New horror movie Immaculate hits our screens today with Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney in the lead role as Cecilia, a young woman who discovers unspeakable horrors when she journeys to the Italian countryside. Just weeks later, The First Omen arrives in theaters, focusing on a woman who begins questioning her faith when she uncovers a terrifying conspiracy concerning the church. Meanwhile the cryptic teaser trailers for Oz Perkins’ Longlegs, set for release in July in the US, have left much of the horrors within to the imagination, following FBI Agent Lee Harker who is assigned to an unsolved serial killer case that takes an unexpected turn. But what links all of these horror films? The answer is the presence of nuns within their terrifying narratives.
The existence of nuns within genre cinema is far from unusual. Religious belief exists as a symptom of fear as we are aware our lives are vulnerable and chaotic, with religion bringing answers to our greatest fears and mysteries. Horror films often center around battles of good and evil, with religion taking up residence at both ends of the spectrum, offering nuanced explorations of multiple faiths across the decades. And one trope that has remained constant is that of the nun, which more often than not is a ‘scary nun’ haunting our nightmares.
