8 Horror Movies Like The Nun You Must See

Directed by Corin Hardy, ‘The Nun’ is a 2018 horror movie that presses the pommel on the dagger of time and takes us back to the early 1950s. Set in the “The Conjuring’ universe, the narrative progresses as a Father, Anthony Burke, and a young nun, Irene, arrive at Saint Cartha’s monastery in Romania to investigate the suicide of one of its sisters and ultimately confront a demonic entity that has taken the form of a nun that makes them question their very faith. The cast includes Taissa Farmiga as Irene, and Demián Bichir as Father Burke along with Jonas Bloquet, and Bonnie Aarons in significant roles.

What makes the movie different is that its horror element challenges the very faith of Christianity. The Church is the target and in a way seemingly uses the motif of surrendering to a higher power, clearly God, as a synonym for being possessed (by a demon). If you look at it from a more general angle, it is the very presence of evil inside the house of God. It cannot get worse. Or can it? Here are our horror movie recommendations that will help you seek the answer. You can watch most of these movies similar to ‘The Nun’ on Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime.

8. The Pope’s Exorcist (2023)

Directed by Julius Avery, this horror movie is inspired by real events included in the memoirs of Father Gabriele Amorth (Russell Crowe), who served as a chief exorcist for the Diocese of Rome. Amorth is sent to Spain to look into the possession of a kid named Henry (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney) who, along with his mother and elder sister, has just shifted to an abbey left for them by their dead father. Assisted by a local Father by the name of Esquibel (Daniel Zovatto), Amorth tries to exorcise the demon out of the boy but fails. Soon, he finds out that the possession is part of a dark chapter in the abbey’s past, dating back to the Spanish Inquisition, that the Church covered up.

Like in ‘The Nun’, ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ involves the church in the confrontation with evil. In a way, we can say that God is challenged which is pretty much the premise of ‘The Nun’. Remember the writing on the door that said “God ends here”? Well, there is no writing in ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ but the movie does make it clear that the strength of the devil requires a lot more than faith in God.

7. The Exorcism of God (2021)

The narrative of ‘The Exorcism of God’, directed by Alejandro Hidalgo, takes the test of faith to a whole different level as Father Peter Williams (Will Beinbrink), already with a past of possession that led him to commit a sin, arrives a small Mexican town only to face the same demon 18 years later. This time its victim is a young woman, Esparanza (María Gabriela de Faría). In order to save her, Peter will have to confess the sin he committed, one that more than questions his faith and religion. The movie shows the demon taking the shape of Jesus Himself only to re-establish the motif of faith questioned and the absence of the Almighty, reminding us that indeed “God ends here”.

6. The Unholy (2021)

‘The Unholy’, directed by Evan Spiliotopoulos, is the most visual representation of a demonic entity posing as not even God but God’s Mother, the Virgin Mary. Alice (Cricket Brown), a young woman who is deaf, miraculously heals and is able to heal the sick after a supposed visit by the Virgin Mary in Banfield, Massachusetts. Gerry Fenn (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), a journalist looking for a breaking story, tries to dig deeper into the case only to doubt whether it is the Virgin Mary in her or something much less benevolent, if not diabolical. The theme raises the bar that ‘The Nun’ sets as it shows how a demonic entity fools people into thinking that it is a God.

5. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Directed by Roman Polanski, ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ tells the story of a couple, Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) and Guy Woodhouse (John Cassavetes). The two move into their new apartment in Manhattan only to be subjected to unusual stuff. Guy befriends an elderly couple, with the wife even giving Rosemary concoctions to deal with the effects of her pregnancy. However, as days pass, the situation gets worse for Rosemary and she starts to think if the elderly couple has something planned for her unborn child. Well, she isn’t wrong!

The title of the movie itself is a challenge to God and divine powers. A Rosemary plant has an immense religious significance and stands as a symbol of faith, while a baby is considered God’s purest creation. And to put both of these symbols to the test is to clearly question the Almighty’s charge.

4. The Witch (2015)

Robert Eggers has directed ‘The Witch’ whose narrative is set in 17th century England. It tells the story of a Puritan family, William (Ralph Ineson) and Katherine (Kate Dickie), and their kids Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy), Caleb (Harvey Scrimshaw), Mercy (Ellie Grainger) and Jonas (Lucas Dawson), that is banished by its community due to religious differences and settles in the outskirts of a forest. They have 4 kids and the wife gives birth to the fifth in their new home. Unfortunately, the baby, Samuel, mysteriously disappears.

Unbeknownst to the family, this disappearance is only the first of the many supernatural events that they are about to undergo, including Caleb’s death, a pact with a goat, and the disappearance of more family members. From being banished due to religious differences to the pact with a goat which is a symbol of the devil (especially in witchcraft from which the movie gets its title), there are multiple aspects of the movie that connect it to the God vs. Devil motif as seen in ‘The Nun’.

3. Antichrist (2009)

Starring Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg, ‘Antichrist’ has been directed by Lars von Trier. As much as an art film as it is a horror film, it deals with a couple that loses their baby. The wife undergoes a mental collapse and is in dire need of psychiatric care. The husband, a therapist, thus takes it upon himself to treat his wife and brings her to a cabin in the woods of Eden to help her face the fear of nature.

The following days and the experiences they offer to the husband make it clear that the place is of a sinister nature, with symbols that speak of something unholy. The title, the name ‘Eden’, along with the other dark symbols in the film, all stand for and pose a subtle mockery of the very origin of humanity as told in Christianity. This is what connects this film to ‘The Nun’.

2. The Medium (2021)

This Thai horror movie has been directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun. It follows Nim (Sawanee Utoomma), who believes that she is a shamaness who is possessed by the goddess Ba Ya. When her niece Mink (Narilya Gulmongkolpech) begins to show unusual signs, Nim thinks that she is ready to receive Ba Ya’s spirit from her. But is she really? Or has something else taken hold of her? Religion is seamlessly woven into the plot of this movie in a way that perhaps transcends what ‘The Nun’ does. We are forced to doubt the very authenticity of the God in question.

1. Incantation (2022)

Directed by Kevin Ko, ‘Incantation’ is a Taiwanese horror movie that incorporates a God rather than evil as the primary motif of horror. Li Ronan’s daughter is subjected to a curse that has returned after six years. She is the one to have awakened it by entering a tunnel against strict rules. She requests us, the viewers, to help her lift the curse from her daughter by reciting an “incantation”.

This breaking of the 4th wall, along with the curse and its origin, whose root cause is a god, Mother Buddha, set the movie apart from the rest. The movie tries to smudge the line between good and evil by showing how surrender sometimes becomes possession, in an equally horrifying way than ‘The Nun.’