Is The Nun based on a true story? Here are all the creepy answers you need
Each film in the Conjuring series, including the Annabelle spin-offs, was supposedly based on a true story. But what about the latest entry, The Nun?
The adventures of Ed and Lorraine Warren have inspired several horror films, from The Amityville Horror to the Conjuring series. And this week we will see the first chapter of the blockbuster series, The Nun. Although the film isn’t based on a ‘true story’ - at least not in the way that the first two Conjuring movies were - it will serve as a sort of origin story for the demonic entity that haunted Lorraine in the Conjuring 2.
The plot follows a priest and a novice who are sent to Romania by the Vatican to investigate the death of a young nun. The nun was seemingly haunted by a demonic entity named Valak, the same entity that haunted Lorraine Warren in the second Conjuring film, which she, of course, claims really happened.
“When we made Conjuring 2, people really loved the nun character,” says director-producer James Wan in a featurette released for the film. “With The Nun we’re going right back to where it all began,” says Corin Hardy, director of the film.
While doing press rounds for Conjuring 2, Wan said, “From talking to Lorraine in passing, she mentioned a spectral entity that has haunted her in her house. And it’s this swirling tornado vortex with this hooded figure in there.”
And now, several reports - from Mirror and Bustle - have dug up the origins of Valak, or Volak, or Valu. According to the Lesser Key of Solomon, a book on demonology that was first compiled in the 17th century, and has been updated since, Valak is one of the Seventy-Two Demons.
The edition collated by infamous occultist Alistair Crowley describes Valak as thus: “The Sixty-second Spirit is Volac, or Valak, or Valu. He is a President Mighty and Great, and appereth like a Child with Angel’s Wings, riding on a Two-headed Dragon. His Office is to give True Answers of Hidden Treasures, and to tell where Serpents may be seen. The which he will bring unto the Exorciser without any Force or Strength being by him employed. He governeth 38 Legions of Spirits, and his Seal is thus.”
Hollywood films have often depicted demons, be it the legendary Pazuzu in The Exorcist, Baal in The Rite or Legion, Belial, and Lucifer in the Exorcism of Emily Rose.
The Nun has been scheduled for a September 7 release. It stars Demian Bichir, Taissa Farmiga and Jonas Bloquet.
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