With their distinctive religious attire and the unwavering devotion required of their lives, nuns have provided the inspiration for some of the scariest characters in horror cinema. It’s hard to deny that, sometimes, there’s something vaguely eerie about them. Nuns have come to occupy a marked sub-section of the horror genre, cementing their place as a nerve-racking staple.
Nuns have been in horror movies since the 1920s, with the silent movie Haxan. In the 1970s, a sub-genre known as Nunsploitation briefly emerged. This article covers 10 of the scariest nuns in the history of cinema.
1. Sister Jeanne – The Devils (1971)
The film stars Oscar-winning actress Vanessa Redgrave in one of the most terrifying performances as a nun in a horror movie. She plays the role of Sister Jeanne in The Devils, a film that remains one of the most controversial films of all time. It features a 17th-century priest who’s accused of being a warlock by a hunchbacked, sexually repressed nun who is secretly in love with him. The film is an examination of religious hysteria and was heavily censored.
2. Sister Death – Veronica (2017)
This Spanish film is one of the scariest horror movies of recent years and features a memorably scary nun with the chilling presence of Sister Death. Set in 1991 Spain, the film follows three teenage siblings who attempt to contact their deceased relatives by using an Ouija board. Upon contacting the other side, they must follow the advice of Sister Narcisa.
3. Possessed Nun – Haxan (1922)
A first of its kind, Haxan was a groundbreaking horror documentary and fiction hybrid, made back in 1922, that explored the phenomenon of witchcraft across the the centuries. The documentary chronicles the history of witchcraft, as seen through a series of bizarre imagery that fuses real footage with live re-enactments. At one point in the story, a demon-possessed nun displays one of the scariest facial expressions ever recorded on film.
4. Sister Gertrude – The Killer Nun (1979)
Perhaps the best-known movie in the Nunsploitation cycle, Killer Nun starred Anita Ekberg as the depraved Sister Gertrude. Loosely based on real-life events, the film follows the life of Sister Gertrude, who has recently come back to work at the hospital after undergoing a life-saving operation. Her wholesome appearance counteracts her grisly behaviour, making her creepier than most.
5. Valak – The Nun (2018)
This is the definitive horror movie nun of the 21st century. Valak is often shrouded in silhouetted corridors or flashing its face in creepy close-up jump scares. Its distinct grotesque physical features include rows of jagged sharklike teeth, bloodshot eyes, and bloody varicose veins jutting from its forehead. The Nun explores Valak’s origins, making it one of the select villains to enjoy its own spinoff franchise.
6. The Blind Nun – The Devil Inside (2012)
The Devil Inside is a 2012-found-footage supernatural horror film directed by William Brent Bell. The movie follows a woman who becomes involved in a series of exorcisms while on her quest to uncover the truth about her mother, who, possessed by a demon, committed three murders. The marketing campaign heavily featured the blind nun, and although she appears in the movie for only one brief shot, her undeniable creepiness lingers.
7. The Blind Nun – The Sentinel (1977)
Before the iconic blind nun on the cover of The Devil Inside (2012) and the blind, ominous Sister Death in Verónica (2017), The Sentinel firmly established the “blind nun trope” as a ghastly sight. This adaptation of a novel by Jeffrey Konvitz features a high-strung fashion model who moves into a Brooklyn brownstone that’s inconveniently located over the gate to Hell. More than dealing with noisy neighbours, she is forced to face a battle against the Prince of Darkness, which awakens the blind guardian priest of the building.
8. Nun With Shears – The Exorcist III (1990)
This nun only appears on-screen in the third Exorcist movie for a matter of seconds but provides one of the biggest jump scares in horror. Directed by William Peter Blatty, the film stumbled at the box office when it originally debuted. But over time the film’s surreal imagery and genuine scariness earned it a devoted cult following. The crash zoom into a hooded nun striding towards the nurse with a giant pair of shears suddenly punctures the quiet, drawn-out long shot of the nurse doing her rounds on a convent hospital corridor, as the shrieking soundtrack comes to life. No matter how many times you’ve seen it, this suspenseful sequence will make you jump.
9. Mother Vincenza – The Other Hell (1981)
Blending Christian imagery with fetishized violence and sexual exhibitionism, nunsploitation films are the very definition of an acquired taste. The Other Hell is an especially outrageous example of the subgenre. It features a convent of nuns who become possessed by the Devil and become lustily obsessed with the church’s abbot. A local priest investigates and uncovers a conspiracy led by Mother Vincenza.
10. The Nun – The Conjuring 2 (2016)
Audiences first met Bonnie Aarons in her first iteration of The Nun in the sequel to James Wan’s horror hit The Conjuring. With a ghostly complexion, a bad attitude, and a mouthful of fangs, the Nun is referred to by several names throughout the film. Some of these names are the Marquis of Snakes, the Defiler, and the demon Valak. The Conjuring 2 is the third instalment in The Conjuring Universe franchise.
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