Dark Nuns (2025), following the tradition of exorcism films like The Exorcist (1973), portrays the horror of demonic possession and the priests who risk their lives to expel evil forces. However, the film tweaks the genre by casting Song Hye-kyo, fresh off her career-defining role in The Glory. Yet, some remain unconvinced about the former rom-com queen as a divinely ordained exorcist.
Dark Nuns centers on Sister Yunia, portrayed by Song Hye-kyo, a nun with the rare ability to hear spirits—both benevolent and malevolent. However, her unconventional exorcism practices have put her at odds with the Church, leading to her estrangement from its official ranks. This fault line between Sister Yunia and the Church becomes even more pronounced when she takes on a new case: Hee-jun, a teenage boy possessed by one of the twelve most powerful demons.
The archdiocese fathers refuse to grant her permission to perform an exorcism, citing the Church’s official stance that exorcism cannot be formally sanctioned—especially by someone who is not an ordained priest. Yet, convinced that only an exorcism can save the boy’s life, Sister Yunia defies institutional constraints and turns to unorthodox methods to expel the demon.
A New Kind of Occult Story
As she leaves the room at the archdiocese, heavy with authority and rigid tradition, Sister Yunia mutters to herself, “You annoying lot,” signaling that her battle is not only against the demon but also against a Church that clings stubbornly to its age-old rules. In classic occult horror, exemplified by The Exorcist (1973), fear arises from the collapse of belief systems that uphold reason over ignorance and faith over superstition. The horror lies not just in a possessed girl spewing foul words beyond her years but in the deeper implication—that something dark, more powerful and resourceful than both science and faith, has infiltrated our reality. What happens when the very defenses meant to protect us from unnatural evil fail?
The Fathers Were There First
Before Dark Nuns, The Priests (2015) was a pioneering film in Korea’s exorcism genre, vividly depicting the gory details of demons inhabiting human bodies and the grisly rituals involved in expelling them. Father Peter (Kim Yoon-seok) faces the harrowing case of a teenage girl possessed by a powerful demon. When his exorcism attempts fail for over six months, he teams up with Deacon Agathos (Kang Dong-won) to confront the dark force together. Eventually, they expel the demon from the girl’s body, transferring it into a pig, which turns black at the moment of possession. The film blends the horror of the unknown with cultural notions of impurity, creating a terrifying image that lingers long after the screen fades.
A Different Kind of Horror Story
In Dark Nuns, horror stems in part from the Church’s ineffectiveness—not because it is powerless against the demon, but because it is blinded by its own prejudice. Sister Yunia is dismissed not for lacking ability, but for being a woman, unordained and unorthodox. The Church assigns Father Paolo (Lee Jin-wook), a priest and medical doctor, to treat the boy with medicine and counseling, reinforcing its authority while sidestepping the reality of possession. The institution itself is never questioned—only its ineffectiveness, which becomes a source of critique.
For Sister Yunia, then, the battle is twofold: against the demon possessing the boy and against the male-centered hierarchy of the Church that refuses to acknowledge her as an exorcist. Yet, her faith remains unshaken. She begins the exorcism not in defiance of religion but in devotion, chanting a prayer to the Virgin Mary. Her belief in the Holy Father and His mother stands firm, even as she operates outside the Church’s sanctioned authority.
Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves
If Dark Nuns is not terrifying enough for some critics, it is not due to Song Hye-kyo’s lackluster performance as an exorcist but rather because the film does not really cast a skeptical eye on religion or spiritualism. In contrast, The Wailing (2016), one of the most successful occult films in recent memory, thrives on uncertainty. In its demon-infested village, no religious or spiritual act—whether Christianity, shamanism, or folk rituals—offers true protection. The villagers’ desperate attempts to ward off evil only reveal that no belief system guarantees sanctuary.
The result is chilling to the bone. By refusing to provide a definitive answer about who or what ultimately controls reality, The Wailing leaves audiences unsettled, questioning everything they just witnessed. This open-ended ambiguity heightens the horror, pushing the occult film to its extreme, where terror stems not only from supernatural forces but from the collapse of any certainty about the world itself.
Song Hye-kyo’s Sister Yunia is less an exorcist than a persecuted woman. In this sense, Song delivers a brilliant performance. Dismissed by the Church fathers and berated by the demon, which taunts her with slurs like “you rotten bitch,” Sister Yunia is an outcast—her worth constantly scrutinized, subjected to doubt and scorn. Yet, despite everything, she makes a final stand to save the boy.
The confrontation unfolds in a dilapidated factory, where she enters with unwavering determination, devotion, and the support of her sole ally within the Church, Sister Michaela. In this moment, their camaraderie and trust seem to matter more than Church authority or doctrine. It is not institutional approval but their own resolve that drives them forward. The sisters are, quite literally, doing it for themselves.