Film Review: ‘Dark Nuns’ is a Serviceable Enough Possession Flick

An offshoot of Jang Jae-hyun’s The Priests, which in turn was based on his short film, 12^th Assistant Deacon, Dark Nuns expands the world of demonic possessions within South Korea through the figure of Sister Junia (Song Hye-kyo), a nun who isn’t allowed to perform exorcisms but takes it up to her own hands to save people that the medical community can’t help. In fact, she is experiencing her own medical disillusionment, believing faith will guide her in making the right decisions after a terminal cancer diagnosis.

Director Kwon Hyeok-jae posits Sister Junia as a reckless, if not impulsive, nun who acts out of her own accord and doesn’t wait for anyone to tell her what to do. In the eyes of her superiors, Father Paolo (Lee Jin-wook) and Father Andrea (Huh Joon-ho), that makes her potentially dangerous, especially regarding a case involving a young boy named Hee-joon (Moon Woo-jin). He has been admitted to a hospital after attempting suicide and has been under supervision ever since. However, Sister Junia does not believe he tried to kill himself on his own but was instead pushed by a demon to commit acts of self-harm.

Of course, Father Paolo, a certified psychiatrist, does not believe her and thinks Hee-joon’s condition will improve under rigorous medical treatment. When it doesn’t, Sister Junia teams up with Sister Michaela (Jeon Yeo-been), a more scripture-driven nun who, at first, doesn’t believe in demonic possessions and exorcisms but begins to be drawn into this world after witnessing something otherworldly. The two will attempt to perform an exorcism on Hee-joon to save his life and perhaps expunge Junia in the process, who has, for a while, accepted that her ultimate fate is coming much sooner than later.

As with The Priests, Hyeok-jae’s spinoff does not reinvent the wheel of possession cinema. The entirety of the climax, which is the exorcism, is plucked straight out of Jae-hyun’s picture with minimal aesthetic – and thematic – differences: the salt circle, classical music that eventually stops working (the demon destroys the device), one speaks rites in Korean, while the other performs in Latin, the demon taunts the Christian figures, rats (!!!), and the demon being transferred from one figure to the next. It’s kind of incredible how this movie copies its predecessor and doesn’t feel ashamed in its willingness not to do anything different with the material being portrayed on screen.

The only notable distinction between the two is its introduction of shamanism as another vessel to extract the demon out of Hee-joon, with a detour made by the two sisters in a monastery, as they hope they can help the boy without much pain. The entire sequence is a major highlight, with Choi Chan-min’s photography contrasting the bright, idyllic colors of the monastery with a harsher storm suddenly raining down on them as they perform a traditional ceremony that spectacularly backfires. It also contains the single most terrifying image of the entire movie: a flock of chickens who floated on the beach with their heads severed, filling the stark blue water with vivid red blood.

This is undoubtedly a primer for what’s to come in the climax. Still, Hyeok-jae, unfortunately, doesn’t explore the contrast between shamanism and Catholicism (and its potential ties with Rosicrucianism) as much as it should. Worse yet, when shaman disciple Ae-dong (Shin Jae-hwi) appears during the exorcism, one thinks he will have a significant role to play in helping the sisters. He does, but not to the extent we believe, and always acts as an afterthought for the climactic confrontation between the nuns and the demons.

Hyeok-jae ultimately succeeds in making us invested in Dark Nuns’ denouement, even if he rehashes every single beat from The Priests (although rats have a far more interesting role to play here than in the 2015 film and feel more in communication with Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu, which is pretty cool). The reason why we’re mostly compelled has to do with the rock-solid chemistry between Hye-kyo and Yeo-been, who are both thrilling to watch. Sister Junia, while a practicing nun, seems to have lost all hope in divine interventions by routinely encountering demons and even goes so far as to further destroy her ailing body through smoking. Conversely, Sister Michela is more “pure of heart,” not believing in anything her partner has seen until she’s directly confronted by it.

This will permanently change her, which is something Hyeok-jae focuses on but doesn’t entirely give us all the answers we hope. Though with a coda that ties everything back to The Priests, we may, at some point, see how this event has profoundly transformed Sister Michela’s belief in a higher power and, more importantly, her knowledge of darker forces at play. Perhaps the ending cameo did feel a bit tacked-on and unnecessary, but what comes before is endearing enough for us to want more out of what could be a pretty decent franchise in the realm of Korean horror cinema. Again, it may not be that distinct in its treatment of possession movie tropes, but it’s entertaining enough to warrant further expansion in subsequent potential installments. Whether they will be made, however, remains to be seen.

SCORE: ★★★