MOVIE REVIEW – Another nun horror movie has been released around Halloween – this time on Netflix and it has nothing to do with the Demons Among Demons franchise or the story of someone’s demon from The Nun I-II. Sister Death is a Spanish horror film (with English dubbing) on Netflix that follows a young novice who arrives at a convent rebuilt after the devastation of World War II to serve as a girls’ school in late 1940s Spain. Sister Narcisa’s nagging doubts about her commitment to God as a nun are both confirmed and challenged when she tries to help a student tormented by strange visions.

Sister Narcisa (Aria Bedmar) arrives at a Spanish convent a decade after becoming infamous as a little girl who allegedly saw a vision of the Virgin Mary. Her fame precedes her, which means the sisters are all too willing to rush her vows to God; frankly, she’d rather take her time and pay her dues, not entirely sure she wants to commit to this life as a nun. Meanwhile, he begins teaching at the convent school, which keeps his students busy with what seems like too much housework. Although Sister Narcisa senses some supernatural things around her – a piece of furniture that seems to move by itself; some bloody visions that may or may not be hallucinations – it becomes clear that one of her students is experiencing more, and she tries to help this troubled girl and see what she is seeing. Meanwhile, in true horror movie fashion, Sister Narcisa stumbles upon the dark secrets that plague the convent.

“I am not a nun…”

…or at least not THE Nun, which is part of the Demons Among Demons series and follows the misadventures of a demon named Somak who takes the form of a nun. It’s now available on Netflix, but if you’d rather watch The Nun II because you haven’t seen it in theaters, for example, you can now watch it in 4K on HBO Max. Interestingly, however, Sister Death is also part of a (different) franchise, serving as a largely standalone prequel to the director’s horror film Verónica. The name Sister Narcisa may also remind cinephiles of the 1947 classic Black Narcissus, although that psychological thriller lacks the supernatural overtones of this film. In 1991’s Verónica (also on Netflix), Sister Narcisa is older, and we’ll let you in on a secret: there’s a brief scene where the older Narcisa appears in this movie.

Zombie horror director also at home with nun horror

Director Paco Plaza is probably best known for the “found footage” zombie movie series [REC] (the first of which was remade in the US as Quarantine and is probably called Quarantine here). The story of Death’s Sister is set in a much more conventional frame, though the film has a 1.33:1 aspect ratio (so don’t be surprised if you see two large bands around the edges of the screen despite the 4K resolution), which is reminiscent of the films of the era depicted, and Plaza often uses the corridors, doors, and shadows of the old convent to further narrow the frame, creating windows within windows and a sense of enclosure and menace.

The mood of the film matches Sister Narcisa’s anxiety; she is treated as a gift from God and a sign of the youthful renewal of the Catholic faith, while secretly doubting whether she deserves the title or is even fit for the convent (though she is pious enough to try self-flagellation and fasting in the old convent). The most innovative aspect of her conflict (which, by the way, is not so different from Taissa Farmiga’s character in the Apáca films) is the scene in which Sister Narcisa, in a grimly ironic spectacle, tries to see a ghostly figure that the most troubled of the little girl’s students tells her about. Although the novice nun has experienced other eerie visions and nightmares during her time in the convent, she is unable to immediately see the kind of ghost that haunts the student. This figure is linked to the atrocities of war, which can call into question the church’s own practices, so the film is highly critical of how such religious institutions can undermine the very faith they are supposed to help preserve.

A decent and stylish little hour and a half of horror

The rest of the story is pretty standard, at least on paper: the lucky nun investigates horrible things and discovers the gruesome backstory that explains them. The strict running time of one and a half hours may seem short, but Plaza manages it well: he doesn’t rush the story, but we also don’t get bored by unnecessary scenes.

The movie is also quite clever in its use of scares: it’s more of a creepy psychological horror movie with overwhelmingly scary scenes than a cheap jump scare. If we compare it to the Nuns movies, it is similar to Nuns II in this respect, but the story of this movie is built much more on a personal revenge and ghost story, and thus somehow more natural, much more focused on the world of the nuns than the nun movies of the Among Demons franchise, since the title character is a demon himself: Someone who is not a real nun, but a demon who has just taken the form of a nun. And that’s a good thing for this well-made, atmospheric Spanish horror film, which won’t revolutionize the genre, but is well worth the hour and a half it takes to make.

-BadSector-