Dark Nuns

by Mike McGranaghan

Horror movies about exorcisms – even the good ones – tend to live in the shadow of William Friedkin’s The Exorcist. That picture did it as well as it can be done, and everyone else is trying to get as close as possible. The Korean import Dark Nuns finds a fresh way to approach the subgenre. Instead of priests, the exorcists here are nuns. And not just regular nuns; they’re dark nuns! All of this is a long way of saying that the film distinguishes itself nicely.

A young boy named Hee-Joon (Moon Woo-jin) is demonically possessed. When a priest is unable to arrive in time to help him, two young nuns take matters into their own hands. Sister Junia (Song Hye-kyo) and Sister Michaela (Jeon Yeo-been) do this despite being forbidden by the Church’s rules for exorcism, which state the practice must be carried out by a qualified male. Their desire to save the boy puts their lives in grave danger, as the demon is wily, targeting them in ways they don’t anticipate.

Dark Nuns offers plenty of fun on a horror level. The race to save Hee-Joon is filled with twists and turns, and director Hyeok-jae Kwon stages the possession scenes with visual style. There’s also a bit of turning conventions on their ear. You know how most cinematic exorcists have a little bottle of Holy Water they bring with them? Well, the sisters fill entire gas canisters with the stuff and dump it all over the boy, essentially trying to flood out the demon. Touches like that keep familiar elements fresh.

Beyond that, the film develops Junia and Michaela as characters, then provides them with compelling arcs. Junia, for example, has a terminal illness, giving her desire to help the boy added urgency. Michaela suffers from disturbing visions and uses tarot cards as a way of attempting to make sense of them. Although they’re on the same side, a touch of conflict exists between the women. Junia doesn’t entirely believe in possession, having been trained to explain it away via mental health diagnoses. Michaela very much believes and therefore must convince her partner of what they might be dealing with.

On top of that, the story thoughtfully dips a toe into the idea of patriarchy in the church. As women, the nuns are treated as less competent, despite their obvious ingenuity and desire to fight the demon. Multiple scenes find them bumping up against priests or having their efforts suppressed by male rulers within the organization. Subtly running underneath the plot is a suggestion that the men are fairly ineffective compared to the women, yet the hold all the cards.

The first act of Dark Nuns is intermittently difficult to follow. It takes time for the pieces to assemble themselves in order to get the action flowing. Once it does, the movie proves to be scary and sophisticated.

---