If truth is stranger than fiction, it’s also far more terrifying. Or at least that’s what I’m convinced is the case after watching The Nun II, the most recent installment of the Conjuring universe. Based on the purportedly true stories of paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorainne Warren, this ever-expanding series of films is notable not only because the box office returns make it clear that Warner Bros. Studio has struck a chord with audiences, but also because the movies in the franchise take supernatural evil and religious faith seriously.
In other words, horror is having a moment. And so too, it would seem, is the supernatural.
In fact, the incredible success of supernatural horror films like The Nun II and all its Conjuring cousins is one of the many reasons I recently started a podcast exploring the connection between the horror genre, religion, and spirituality. It’s called “Be Afraid,” and it’s a co-production between Christianity Today and Fuller Theological Seminary. While producing the podcast, I’ve interviewed filmmakers, fans, psychologists, nuns, and even an exorcist or two. And what I’ve discovered is that, if you ask filmgoers why they find supernatural horror films both exhilarating and terrifying, it’s not because of the jump scares or the special effects (although those do help). Rather, the reason movies like The Nun II haunt viewers long after the credits roll is because, at least from their perspective, they’re tapping into something real.
The suggestion that large swaths of the filmgoing public actually believe in the reality of the supernatural or paranormal might come as a surprise to some, but it shouldn’t. After all, a recent Ipsos poll found that 42% of Americans believe in UFOs and a full 39% of the population believes in ghosts. One in four (25%) say they have either seen or believed themselves to have been in the presence of a ghost. And when it comes to other unexplainable phenomena, about three in ten (28%) report that, at some point, they have woken up from sleep with a sense of a strange presence in the room.
To put this all a bit differently, even in the midst of our highly skeptical, scientifically minded society, there is no shortage of stories about people encountering forces at work in this world that don’t play by our rules. Sometimes, those forces seem to be benevolent. Other times … not so much. So it’s no accident that Warner Bros. has been so successful with the Conjuring franchise. Rather than dismiss the supernatural as “mere superstition,” the studio has made the strategic (and incredibly profitable) decision to go all-in on American spirituality.
As a scholar of US religion and contemporary media, stories like these–whether in response to a film like The Nun II or featured on a discord channel about the paranormal–stick out like a sore thumb. Much has been made of the radical decline of religion in the United States. The numbers are harrowing, especially for those leading religious institutions and organizations. But the statistics on declining religious participation miss something important. Religion isn’t decreasing. If anything, it’s on the rise. It’s just shifting away from traditional forms and institutions, spreading into every nook and cranny of life. It’s moving from mosques to marketplaces, from temples to trail-heads, and from sanctuaries to cinemas.
My friend and colleague, Sister Nancy Usselman agrees. Sr. Nancy is a Daughter of St. Paul and the Director of the Pauline Center for Media Studies in Los Angeles, California. I asked her, as a nun herself, what she thought about The Nun II, and whether films in the horror genre offer viewers a way of seeing reality differently:
Horror films can sometimes address our unexplainable fears because we are made body and soul, natural and supernatural. There are forces for good and evil in the world that human beings cannot necessarily “see.” Supernatural horror movies often use Catholic Christian imagery and symbolism to help us see because it deals with the mystery of faith. … To do that, it shows evil, and in supernatural horror, it shows the workings of the devil in and through those possessed. Evil is real even though the visual medium of film shows it in crazy, bizarre ways. That’s an important acknowledgment in a culture that often denies the existence of the devil. The horror film The Nun II, as a storytelling medium, shows that faith matters, and when we have faith our path is filled with light, God’s Light who is Christ, our Way, Truth, and Life. Only in him can we overcome the fear that evil and darkness create. Only with the eyes of Christ can we see how a horror film expresses that good always overcomes evil and faith transforms fear.
Overcoming evil through the transformation of our fear. Call it what you will, but from my vantage point, sitting in a darkened theater next to Sr. Nancy and hundreds of other horror fans, The Nun II wasn’t just scaring the hell out of us. It was “conjuring” a genuinely religious experience.
If truth is stranger than fiction, it’s also far more terrifying. Or at least that’s what I’m convinced is the case after watching The Nun II, the most recent installment of the Conjuring universe. Based on the purportedly true stories of paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorainne Warren, this ever-expanding series of films is notable not only because the box office returns make it clear that Warner Bros. Studio has struck a chord with audiences, but also because the movies in the franchise take supernatural evil and religious faith seriously.
In other words, horror is having a moment. And so too, it would seem, is the supernatural.
In fact, the incredible success of supernatural horror films like The Nun II and all its Conjuring cousins is one of the many reasons I recently started a podcast exploring the connection between the horror genre, religion, and spirituality. It’s called “Be Afraid,” and it’s a co-production between Christianity Today and Fuller Theological Seminary. While producing the podcast, I’ve interviewed filmmakers, fans, psychologists, nuns, and even an exorcist or two. And what I’ve discovered is that, if you ask filmgoers why they find supernatural horror films both exhilarating and terrifying, it’s not because of the jump scares or the special effects (although those do help). Rather, the reason movies like The Nun II haunt viewers long after the credits roll is because, at least from their perspective, they’re tapping into something real.
The suggestion that large swaths of the filmgoing public actually believe in the reality of the supernatural or paranormal might come as a surprise to some, but it shouldn’t. After all, a recent Ipsos poll found that 42% of Americans believe in UFOs and a full 39% of the population believes in ghosts. One in four (25%) say they have either seen or believed themselves to have been in the presence of a ghost. And when it comes to other unexplainable phenomena, about three in ten (28%) report that, at some point, they have woken up from sleep with a sense of a strange presence in the room.
To put this all a bit differently, even in the midst of our highly skeptical, scientifically minded society, there is no shortage of stories about people encountering forces at work in this world that don’t play by our rules. Sometimes, those forces seem to be benevolent. Other times … not so much. So it’s no accident that Warner Bros. has been so successful with the Conjuring franchise. Rather than dismiss the supernatural as “mere superstition,” the studio has made the strategic (and incredibly profitable) decision to go all-in on American spirituality.
As a scholar of US religion and contemporary media, stories like these–whether in response to a film like The Nun II or featured on a discord channel about the paranormal–stick out like a sore thumb. Much has been made of the radical decline of religion in the United States. The numbers are harrowing, especially for those leading religious institutions and organizations. But the statistics on declining religious participation miss something important. Religion isn’t decreasing. If anything, it’s on the rise. It’s just shifting away from traditional forms and institutions, spreading into every nook and cranny of life. It’s moving from mosques to marketplaces, from temples to trail-heads, and from sanctuaries to cinemas.
My friend and colleague, Sister Nancy Usselman agrees. Sr. Nancy is a Daughter of St. Paul and the Director of the Pauline Center for Media Studies in Los Angeles, California. I asked her, as a nun herself, what she thought about The Nun II, and whether films in the horror genre offer viewers a way of seeing reality differently:
Horror films can sometimes address our unexplainable fears because we are made body and soul, natural and supernatural. There are forces for good and evil in the world that human beings cannot necessarily “see.” Supernatural horror movies often use Catholic Christian imagery and symbolism to help us see because it deals with the mystery of faith. … To do that, it shows evil, and in supernatural horror, it shows the workings of the devil in and through those possessed. Evil is real even though the visual medium of film shows it in crazy, bizarre ways. That’s an important acknowledgment in a culture that often denies the existence of the devil. The horror film The Nun II, as a storytelling medium, shows that faith matters, and when we have faith our path is filled with light, God’s Light who is Christ, our Way, Truth, and Life. Only in him can we overcome the fear that evil and darkness create. Only with the eyes of Christ can we see how a horror film expresses that good always overcomes evil and faith transforms fear.
Overcoming evil through the transformation of our fear. Call it what you will, but from my vantage point, sitting in a darkened theater next to Sr. Nancy and hundreds of other horror fans, The Nun II wasn’t just scaring the hell out of us. It was “conjuring” a genuinely religious experience.
Kutter Callaway is the William K. Brehm Chair of Worship, Theology, and the Arts and co-director of Brehm Film.
The Dial of Destiny is diverting enough. It’s the best version of an Indiana Jones knock-off, but it’s still a knock-off.
