However you possibly can’t preserve a superb demon down, as anybody who has ever seen any horror movie, ever, will inform you.
Valak, the Vatican archivist (Peter Hudson) informs Irene, seems to be making its method throughout Europe and is now in France, the place the malevolent entity appears to be in pursuit of a strong (and grisly) spiritual relic. Why? “It’s a demon,” the priest tells her, in a considerably unsatisfying variant of “Demons gonna demon.” Valak is unpredictable, in different phrases, and might take many kinds, feeding on our deepest fears like they have been Pringles potato chips.
That predictable unpredictability is definitely a superb factor so far as horror motion pictures go. Name it “Demon motion pictures gonna demon film.” And so “The Nun II” does its factor, effectively and with a number of bounce scares, as Irene and the Defiler go toe to toe.
Aiding Irene in her mission is a form of Watson to her Holmes: Sister Debra (Storm Reid), a Mississippi-born nun, for some purpose in France, who makes up for shaky religion with the form of real-world pragmatism that Irene lacks. Collectively of their pursuit, they quickly cross paths with Maurice (Jonas Bloquet), the good-looking, flirty Frenchman who saved Irene’s life in “The Nun.” (In that Romanian-set movie, which came about 4 years earlier than the motion of this one, he was generally known as “Frenchie.” Right here, that might be redundant.) Different supporting characters embrace Kate (Anna Popplewell), a instructor on the French ladies’ college the place a lot of the movie is about, and Kate’s daughter Sophie (Katelyn Rose Downey). The U.Okay. actors — Popplewell is English, Downey is Irish — are engaging additions to the solid, largely for Maurice to work together with, romantically and paternally, respectively.
However human relations aren’t what you come searching for in a film set within the Conjuring universe, the place Valak is the principle antagonist, and which has included three motion pictures a few deliciously malignant devil-doll named Annabelle, together with the cheesily satisfying “Annabelle Comes Residence.”
You come for the satan in a black behavior. You come for its goat-horned sidekick, the possession of human souls, accompanied by sufficient cracking-joint sounds to provide a chiropractor nightmares.
Is it cliché? Sure. Does it defy logic and continuity? Sure, and sure. Why do some spiritual relics — e.g., the blood of Jesus in “The Nun” — act like inexperienced Kryptonite on Valak, and others, such because the relic Valak is searching for in “The Nun II,” confer energy? And precisely when does Maurice, who has appeared in earlier Conjuring and Annabelle movies, meet with the paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, Taissa’s sister), the protagonists of the Conjuring movies?
It’s all so complicated. However purpose is an impediment to appreciating “The Nun II.” What you want, like Irene and Debra, is religion — on this case, within the energy of pure nonsense.
R. At space theaters. Incorporates violence and terror. 110 minutes.