The Nun 2

I don't know if I'm too demanding, but a mainstream horror movie shouldn't be so boring that I have to watch it twice because I fall asleep the first time. The Nun II is an eruption of creative horror ineptitude. It looks nice, the setting of the old French convent does its thing, but otherwise it failed to wring a single emotion out of me. Even the more action-packed sequences are shot in a boring way. It’s sad to see where The Conjuring universe has gotten to. It never stood out for originality, but when Wan had it in his claws, it was at least guaranteed to be workmanlike. (23.10.2023)

Valak is back together with Michael Chaves, who again confirms he is a mediocre director (it's the Conjuring Universe was put in charge of Chaves, who, after La Llorona should have been a red flag, but for unknown reasons he is back in the director's chair). The most interesting thing about The Nun 2 is once again the setting (the twons, the streets, the period setting), which is atypical and unorthodox. Unfortunately, the plot is not very interesting and it's quite boring. Valak is less on the scene than I would have liked and instead of scares and horror fun, we get rather uninteresting dialogues with uninteresting characters. Occasionally Chaves comes up with an interesting atmospheric scene (the magazines – the only functional jump scare), but the rest of the scares don't have the necessary gusto (ironically, The Equalizer 3 had a betterone!). It bothered me a bit that instead of Valak, the possessed had to be a guy who is simply not scary, he was unnecessary and if I have Valak in the film, why bring in someone else? (though the goat was surprisingly fine). The only thing that saves it from being mediocre is the finale, which is surprisingly action packed and long, and I thought if the whole movie was carried at that pace of horror wilderness it would be one hell of a ride, only that the ending rather wakes the viewer up from boredom or slumber. So, for me, another mediocre mainstream ghost movie that is decent in craftsmanship, has nice locations, but doesn't use the full potential of the scary Valak and only runs at half throttle most of the time. However, for those who haven't seen much horror, Nun 2 won't offend. 55% (10.09.2023)

A tad better than the first one. It's beautiful to look at, the production design is more than decent, it has some great ideas (the turning pages of the magazines). Unfortunately, Chaves can't give any juice to the horror moments, they are pretty routine and with rare exceptions, even the scares don't work. But it didn't offend me with its stupidity like the previous one, though the tense final 20 minutes were pretty much on the verge of tipping into generic silliness. Vera Farmiga's sister is fun to watch, she has such an innocent fragility in her face, you can't act it, you have to have it in you, and she can act too. (06.11.2023)