A NUN IN HIDING, A DEMON on the run, a retired playboy at a boarding school - throw in some references to a women's prison drama, some spuds and a Sylvester Stallone blockbuster and you've got director Michael Chaves's latest chapter in the Conjuring Universe, The Nun II.
The film, shot in Aix-en-Provence and Marseille in the south of France, sets Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) and Maurice, aka Frenchie (Jonas Bloquet) from 2018's The Nun, on a "collision course" with titular nastiness Valak, whom they'll have to face for a second time. But Sister Irene isn't coming out all guns blazing.
"After her big adventure in the first movie, she's gone into hiding, she's living this very anonymous life in a convent in Italy," Chaves explains. "I really liked that idea, because I like that idea of almost like a Rambo nun, where you have this great hero that just went into hiding that they don't want attention, they don't want to be known as a hero. I think there's probably a lot of reasons that people want to escape the limelight. Maybe there's some residual trauma, maybe she just doesn't want to be known as that. So she's living this very anonymous life."
It's while Sister Irene is on a reluctant mission set by the church to track down what they believe to be Valak committing a series of murders across France, that she discovers the boarding school where Maurice has now seemingly settled down.
"You can see that the effects of the last movie have maybe made him ready to wind down his story or maybe find someone to share it with. So that's where we find him, and then we start to realise that all is not right, that there might be something wrong with him and perhaps something escaped from the last movie."
SCHOOL'S OUT
Filming took place in an old decommissioned school, with a long history. Chaves says that "about half of the movie" takes place there.
This story is from the September 2023 edition of SFX UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September 2023 edition of SFX UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
ANCER MAHAGEMENT
WITH A NEW TRILOGY IN SIGHT, WE SPEAK TO THE DIRECTOR OF 28 WEEKS LATER THE ORIGINAL CHILLING SEQUEL TO DANNY BOYLE'S SEMINAL SURVIVAL HORROR
WHO YA CONNA CALL?
BEHIND THE SCENES AT HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS FOR GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE
SPEAK OF THE DEVIL
THE DEVIL'S HOUR STRIKES TWICE AS THE GENREDEFYING DRAMA RETURNS
SCARRY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK
FROM THE RETURN OF EC COMICS TO SCREAM!, THIS YEAR'S HALLOWEEN OFFERS UP HORROR COMICS FOR ALL THE AGES
UNDEADS REFLECTIONS
NEIL JORDAN ON BRINGING ANNE RICE'S MODERN VAMPIRE CLASSIC TO SCREEN, 30 YEARS ON
MUNSTER MASH!
PRODUCTION HELL, SHOCK RECASTING AND HOTLY CONTESTED AUTHORSHIP. AS THE MUNSTERS CELEBRATE THEIR 60TH ANNIVERSARY, WE UNCOVER HOW THE SPOOKY SITCOM WAS ALMOST DEAD ON ARRIVAL
COMING TO AMERICA
THE MOGWAI LIVE THE AMERICAN DREAM IN THEIR SECOND CHAPTER, GREMLINS: THE WILD BATCH
BEING HUMAN EVOLUTION
IT MAY HAVE BEEN AN INSTANT HIT, BUT BBC THREE'S DARKLY COMIC DRAMA ABOUT A HOUSE-SHARING VAMPIRE/WEREWOLF/GHOST TRIO HAD A STRANGE JOURNEY TO THE SCREEN, SERIES CREATOR TOBY WHITHOUSE TELLS SFX
THE MAINE EVENT
THE DARK IS RISING IN SALEM'S LOT AS STEPHEN KING'S DEATHLESS TALE RETURNS TO THE SCREEN
WHY DON'T YOU STAY FOR A BITE?
THE VAMPIRE COMES HOME AS DIRECTOR EUROS LYN WELCOMES SFX TO HIS NEW DARK COMEDY THE RADLEYS