CJG THE HATCHET MAN Horror Scene Dissection — Father Noiret Burns Alive in “THE NUN II” 2023.

Scene still courtesy of New Line/WBE.

Welcome back to CJG THE HATCHET MAN — your ultimate dissector of all things eerie, spooky, and occasionally bloody! This is my “Franchise Fatigue” portion of the scene dissection — and away we go!

THE NUN II | OFFICIAL TRAILER

I am not a fan of James Wan’s “Conjuring-verse” and will never be. All of its iterations, spin-offs, and diminishing-returns sequels bore the living crap out of me. The franchise is just bloated with mythology, overstuffed with interconnected dull-ass lore, and way too reliant on jump scares over genuine dread. It’s a cinematic universe building applying so-called horror in ways that often prioritize cheap scares for franchise expansion over dedicating yourself to making it a quality horror movie.

But even the most skeptical viewer like me was caught off-guard by a scene so viscerally effective, brilliantly executed, that it transcends the mediocrity surrounding it. THE NUN II delivered exactly such moment — a scene that made me so engrossed in genuine fear that I had to write about it, regardless of my general disdain in the Conjuringverse’s endless and dull need to regurgitate mythology as fact.

Sometimes a single image can justify an entire movie’s existence. The nightmare fuel can burn hot enough; it sears itself into memory elevating the otherwise forgettable narrative it’s embedded within.

A Priest Becomes a Shocking Sacrifice

The context is minimal but definitely crucial: Father Noiret (Pascal Aubert) serves as a priest confronting demonic forces beyond his comprehension or spiritual authority.

What follows is horror in its purest, most visceral form: Father Noiret is suddenly whisked into the sky by the demon Valak — the nun-shaped entity serving as the Conjuringverse’s most visually distinctive antagonist second only to Annabelle the doll. Suspended impossibly in the air above the church grounds, the priest is set ablaze while a young altar boy watches in absolute horror from below. Full-on trauma exacted.

The scene works on multiple devastating levels. The physical impossibility and violation — human bodies don’t fly, burn in mid-air while demonic forces cackle — unless you’re in the proximity of a Ouija board. There’s the spiritual horror — a man of God [allegedly] consumed by unholy hellfire while his “faith” provides zero protection. And then there’s the psychological devastation of the witnessing child, watching a spiritual authority figure prove utterly powerless against evil.

The Nun II (2023) — Burning the Priest Scene | Movieclips

Director Michael Chaves who helmed the last CONJURING movie; THE CONJURING: LAST RITES in 2025, stages the scene with remarkable restraint considering the eerie and premise. The camera never cuts away or obscures the horror through editing tricks. It holds hard on the burning priest, making us witness the full extent of his suffering and the altar boy’s traumatized incomprehension. We’re forced to sit with the image rather than being allowed to look away.

The practical and digital effects combine well to create something that feels genuinely shocking rather than cartoonishly over-the-top. The flames look real enough. The body positioning suggests actual agony rather than stunt choreography. The altitude and impossibility don’t undermine the horror but amplify it — this shouldn’t be possible, yet here it’s happening with horrible clarity.

Pro: Nightmare Fuel of Supreme Quality for a Mid Movie.

This imagery proves a great scene or two can elevate even the most modestly scary of horror movies. Director Michael Chaves and producer James Wan deserve praise for successfully searing this image into our collective unconscious; for making effective horror pointedly direct. Let’s take something that should be sacred and safe (a priest or nice clergyman, a church, even faith itself) and violate it so completely that viewers question whether anything deified can provide protection against cosmic evil.

The scene taps into primal fears about vulnerability and powerlessness. We watch someone whose entire identity centers on spiritual authority get consumed by forces that mock his faith and render his devotion meaningless. It’s the ultimate nightmare for anyone who derives comfort from faith and belief — the possibility that faith means nothing to entities operating beyond divine jurisdiction. In short. You pray and you still die violently.

A Few Cons. The Cruel Limitations of the Plot That Surrounds It.

Truthfully, THE NUN II contains maybe two really great scenes — the burning priest sequence and a flipping magazine stand encounter showing Valak that deserved a far better screenplay and better developed characters. These brilliant horror set pieces exist within a narrative framework that can’t support or justify their power.

The film feels like a collection of solid moments stitched together by bullsh*t mythology exposition and franchise-building connective tissue. Chaves clearly understands how to stage effective horror sequences. Wan as producer clearly is skillful at making images that can haunt audiences for centuries. But director nor producer seems capable or interested in building those moments into coherent, emotionally resonant narratives.

We get masterclass horror direction applied to paint-by-numbers franchise requirements. Cliched characters just exist to move between set pieces rather than people we actually care about or invest in. Considering that the main nun (the demon nun played by Bonnie Aarons) is supposed the main antagonist and is supposed to be the nightmare fuel just comes off a colossal bore. All the energy given to those killer scenes; especially Father Noiret’s banger of an opener are the only hghlights of an otherwise painfully dull, uneventful screenplay that feels like it was fed through a Chat GPT filter.

Mr. Wan — Please Do Better.

Overall, THE NUN II represents a very mixed bag at best — moments of genuine brilliance floating in a sea of mediocrity and franchise obligations. It’s frustrating because the talent clearly exists to make something special, but commercial considerations and universe-building requirements seem to prevent that talent from fully manifesting.

My conclusion is both appreciation and challenge: James Wan, you are much more capable than this. Your early work — SAW, INSIDIOUS, the first CONJURING — demonstrated genuine horror filmmaking talent and innovation. You understand how to build dread, stage scares, and create images that haunt viewers long after credits roll.

But the Conjurverse has become a mouse box limiting rather than showcasing your abilities. The franchise requirements, the need to connect everything, the pressure to deliver universe-building content alongside individual film quality and your ability to really sear our brains with sick imagery but with strong grounded connective tissue —a prime example is your underrated and underseen MALIGNANT from 2021; it’s clearly compromising the pure horror storytelling that made your reputation.

You can do better and have done better. The question is whether commercial success and franchise management will allow you to do better again, or whether we’ll continue getting films with occasional moments of brilliance drowning in redundant dullness.

NEXT SCENE: The S’mores Scene in “THE MENU” 2022.

Poster courtesy of Searchlight Pictures/Disney