Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Nun II.
Comparing the Rotten Tomatoes score of The Nun II to the rest of the movies in The Conjuring Universe might surprise fans. The demon Valak has its origins in The Conjuring 2, where it appeared as a pale-faced, yellow-eyed nun with needle-sharp teeth to torment Lorraine Warren, and proved so popular that the character got its own prequel, but The Nun didn’t scare up a very high Rotten Tomatoes score itself. The Nun II picks up five years after the events of the original movie, with Valak once again terrorizing the French countryside in the 1950s, hoping to climb a little higher in the ranking of The Conjuring films.
The Conjuring Universe, which includes The Conjuring I-III and the Annabelle films, has proven highly successful despite varying degrees of quality. It’s a reliable, interconnected series of films that are the product of James Wan and his team’s commitment to world-building in the horror genre. Even if the movies don’t always hit their mark, they’re still part of a franchise that is on par with A Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween, films that have all benefited from having an iconic villain at their center, which Valak, as the central antagonist behind the malevolence in The Conjuring Universe, has become.
The Nun 2’s Rotten Tomatoes Score Is Twice As High As The Original
As of writing this article, The Nun II has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 52% which, when compared to the 24% that The Nun received makes it more than twice as high as its predecessor. It’s rare for sequels to achieve higher scores than the original films, but in this case, building on the confrontation with Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) and The Demon Nun (Bonnie Aarons) has proven to be what audiences want. It creates a similar conflict to the one between Laurie Strode and Michael Myers in Halloween, and based on the ending of The Nun II, offers myriad opportunities for their fight to continue for several more films.
At this point, fans are committed to the characters in The Nun II, and they trust where the franchise is being taken. At times, the film feels like a horror version of National Treasure, with mystery, action, and horror blended together to form a truly rousing adventure. Sequels usually go one of two ways; they either try to duplicate the formula of the first movie, or they take big risks and try to put in even more creative content to surpass it. The Nun II’s higher score can be attributed to fans who are curious about whether it can perform better than the original movie while still offering something new.
How The Nun 2’s Rotten Tomatoes Rating Compares To Other Conjuring Movies
When compared with the Rotten Tomatoes ratings of the movies in The Conjuring franchise, The Nun II ranks as the 5th highest out of nine at 52%. The Conjuring (2013) holds the highest score at 86%, with The Conjuring 2 (2016) at 80%, and Annabelle: Creation (2017) at 70%. Annabelle Comes Home (2019) has 64%, followed by The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021) at 55%, The Curse of La Llorona (2019) at 28%, Annabelle (2014) at 28%, and finally the lowest, The Nun (2018) at 24%. Given the wild discrepancy displayed, it’s a testament to The Nun II’s ability to improve on its formula.
Michael Chaves, who previously directed The Curse of La Llorona and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It has revealed with The Nun ll the way he’s going to approach more movies in The Conjuring Universe. By overlaying demons onto a Fast & Furious template, its pace and mechanics won’t be for everyone. As the franchise veers into a more action-oriented territory, rather than aimed at eliciting scares, it remains to be seen whether The Nun II and its Rotten Tomatoes score will be the new standard when The Conjuring: Last Rites is released.
Score: Rotten Tomatoes
