South Korean horror film “Dark Nuns”, which is a spin-off of “The Priests” (2015), is another typical exorcism flick with a bit of refreshing element. Again, the Catholic Church comes forward for fighting with the supernatural force of evil, but the movie has a couple of nuns instead, and, to our little amusement, they even do not hesitate to use everything ranging from local shamans to tarot cards for doing their holy job to the end.

The movie begins with a very intense exorcism ritual performed upon one adolescent boy clearly possessed by one of those infernal demons. When two Catholic priests eventually find themselves cornered by this stinking devil, an experienced nun named Sister Junia (Song Hye-kyo) promptly enters the scene, and she manages to chase away the devil from that poor boy, though he is not yet totally free from that devil yet.

Sister Junia subsequently seeks for the permission to continue the exorcism ritual for that boy, but the head of the Catholic Church in Seoul and other old priests are not so willing to give the permission. After all, the exorcism ritual of the Catholic Church is quite a sensitive matter, and they do not want to get into any more trouble. Besides, Sister Junia is not ordained yet, and she also officially cannot perform an exorcism because, well, she is not a priest but a nun (The movie often reminds us that the Catholic Church has virtually been a boys’ club which usually disregards women, by the way).

Although it is decided that the boy is going to be sent to a local Church hospital for getting some medical treatment under the supervision of Father Paolo (Lee Jin-wook), a priest/psychiatrist who firmly believes that the boy will be soon cured via his medical treatment instead of exorcism. With his protégé Sister Michaela (Jeon Yeo-been), who is also a psychiatrist, he is going to do his best for that boy, and the interference from Sister Junia is the last thing he wants right now.

However, still quite determined to save the boy from that powerful demon, Sister Junia is not deterred at all, and she actively approaches to Sister Michaela once she notices that Sister Michaela has a sort of sixth sense to sense the force of evil just like her. Needless to say, Sister Michaela does not want to get herself associated with Sister Junia, but then she only gets drawn more into the dark world of demon and exorcism because, as shown from the occasional flashback scenes, she actually had a fair share of experiences associated with exorcism and other supernatural stuffs a long time ago.

When the situation becomes all the more disturbing later, Sister Junia persuades Sister Michaela to do something as soon as possible without Father Paolo’s permission, and that is where the movie becomes rather amusing. They take the boy to a professional shaman who was once a nun just like them, and this shaman is willing to give some extra help once she sees that the boy does have a really serious spiritual problem. 

Of course, their infernal opponent turns out to be much more powerful than expected, and we are certainly served with a series of unnerving moments suggesting the evil influence surrounding that boy. While these dark moments will not surprise you much if you have seen “The Exorcist” (1973) and many of its countless juniors, they are intense and creepy enough to hold our attention for a while at least, and the movie steadily sticks to its utterly serious attitude as going all the way along with its two main characters. 

Around the last act, everything in the story culminates to an expected showdown between good and evil, and director Kwon Hyeok-jae and his crew members including cinematographer Choi Chan-min naturally pull all the stops for more shock and intensity. Although the overall result stays inside its familiar genre territory, the movie keeps focusing on what is being at stake for its main characters, and we come to care more about what may eventually happen to them.

It goes without saying that the movie depends a lot on the presence and talent of its two lead performers at its center. Song Hye-kyo, whom you may recognize for her brief but crucial supporting turn in Wong Kar-wai’s Oscar-nominated film “The Grandmaster” (2013), is believable as a woman quite dedicated to her spiritual battle with the force of evil, and she also did a good job of conveying to us the growing vulnerability behind her character’s intensely unflappable attitude. On the opposite, Jeon Yeo-been is effective as her co-star’s counterpart, and she certainly has a lot more things to do here in this film compared to her recent appearance in “Harbin” (2024). In case of several other cast members in the film including Lee Jin-wook, Moon Woo-jin, and Huh Joon-ho, they dutifully fill their respective spots around Song and Jeon, and you may be amused a bit by the special appearance by one of the main cast members of “The Priests” around the end of the film. 

In conclusion, “Dark Nuns” does not surpass “The Priests” or many of its seniors out there, but it is still a solid genre piece packed with enough thrill and entertainment. As your average seasoned moviegoer, I was not scared that much during my viewing, but I was intrigued and entertained enough on the whole, and that is enough for recommendation for now.