The Nun II

Directed by Michael Chaves, The Nun II follows Taissa Farmiga’s Irene as she eventually comes face-to-face with Bonnie Aarons’ malevolent nun. Filmmaker Chaves, working from a script by Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, and Akela Cooper, admittedly kicks The Nun II off with a decent-enough opening that holds a fair degree of promise, although it’s not long, unfortunately (and perhaps predictably) before the movie segues into a seriously (and typically) stagnant midsection almost entirely devoid of attention-grabbing, compelling attributes – with the arms-length atmosphere perpetuated by an often astonishingly repetitive narrative that follows one character after another as they wander into an egregiously dark environment and are confronted by some spooky apparition. (It’s just so relentlessly tedious, ultimately.) There’s little doubt, as well, that Chaves’ inability to offer up a single compelling, three-dimensional protagonist compounds the unwatchable vibe, and it goes without saying, too, that the aggressively tiresome feel is perpetuated by a continuing emphasis on Irene’s hopelessly tedious investigation into the spooky happenings. By the time the endless and infuriatingly dimly-lit climax rolls around, The Nun II has confirmed its place as an entirely worthless sequel that contains few, if any, elements worth wholeheartedly embracing.

* out of ****