The Nun II (2023)'s activity

So much better than the first one. Valak is way scarier in this one, the plot holds together much better, and the movie looks way better as well. It went a little off the rails in the third act, especially when Until then, however, the movie has a fun sort of horror-tinged Da Vinci Code feel to it. The movie has some surprisingly pleasant (although uneven) cinematography as well (with some direct callbacks to the look of The Exorcist at certain points too). There were a couple unintentionally funny scares, but in general the scares were fairly effective and there was a good use of tension and visuals. The acting was surprisingly good, especially from the kids (although the accents in this movie were confusing and all over the place, which was definitely distracting). Overall I was pleasantly surprised by this movie, and, despite its huge flaws, I think it is one of the stronger recent entries in the Conjuring-verse. It also seemed to be very aware of the mistakes of the first movie and did its best to work with the material provided, which bodes well for future entries in the franchise.

Additional assorted thoughts:

Extremely repetitive. Quite nicely filmed though. not as strong as the first one.

Can we start labeling these types of movies as dark fantasy instead of horror...