries to get characters to nonsensically walk into terrifying situations they have no business being involved in. These characters genuinely feel forced into tough spots, and it makes them not only come off dumb, but heavily weakens the scare potential. The Nun II is literally a collection of The Conjuring Universe’s lamest horror elements, and it results in something that no horror movie wants to be recognized as – boring and predictable. So, in short, The Nun II barely delivers any decent scares and uses the same old tricks that other films in the franchise have used – making it feel like The Conjuring Universe is running on creative fumes. 

The performances sadly don’t help elevate the experience or engagement either as they hit the basic notes. Neither Frenchie nor Irene evolve much in the story and bring nothing new to make this experience feel different from the first film. Most of the newbies barely end up being memorable and despite having a strong talent like Reid involved, there isn’t much for her to do or play with. So, she’s just stuck in a sidekick role that feels beneath her talent. Aarons continues to be strong as Valak, but she’s not given enough interesting moments to let her performance elevate the film or evolve the character in an interesting way. There are moments where the characters can get a laugh because of how charming or funny they can be, but it’s not enough to overcome the tropes they represent nor the lack of intrigue they have.

Even the film’s story is painfully weak and only becomes interesting when the film touches on a potential impending conflict. None of the relationships built in the film have much depth or connective elements. The arcs for returning characters feel relatively the same so there isn’t much new story wise. The religious lore that’s added in is simply there to feed the weak McGuffin that Valak is after and it’s one of the most confusing elements of the film. The McGuffin’s power is never established effectively so it feels more like a plot device than anything, and Irene’s connection to it – which helps her in the final battle – isn’t delved into well at all. Honestly, the entire final battle with Valak this time around is totally baffling to watch because it makes no sense and is filled with questionable aspects. The only aspect of the story that does make things interesting is the tease of a bigger storyline unfolding that fans will like – which only makes The Nun II feel even more like a weak middle film in an already middling trilogy.

The Nun II is an entry and a sequel that most fans of The Conjuring Universe will want to forget about since it features lackluster stories, scares, and ambition to be another more than just a subpar follow-up. It does present the potential for a third film or cross into the mainline storyline to elevate what’s been established so far in the spinoff. For now though, The Nun franchise continues to be a disappointing and underwhelming part of this cinematic universe.

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