Chain smoking nun, Sister Junia or Giulia (Hye-kyo Song), an unsanctified (whatever that means) nun arrives to exorcise an unknown demon from Hee-Joon (Woo-jin Moon) and rescue the in-over-their-head priests. She fails and switches tactics. It becomes a battle of wills between her and Father Paolo (Jin-wook Lee), who is a doctor and does not believe in the ritual. Sister Michaela (Yeo-been Jeon, who appeared in “Harbin”), another doctor and Father Paolo’s mentee, is torn between the two and must choose who to follow and save Hee-Joon. Will faith or science save them? “Dark Nuns” (2025), also known as “The Priest 2: Dark Nuns” and literally translated to “Black Nuns,” is the sequel to “The Priests” (2015), a supernatural horror mystery film which was a box office success and expanded the twenty-five short film “12th Assistant Deacon” (2015).
If I had known that “Dark Nuns” was a sequel, I may not have watched it, but I’m not unhappy that I did; however, there was a lot that I did not understand, and it could be because I am unfamiliar with the initial movie. On the other hand, as an American who started with “The Wailing” (2016), it always takes me a while to get accustomed to the logic of demon possession movies made in South Korea. Because South Korea has its own mythology regarding demon possession, and shamans perform exorcisms, the stories do not follow the same rules as American possession films. Add the lost in translation aspect of Korean filmmakers translating a transplanted Catholic mythology and adapting it to their cultural environment, a moviegoer steeped in generations of Catholic mythology would be lost so American moviegoers who consume Catholicism through mythology will not have a leg up compared to those going in blind. Even if you frequently watch Korean horror, the key to enjoying individual movies is to assume that you know nothing and accept the movie’s internal logic without superimposing your presumptions to the narrative.
“Dark Nuns” uses the credits as a vocabulary primer to prep homegrown viewers so it will also be helpful to Western foreigners finding their footing. The title is a term of art for women who were conceived while a demon possessed their mothers. Is this literal or metaphorical? I am leaning for the first, but if this film was made in a Western nation, the film would get sexually exploitative and titillating quick complete with heaving bosoms and ample cleavage but this movie never does that. They are nuns, not potential brides of Dracula resisting seduction though their wombs do play a pivotal role. Because the role of their wombs is not spelled out, I thought it was metaphorical until I did not. Are we in vagina dentata land where they can temporarily trap demons in there? Maybe. They have supernatural powers that give them an advantage over more credentialed, i.e. male, exorcists. Usually those people become shamans, but when they are women, they have another option: to become nuns. There are examples of men, usually younger, who share a similar origin story, but regardless of whether the director Hyeok-jae Kwon—the writer is not listed on IMDb or in the press release—intended to make their male counterparts appear less well-suited for the task, that impression was definitely given. It is very “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” meets the demon hybrid of “Island” or “Aillaendeu” (2022). These nuns are never evil, but misogyny is not the only reason that the church and demons give them the side eye. To be clear, they have no physical prowess. They are ordinary women, and there is no action, but they stand out compared to ordinary nuns, especially with the way that they dress. They wear the usual nun habit, black with white trim at the neck, sleeves and headbands whereas most nuns wear grey or white. To us, that is a normal outfit.
The priests in the original film, Father Kim (Yoon-seok Kim) and Deacon Choi (Dong-won Gang), are Rosicrucian and trained Sister Giulia years before “Dark Nuns” starts. Father Paolo thinks of them as an irrational, delusional cult. The first half hour is a bit of a slog because it is dominated with conversations and monologues with Father Paolo yapping about science, and Sister Giulia rolling her eyes at how stupid everyone is. I appreciated and related to her sense of urgency and annoyance at how the bureaucracy and hierarchy kept intruding on her efforts to save a kid’s life. If I had one criticism of the film, it never shows how Father Paolo cooks and fails. The flashback and present sequences are more oneiric and surreal, so his concept of an antidote is unclear but evocative and atmospheric. It would have been nice to have a comparison.
At the half hour mark, “Dark Nuns” explicitly lets the audience hear what Sister Giulia hears, and the camera represents the POV of a demon retreating over rooftops. It will not make sense while you are watching it, but she later helpfully prose dumps, and it explains why Michaela buys into Giulia’s schtick even though she is so faithful to her mentor. Once Sisters Giulia and Michaela team up, the movie finds its pace, and it is absorbing. With each failure, it is unclear why it does not work until the most esoteric formula, which is spelled out in painful detail, but still is too much jargon to absorb even if you are taking notes and can pause the movie. The stakes are high, and there is a sense that killing the victim is on the table as an option. Think “The Exorcist” but with two unwavering nuns instead of one and more modest theatrics.
The syncretic mythology worked in “Dark Nuns,” especially since neither shamanism nor Catholicism was competing or had an advantage. It made the demon seem more of a capable foe that had been there, done that and rightfully knew that the human beings were likely unable to deduce how to stop him. Watching the shamans, Hyo-won (Gook-hee Kim) and Ae-dong (Jae-hwi Shin), interact with the nuns was refreshing and unexpected because they had more in common. Another nice touch is that the demon has roots in demonological grimoires like “The Lesser Key of Solomon,” which is not a household name, but is where you can find out more about Paimon, the demon from “Hereditary” (2018). It is always nice when a movie incorporates more remote mythology instead of just leaning on the usual tropes, which happens here, but not presented in the usual way.
Will “Dark Nuns” scare you? No. Believe it or not, the two women’s story is more compelling than any of the horror elements. It is about not being afraid to rebel against a system less interested in truth or saving lives, and how engaging in a selfless, defiant act because it is right provides an opportunity to be fully yourself and unafraid instead of another cog in a wheel. The jargon and intricate details in the plot can arrest the momentum, if you can just go with it, it ultimately works, but it is no “Exhuma” (2024).
