Considering its stellar cast – Song Hye-kyo, Jeon Yeo-been, Lee Jin-wook, and a breakthrough performance from young star Moon Woo-jin – there’s a lot that feels missing in the horror film ‘Dark Nuns’ by director Kwon Hyeok-jae. The filmmaking is flashy: lots of extreme close-ups, quick cuts, loud sound design, and imagery that’s meant to be dark, vague, and disturbing. All this is great in the first twenty minutes of the film but as the film unfolds, it cannot substitute the lack of genuine scares or the absence of a stronger, compelling story.

Song Hye-kyo plays Sister Junia, an unordained nun who performs exorcisms for a sect within the Catholic Church. She is known as the “dark nun,” who is knowledgeable in all matters of demonic possession. It opens with her arriving at a home where a priest is struggling to exorcise a demon possessing a young boy named Hee-joon (Moon Woo-jin). We know she’s tough and experienced because she doesn’t go straight to the scene on her arrival. She first has a cigarette and bides her time before she makes her move. There she battles the demon and while she rescues the priest, she only manages to force the demon back into hiding. Hee-joon is transferred to a hospital where Sister Junia finds opposition from Father Paolo (Lee Jin-wook), a priest who is also a doctor, and he frowns upon exorcisms, insisting that these are psychological issues that can be fixed medically. Caught in-between is Father Paolo’s protege, Sister Michela (Jeon Yeo-been). Sister Michela is also a doctor and a nun, but she also has visions and has the potential to be a shaman

The two sisters must find common ground to save Hee-joon from the demon inside of him before… well, this is where the film becomes sketchy because it never really underlines the stakes. Yes, we know the child must be free of the possessing spirit, but the film muddles the cost. Will the child die? Will the demon – a personification of something called “the 12 manifestations,” an idea that is never really explored in depth – become more powerful after a certain point? What is this “12 manifestations” and does it have any effect on the world outside of this child?

The film skirts through most of the story elements. We know Sister Junia is not well, but we don’t know of her life before this. Sister Michela has an implied history with the supernatural, which seems to have caused someone’s suicide. But this is not fully explored either. Aside from saving the boy’s life, we don’t really know what this exorcism means for the two women, and it sort of diminishes the sense of accomplishment one may feel from this whole exercise.

The whole film, from the very opening scene, until it’s conclusion, is completely centered on this one possession. What is wonderful is how, on the orders to save this boy by “any means necessary,” Sister Junia employs shamans and include shamanistic rites to aid in the exorcism creates a wonderful intersection of cultures. Western prayers spoken in Latin (or is it Italian, I’m not sure) while the colorful, energetic rituals of Korean shamanism are playing in the foreground and in the background is such an exciting imagery that is at work.

But the film has no genuine scares. The boy is restrained, he’s shouting expletives and saying vulgar and disgusting things – with an excellent performance by Moon Woo-jin who delivers this with such commitment – while the two sisters are praying over him and demanding him to leave the body. It’s dramatic for the first 20 minutes or so but as the film progresses (and the film is almost two-hours long) it starts to get repetitive. And you start to realise that there’s no inherent danger here.

Despite it being a horror film that isn’t horrifying and with characters that I feel distant and indifferent towards, I do appreciate director Kwon Hyeok-jae’s approach to filming this religious aspect of the film. There’s no reverence or mystery to how he captures the Catholic faith. In fact, he’s not afraid to show the in-fighting within the sects and battles of ideology that is happening inside the church. All of the religious aspects of the film are really just decoration here, juxtaposed side-by-side with Korean shamanism, not favoring one over the other in an imagery sense, Kwon Hyeok-jae creates a battle not between a demon and religion but that of a demon and a human being, who just happened to be a nun. Sister Junia could have been a plain doctor or a shaman or a Filipina witch doctor and it would have been the same movie. The de-mystification of the Catholic faith feels refreshing and new. I wished the film just took less time trying to impress us with its mood shots and dramatics and explored a bit more of the characters to give us something to chew on.

My Rating:

Dark Nuns is now showing in cinemas. Check showtimes and buy your tickets here.