The Nun II

What’s it about?

Sister Irene investigates a girls’ boarding school being terrorised by a powerful evil.

The facts

• Directed by Michael Chaves (The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, The Curse of La Llorona)
• English language
• Runtime: 109 minutes
• The Nun II is a sequel The Nun and the eighth instalment in The Conjuring universe franchise.

Why did it get this rating?

This film was classified by Te Mana Whakaatu—Classification Office.

Suicide

Suicide is referenced in relation to the events of the previous film, The Nun, where numerous young nuns were murdered or suicided by hanging.

A black and white image of a hanged woman with a rope around her neck is shown. A priest is said to have cut his own throat and his photo is also shown. These images and the discussion of suicide may be upsetting and disturbing for viewers impacted by suicide in real life.

Horror

The film’s atmosphere, dimly lit environments, sonorous sound effects, suspenseful music, and jump scares are designed to create a sense of dread and unease. We hear disturbing sound effects such as bones cracking and snapping.

Characters are designed to be terrifying. The Nun is often depicted as a sinister shadowy figure. She has a white face, black-ringed glowing eyes, and a monstrous mouth full of sharp bloody teeth. Used to good effect in jump scares, she lunges at characters, most often from the darkness, making inhuman sounds.

A large goat demon is similar in appearance to The Nun. It chases the girls and pierces one of them through the shoulder with its horn.

Reanimated corpses have milky eyes, grey, heavily veined skin, and growl menacingly.

Violence & cruelty

The ghost kills a priest by lifting him high in the air and setting him alight. He struggles and screams as a terrified boy watches on. A character later sees the charred priest standing in the church.

A character murders a young woman. He lifts her by the neck, crunching sounds are heard and her dangling feet become still as blood drips on the floor.

A boy murders his mother by beating her repeatedly over the head with a block and tackle, leaving her lying in a large pool of blood.

A character is shown having her eyes pulled out by a man with a dagger. This is disturbing but the injuries are not shown.

Further information

A member of the Youth Advisory Panel attended the screening and shared their thoughts on the film. They found the scene where the woman was stabbed in the eyes quite confronting, as were the references to, and depictions of, suicide. They thought that the content was more appropriate for older viewers.

• Why are ratings and content warnings important for me and my whānau?