---
title: "The Nun II"
year: 2023
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-nun-ii"
fi1m_id: "the-nun-ii"
imdb_id: "tt10160976"
tmdb_id: 968051
wikidata_id: "Q111784581"
fi1m_score: 55
critics_score: 53
critics_reviews: 13
published: "2026-09-10"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:05.331313+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Nun II (2023)

Directed by Michael Chaves · 1h 50m · MPA R · Horror

## Identity

The Nun II

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-nun-ii
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** the-nun-ii
- **IMDb ID:** tt10160976
- **TMDB ID:** 968051
- **Wikidata ID:** Q111784581
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10160976/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/968051, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q111784581

**Fi1m score: 55** · Critics 53 from 13 reviews

*In a sentence:* The devil crosses Europe murdering priests and saves his best trick for a French newsstand

> Michael Chaves’s sequel is handsomer and steadier than the first *Nun*, and it has one scene we will be thinking about for a while. It also has a middle stretch that repeats one scare in different rooms, and a demon who cannot stop showing up.

## Synopsis

Some years after *The Nun* (2018), Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) has returned to a quiet convent life when the Church calls on her again. Priests are dying across Europe, and the Vatican wants to know why. She is sent with Sister Debra (Storm Reid), a young novice who is not convinced any of it is real. In a town in the south of France, Maurice (Jonas Bloquet), the handyman who helped Irene the first time, now works at a girls’ boarding school, where he is close to the teacher Kate (Anna Popplewell) and her daughter Sophie (Katelyn Rose Downey). The demon Valak (Bonnie Aarons) is not finished with him.

## Review

The first *Nun*, from 2018, was the weakest film in the Conjuring series, so a sequel had somewhere to go. Michael Chaves, who directed *The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It* in 2021, has made a tidier and better-looking film than Corin Hardy’s original. He has also made one with a single properly frightening scene, a great many loud ones, and a middle hour that stands in a corridor waiting for something to knock.

The scene comes early, so we can describe it. Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) is alone in a French town square at night, and behind her is a newsstand with magazines pinned in rows. The wind starts to turn the pages. Tristan Nyby holds the camera still and lets the covers flip one at a time until the pictures on them line up into a face, and the face is the nun’s. Marco Beltrami, who spends most of the film hitting us with brass, goes almost silent. We sat very still and did not breathe properly until it was over, because Chaves had trusted us to watch something build slowly instead of telling us when to jump. Nothing else in the film trusts us that much.

Stéphane Cressend’s boarding school is the other reason to keep watching. It is stone corridors, a chapel, a cellar and a dormitory of iron beds, lit by Nyby in browns and candle yellow so the dark parts of the frame look as if they could hold anything. Agnès Beziers puts the girls in grey pinafores and the nuns in black, and when a figure in a habit stands at the end of a hall you cannot tell, for a second, whether it is staff. Suzanne Bertish runs the place as Madame Laurent with the air of a woman who has seen worse.

Farmiga is good again. She plays Irene as a woman tired of being right about the devil, and she gives the exposition scenes, of which there are many, some weight. Storm Reid’s Sister Debra is the sceptic sent along to ask questions, and Reid makes her funny and slightly rude, which the film could use more of. Jonas Bloquet plays Maurice straight, as a decent man who does not know what is wrong with him. Anna Popplewell and Katelyn Rose Downey, as Kate and her daughter Sophie, are given a strand that mostly consists of waiting to be threatened.

The trouble is the hour in between. Ian B. Goldberg, Richard Naing and Akela Cooper’s script runs two stories side by side, Irene in archives reading about a relic and the school where doors rattle and the older girls pick on Sophie, and cuts between them without either gaining much. Every scare is built the same way: a dark room, a slow walk, a figure at the edge of the frame, then Beltrami’s orchestra arrives to confirm that was the frightening bit. Gregory Plotkin cuts these cleanly, but there are a dozen of them and by the sixth we had stopped flinching. We were bored, and then cross about being bored, because the newsstand had shown us the film knew a better way.

Bonnie Aarons’s nun is also on screen far too often. The face worked in *The Conjuring 2* in 2016 because James Wan showed it for a second and took it away; here Chaves gives us the full costume, from the front, in good light, and a rubber face does less the longer you look at it. Cooper wrote *M3GAN*, and in the last stretch, which we will not describe, her taste for the ridiculous gets loose and the film turns into something wilder and more enjoyable. It is a relief when it does. It is also an admission that the film should have loosened up an hour earlier.

Most critics landed near the middle, split between those who called it a step up and those who called it a retread, and we are with the first group by a short distance. Go for the newsstand, which comes early enough that you can spend the rest of the 110 minutes waiting for the school to catch up. At home with the lights off, Cressend’s corridors work harder and Beltrami’s brass hurts less. The 15 certificate is about right: there is blood, but not much, and the film’s idea of a shock is mostly volume.

*Fi1m score 55, published 10 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

The reviews split almost evenly, and the spread is wide. Most critics agree on what works: Taissa Farmiga’s earnest lead performance, the gloomy European settings and a handful of well-built set pieces, with The Times picking out a magazine-stand sequence as the most inventive. Several also find the final act enjoyably absurd.

The reservations cluster around the scares themselves, which many find repetitive and reliant on jump cuts and loud music rather than built tension, and around a plot that leans heavily on Conjuring Universe lore. Those who like it, led by Collider, call it a clear improvement on the first film, tighter and better paced. Those who do not, including The Guardian and Screen Daily, see a retread with diminished returns from a franchise running on habit. Even the harshest reviews tend to spare Farmiga. The broad view is of a better-made sequel that still cannot keep its demon frightening for long.

## Straight answers

**Is The Nun II worth watching?**

*The Nun II* is worth watching only for horror fans who want one properly frightening scene and a handsome boarding school to look at, and we scored it 55. The middle hour repeats the same dark-corridor scare in different rooms until it stops working, and the demon is on screen far too often for a rubber face to stay unsettling.

**How long is The Nun II, and what is it rated?**

*The Nun II* runs 1h 50m and is rated R by the MPA in the US. It is a horror film.

**Where can I watch The Nun II in the US?**

*The Nun II* is streaming on HBO Max, Hulu, Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video and The Roku Channel in the US, and it is also available to rent from Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video from $3.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is The Nun II, and is it suitable for children?**

*The Nun II* carries a UK 15 certificate, and we think that is about right: there is blood, but not much, and most of its shocks come from volume rather than gore. It is built on jump scares, loud brass and a demon nun in full view, so it is not for children or the easily startled, but older teenagers used to the Conjuring films will cope.

**How does The Nun II compare to Black Narcissus?**

*The Nun II* and [*Black Narcissus*](https://film.one/film/black-narcissus) both put nuns in a remote building and watch things go wrong, but the earlier film is the better one by a long way. Powell and Pressburger frighten through colour, music and performance, with the women's distress doing the work; Chaves relies on dark corridors and an orchestra telling you when to jump. See *Black Narcissus* if you want dread, *The Nun II* if you want a demon.

**What should I watch after The Nun II?**

After *The Nun II*, try [*Black Narcissus*](https://film.one/film/black-narcissus) (1947, Fi1m 88): Nuns in a Himalayan palace, losing their grip one by one, in Technicolor. Then [*Saint Maud*](https://film.one/film/saint-maud) (2019, Fi1m 82): A young carer’s faith turns dangerous; small, British and far more unsettling than any demon.

### Reviews we read (15)

- **IndieWire**, Alison Foreman (75/100, inferred): The review praises the film as a tightly crafted entry in the Conjuring Universe with strong performances from returning stars. It singles out the direction and production values while noting its overly pro-Catholic stance as a notable aspect. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/the-nun-2-review-taissa-farmiga-michael-chaves-1234903107/)
- **Empire**, Ben Travis (70/100, inferred): A more coherent and stronger follow-up than the first film, with inventive imagery and a loopy final act full of absurd fun, though it remains a middle-of-the-table entry in the Conjuring universe with some slack pacing. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/the-nun-ii/)
- **Radio Times**, Dave Golder (3/5): This stylish but silly sequel is more fun than its derivative predecessor, boasting a spooky atmosphere, impressive performances and a couple of ingenious set pieces. The plot feels like a bunch of ideas cobbled together without much internal logic, and the repetitive scary sequences feel strangely cosy. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-yvt38e/the-nun-ii/)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Frank Scheck (60/100, inferred): The review finds the sequel serviceable but unoriginal, delivering more jump scares and familiar Conjuring Universe tropes without much innovation. It singles out the atmospheric European locations, gloomy cinematography, and Taissa Farmiga's vulnerable performance as strengths amid the familiar mayhem. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/the-nun-ii-review-1235584574/)
- **The Telegraph** (3/5): The review describes a schlocky sequel whose screechiness is redeemed by some impressively creepy set pieces. It singles out the stylish handling of certain horror moments for praise while noting the middle stretch drags. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/the-nun-ii-review-the-conjuring-michael-chaves/)
- **The Independent** (50/100, inferred): The sequel offers some bloody scares and a gleefully demented finale but feels tethered and restricted by the broader Conjuring franchise lore, preventing it from achieving the chaotic thrills of the writer's previous work like M3GAN. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-nun-2-review-b2407075.html)
- **The AV Club**, Luke Y. Thompson (D+): The review deems the sequel mediocre, criticizing its low body count, underdeveloped characters, and inconsistent tone between elevated horror and exploitation. It singles out the demon's limited screen time and the ineffective attempts at scares as major flaws. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/the-nun-2-film-review-1850810098)
- **Total Film** (40/100, inferred): The film fails to improve on its predecessor with weak scares and uninspired performances, feeling like an unnecessary sequel despite some freshness from the boarding school setting and a few gory moments. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/the-nun-II-review/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Katie Walsh (30/100, inferred): The critic finds the film lacking in suspense and an utter snooze, criticizing the overuse of monsters and repetitive scenes. She praises Taissa Farmiga's earnest performance as Sister Irene. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-09-07/review-the-nun-ii-taissa-farmiga-conjuring-cinematic-universe)
- **Screen Daily** (30/100, inferred): The film is a toothless, convoluted retread of the first Nun with even more ludicrous plotting and severely diminished scare returns. It relies on endless jump scares and bombastic music rather than building real tension. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-nun-ii-review/5185633.article)
- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw: The critic calls the film a demonic dead end that reveals a franchise impoverished beyond its box office. They single out the demon nun's repetitive party tricks and the overall lack of innovation for complaint. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/sep/07/the-nun-ii-review-second-dose-of-clerical-horror-is-a-demonic-dead-end)
- **The Times**, Ed Potton (★★★☆☆): The critic sees another helping of lavish pseudo-religious hokum that flirts with ridiculousness but is stylishly mounted. They single out the creative magazine-stand set piece for praise amid the silliness. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/the-nun-ii-review-back-with-a-bang-and-a-wimple-cn880xvr3)
- **Collider**, Samantha Coley (B+): The Nun II is an effective, gory, and impressively scary addition to the Conjuring universe that stands up on its own while deepening the canon. The critic singles out the tight script, practical effects, improved pacing, richer characters, and Taissa Farmiga's performance for praise. [Read](https://collider.com/the-nun-2-review/)
- **Digital Spy**, Ian Sandwell (70/100, inferred): The film is a significant improvement over the first Nun and one of the stronger Conjuring spin-offs, though it still has familiar flaws. The critic singles out the relentless final act and effective set pieces for praise while complaining about the dull plot and overly serious tone around a silly premise. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a44998718/nun-2-review-conjuring/)
- **The Wrap**, William Bibbiani (30/100, inferred): The critic calls it a major step down from the first film, with jump scares that rarely connect and a tepid, unremarkable storyline that lacks thematic interest. He singles out Taissa Farmiga’s striking lead performance and a few moments of glorious nonsense in the final act for praise amid the overall disappointment. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/the-nun-ii-review-conjuring-universe/)

## Details

- **Director:** Michael Chaves
- **Director:** Michael Chaves
- **Screenplay:** Akela Cooper, Ian B. Goldberg, Richard Naing
- **Story:** Akela Cooper
- **Cinematography:** Tristan Nyby
- **Editor:** Gregory Plotkin
- **Music:** Marco Beltrami
- **Production design:** Stéphane Cressend
- **Costume design:** Agnès Beziers
- **Producer:** James Wan, Peter Safran
- **Cast:** Taissa Farmiga as Sister Irene; Anna Popplewell as Kate; Jonas Bloquet as Maurice Theriault; Storm Reid as Sister Debra; Katelyn Rose Downey as Sophie; Léontine d'Oncieu as Simone; Anouk Darwin Homewood as Céleste; Sarah Pachoud as Emily
- **Runtime:** 1h 50m
- **Certificate (MPA):** R
- **Release (the US):** 8 September 2023
- **Genres:** Horror
- **Budget:** $38 million
- **Box office:** $270 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF-oyCwaArU

## Where to watch in the US

- HBO Max: streaming, uhd
- Hulu: add-on, hd
- Apple TV: add-on, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd
- The Roku Channel: add-on, hd
- Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, uhd
- Apple TV: buy $14.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, uhd

*Checked 2026-09-10.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, TH, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *The Conjuring* (2013): Wan frightening a house full of people with a clapping game and a wardrobe
- *The Devil's Backbone* (2001): Del Toro’s orphanage ghost story, where the dead child is the least frightening thing
- *Black Narcissus* (1947), Fi1m 88: Nuns in a Himalayan palace, losing their grip one by one, in Technicolor — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/black-narcissus.md)
- *The Innocents* (1961): A governess, two children and a house that never quite lets you see anything
- *Saint Maud* (2019), Fi1m 82: A young carer’s faith turns dangerous; small, British and far more unsettling than any demon — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/saint-maud.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-nun-ii