October 2023

The Nun II: Unholy Occurrences

Most contemporary horror movies employ CGI and other digital wizardry to induce fright in audiences, and although the creative team behind director Michael Chaves’ The Nun II tapped those techniques, they also used several of the simplest cinematic tools — including darkness, shadow and flickers of light. “Darkness can be used as a storytelling or tension-building device,” says cinematographer Tristan Nyby. “In horror, what you don’t see is sometimes more.” An Everyday Reality The latest iteration of The Conjuring franchise, The Nun II is set in France in the 1950s and follows Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga), who is summoned to a girls’ school where the demon nun Valak (Bonnie Aarons) has taken up residence. In lighting the picture,...more