The Nun II

Returning are Taissa Farmiga – younger sister of “The Conjuring” star Vera Farmiga – as wide-eyed Sister Irene, and Jonas Bloquet as Maurice, the charming French-Canadian hero. The filmmakers try to give us more backstory about Sister Irene – mostly flashbacks to her mother – but it doesn’t add up to much.

In 1956 France, a priest is violently murdered, and Sister Irene begins to investigate. She once again comes face-to-face with a powerful evil.

New this time is Storm Reid as a cynical newbie who smokes and doesn’t really care about the water-in-wine story. She is very well portrayed and seems to be a good foil for Sister Irene’s devoted nun, but she is soon abandoned and never has her come-to-Jesus moment.

The script by Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing and Akela Cooper sets most of the action at a boarding school in the south of France as Maurice tries to forge a new life with his lover but a terrible secret threatens your happiness. The characters are thin and there’s a lot of padding, but the ancient cities found by the location service are downright eerie and unsettling. The fatal mistake was that Irene got lost in her own movie.

Directed by Michael Chaves, who also directed “The Conjuring:
The Devil Made Me Do It,” oversees some great moments – a haunted newsstand with all the crazy flipping magazine pages is great – but it’s mostly just flashlights and heavy footsteps. Wait for the shortcut, jump, wait, repeat.

“The Nun II” recreates the structure of its predecessor, as our heroine must find a powerful relic to defeat the demon – and perhaps Satan, who appears as a goat but can strangely be obstructed by a solid wooden door. There’s a Dan Brown feel to it as Sister Irene searches for clues in the Vatican’s ancient archives.

Is it just a coincidence that this year also marks the truly mediocre release of “Insidious”? These two low-budget horror series involving Patrick Wilson needed a pleasant surprise. Or CPR paddles.

“The Nun II”, a film from Warner Bros. The released footage is rated R for “violent content and some horror content”. Operating hours:
110 minutes. One out of four stars.