If you haven’t seen it already, check out The Nun 2 here.
Welcome to France! It’s time to clean up all the leftovers after church. As I kid, I was endlessly disappointed that this was less of a snack and more of an exercise in not spitting out styrofoam the Catholic Church insisted on calling bread. The altar boy is putting the jug of subpar wine away in the basement. He left a red ball down here earlier and now he kicks it into the dark room behind him. It returns on its own.
** I need you to look at the photo in the dungeon/snack storage. There is a woman holding a plate with her eyes on it. Like she is about to snack on them. She is important later, but wtf picked this photo? Don’t snack on your OWN EYES. This is basic stuff.
It’s 1956 in the movie, but here in the year of our Lord 2025, we call things mysteriously returning from dark voids a red flag. This kid isn’t quite up to date, so he kicks the ball back. The ball returns, the entire jug of wine explodes, and the void growls. I’m sure it’s just one of those French tigers I hear so much about. The altar boy doesn’t stick around to pet the danger kitty, instead rushing to let the priest know things are awry.
The holy water in the church boils into nothing as the nun herself appears menacingly creeping around the corner. She’s on a time crunch, so she floats the priest into the air and lights him aflame. Frenchie leaves the church, a mysterious nun-shaped shadow behind him. And that altar boy probably won’t get the therapy he needs. Its 1956.
We catch up with Irene at a convent? Nunnery? Nun Farm? Where she has befriended the resident troublemaker, Sister Debra. Debbie didn’t pick the nun life; her family thrust it upon her. And now she’s stuck on the farm. But at least the nuns here are terrible gossips. There’s some entertainment to be had. They sit in a circle talking about the events of the first movie. They do not know that Irene is the hero, and now possibly insane, nun that they’re talking about. She’s keeping a low profile.
That’s about to be blown though because the powers that be need her again. She didn’t defeat the nun demon, something we knew before we even watched that movie because Frenchie is exorcised later by the Warrens, so the demon is still around being a menace. They need Irene alone, that other guy died off-screen of cholera of all things, to save them again. Which she won’t because AGAIN, Frenchie is exorcised LATER. I can’t stress this enough. She reluctantly agrees to go, only to be jump-scared by that upstart Debbie, who has joined her.
But Frenchie didn’t hang around after all his murdering. He got a job as a maintenance worker at a girls’ Catholic school. Honestly, he seems normal. He made friends with one girl, Sophie, and, more importantly, with her mother, Kate. But some of these girls are just assholes.
A delivery boy tries to drop off groceries, and a bunch of the girls are bothering him. It seems like sexual harassment to me; my daughter insists they are being classist. Either way, let the kid do his job. He hears someone dying elsewhere in the building. He’s nicer than I am, so he goes into the dark hallway to check on them. It’s Frenchie. Staring into a mirror and sort of choking? It sounds bad. The kid unnecessarily asks if he’s okay. He is clearly distressed. But this gets Frenchie’s attention. The nun peeks from behind the mirror, and Frenchie goes full-on demon mode, running the kid down and murdering him.
The same classist/harassing girls are pretty mean to Sophia. They take her to a chained-off part of the school building. Not very well chained off as these kids are just walking through them, but the thought was there. It leads to the old chapel, which is completely falling apart and definitely a safety hazard. It was apparently bombed, a favorite thing in The Nun movies, and the instability of the building killed the headteacher’s son. So very unsafe. But they aren’t here for safety. Pranks are afoot.
The girls so Sophie a stained glass goat and tell her that when the light hits it in just the right way it’s eyes glow. If you look away from it the devil comes to snatch you up. And sure enough, we see the glowing eyes. The magic of light refraction. Sophie stares at the goat while all the other, evil, girls head back to the main building. By the time she can look away, she is alone, terrified, and nunish things are occurring. She races to the door BUT those girls hold it shut.
The nun stands under a sheet, rushing for Sophie. As the sheet falls, we glimpse the nun, but she turns into a statue when Frenchie saves the day. He opens the door and frees Sophie.
Irene and Debra make it to the scene of the priest burning. This place is still trying to have mass. No one is coming. Obviously. The charred outline of the priest’s body is still on the floor. Alas, Irene does her vision thing and sees the crispy priest. They see the photo of the lady about to eat her eyes and tell us she is the patron saint of the blind. They really should depict her better.
They want to interview the altar boy because he’s fine. Physically. Mentally, he’s scarred for life. (I originally wrote scared for life, and that’s probably accurate too.) His mom isn’t too keen on his ever speaking about this again. The best way to move on from trauma is to stuff it deep down inside and pretend it never happened. There was also a maintenance worker who booked it the day after. Irene is pretty sure that guy is Frenchie. She’s been dreaming about him begging for help and becoming a demon.
Don’t miss Ed and Lorraine Warren's latest blockbuster film based on their case files “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It” in theaters now.
Ed and Lorraine Warren are considered America's foremost experts on demonology and exorcism. With thousands of investigations to their credit, they reveal what actually breaks the peace in haunted houses and how it can happen to you. Don’t miss the Warrens in the blockbuster films, "The Conjuring," "The Nun," and "Annabelle Comes Home" in theaters now. In The Demonologist, the Warrens discuss many of their most famous cases including the ones that are the basis for the films “Annabelle” and “The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist.” If you think ghosts are only responsible for hauntings, think again. Used as a text in seminaries and classrooms, this is one book you can't put down. Now includes exclusive photographic documentation of phenomena in progress. Other titles by Ed & Lorraine Warren include Graveyard, Ghost Hunters, The Haunted, In a Dark Place, Werewolf, and Satan's Harvest.
Sophie is creeping on her mom and Frenchie talking. She’s obviously looking to get them to hook up. After her mom walks away, Frenchie looks up at some birds and just…stops. He looks like he’s buffering. Before we can see where this is going, Sophie’s mom calls for her from upstairs. But it’s clearly not her mom because, does she usually walk extra creepy and hide behind doors?
Sophie isn’t as attuned to the spookies as the viewers, so she follows. What she finds is the hallway from the Warren’s house with the wallpaper so seizure-inducing it should be illegal and a nun demon waiting at the end. The nun bursts into crows. Because. She can, I guess. I’m not sure of the endgame with that one. Then, it seems the nun is standing in front of her, but when the lights turn on, it is just fire/water damage in exactly the shape of the nun. That makes no sense to me.
Debra works out the details with the hotel, so Irene steps outside for some air. This is convenient because a bunch of kids, including that scarred for life altar boy, are playing soccer in the alley. Or not. They disappear way too quickly and may have just been vision kids. Irene follows the altar boy around a corner, ending at a lonely newsstand. There is nothing here but a single light and a rack of magazines. She has to know this isn’t real, right?
The pages flip around in the wind, entrancing Irene. They slowly form a picture of the nun. This is actually a super fun scene that only makes sense as a dream. The picture becomes a physical manifestation of the nun, who strangles Irene and she passes out. She gets a vision of the eyeless saint who has her eyeballs in a little box this time. At least it’s more respectful than on a plate. Debra finds Irene mid-vision and is understandably disturbed, calling for a doctor.
The poor headteacher at the girl’s school is trying to mourn her dead son, but these demons cannot be bothered with basic decency. They lure her to the doors to the chained-off area where Frenchie is banging his head on the door, apparently unaware of his location. She sends him back to his rooms but hears her son in the abandoned chapel. This is 100% not her son. She knows this. But she has to investigate.
eThis fake-ass ghost child comes walking out of the corner with one of the incense things. Then he BEATS HER TO DEATH with it. She just wanted to be sad in peace. There is no excuse for this behavior.
Irene wakes from her vision. Apparently, while she was out, the altar boy dropped off the dead priest’s rosary. It is equipped with clues! They use the crest to determine that the demon is hunting relatives of St. Lucille, the eyeless one. (There’s a photo of her here too. In this one, her eyes are in a martini glass. Is this a thing with her? The eye eating?) The demon is trying to get that jar of eyes because it’s a relic and hella powerful. This is a stupid plan. The Catholic Church is lousy with relics. Most of them aren’t even hiding. Go for a different demon. Work smart, not hard. Anyway, the last known location of the eyeballs is at the girls’ school. I do not know why the demon had to go through all those steps to figure this out.
All the girls wake up to find a corpse being removed from the school. Now they’re all traumatized. And Sophie is missing. Frenchie finds her hiding in the bell tower. Which does not seem like a safe place to play. Sophie feels like evil is afoot. She’s right.
Frenchie has dinner with Kate and Sophie. It’s a good time with everyone dancing. Sophie is really trying to get her mom and Frenchie to hook up. I think it’s working until he just falls over choking again. This is when Kate sees the upside-down skin crosses. And one of their paintings has turned into the nun. Who starts chasing them. They run through the hallway and bump into Irene and Debra!
Irene moves the ladies away from Frenchie, while he explains they are still being chased by the nun. She’s like, ‘Bad news, bro, it’s actually you.’ But more nun-like. And he turns instantly. They use a little mild exorcising to slow him down, and jump on him like spider monkeys. This works. Surprisingly. They tie him up and head out to find the relic. This does not work. He escapes in like 2.5 minutes.
They end up in the chapel, and Sophie tells them about the goat’s eyes. Irene realizes that is how they find the relic. But it’s nighttimes so Debra has to simulate the sun with her flashlight. The eyes shine on a spot on the floor and look at that, eyeballs. But also, where did the stained glass goat go?
This is the best scene, possibly ever. The rest of the girls are sleeping inside. They hear something. What could it be? One heads into the hallway to check, running into Debra. A woman she has never seen, but willingly accepts as there to help them. And then, they see it. A demon goat-person-monkey. I swear that’s what it is. It runs so freaking hilariously that I burst into laughter when I saw it in the theater.
The girl and Debra make it to the dorm before the goat thing. The girls are screaming, alerting Kate and Irene to the trouble. They try to get to them, but Frenchie cuts them off. They kind of did his work for him. Finding the eyes and all. Frenchie bashes Irene’s head into the ground, but quick thinking Sophie grabs the eyes and runs. The other girls are still being tormented, this time by bugs, but we have other things to worry about.
Frenchie knows Sophie is in the bell tower. She’s hiding, but those eyeballs glow, giving away her location. Then they really glow, bringing down most of the building. Are these helpful? Frenchie and Sophie end up hanging on the same platform above a very-you’ll die from this fall height platform. Sophie gives him a good kick and scrambles up. Debra gets the girls to Kate so she can rush to the bell tower to help Irene, who ran in as it collapsed.
Sophie makes it down the tower and hands the eyes to Irene. She uses them to stop Frenchie. Yay! They win. Ish.
He pulls a fake dead prank, and when Irene falls over him distraught, he snatches the eyeballs from her and becomes Super Demon Nun. The nun floats into the air, flush with unclear power. She pulls the same move from the beginning of the movie and lifts Irene and lights her on fire.
The goat thing is going after the girls inside the building. I cannot watch it run again. It’s simply too much.
Turns out Irene is also related to the eyeless saint, and she cannot be burned. (Note: That was the saints claim to fame. She wouldn’t burn. I didn’t say that earlier because I forgot it mattered.) So, that’s a helpful skill. Then, Irene and Debra turn all the wine filling this tower into Christ’s blood. Thus, killing the demon.
BUT NOT. Because we still aren’t at the point in these movies where Frenchie has the exorcism by Ed Warren. So he is still possessed, no matter what this ending seems like. Stop with your lies, movie.
What did you all think of The Nun 2? I don’t think I need anymore of these.
Donna is an author and engineer with 15 years of IT experience and a lifetime love of literature and cinema, especially horror. She has written a paranormal Holiday novel, What Creatures Are Stirring. She holds and Electrical Engineering Degree from the University of Pittsburgh and an MBA from Western Governor’s University. Donna is passionate about reading and the importance of access to books. She loves writing about her favorite books and movies and sharing it with her readers.
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