Sister Death (2023)

Day 31 of Sobriety.

 

Sister Death is a prequel to Spanish director Paco Plaza’s 2017 film about haunting and possession Verónica, which I have seen, but only very vaguely remember. The nun, named Narcisa, around whom this film revolves features in Verónica as an elderly blind nun whose own experience of the supernatural resulted in her intentionally blinding herself. This film covers that back-story.

The film begins in 1949, with Narcisa arriving at a convent, which is also an orphanage and school for girls orphaned in the second world war. Narcisa has had visions of the Virgin Mary since she was a child, and begins having supernatural experiences of a more sinister nature soon after arriving at the convent, and she learns from the young girls in her charge that the place is haunted.

 

The first three-quarters of the film is a slow-burn build-up of Narcisa’s unsettling experiences, and it's quite effective. Nothing really new, but well enough executed, with some genuinely creepy moments. As is often the case with horror films, though, it sags considerably in the last quarter, when the mysteries are explained, the plot points are all tied up, and in this case, the links with the preceding film are neatly shoehorned in. I enjoyed most of my time with Sister Death, but the ending left me feeling a bit empty.

 

Aria Bedmar, the actress who plays Narcisa does a fine job, as do the rest of the cast, including the children. The setting of the convent was also very nicely shot. Other than the lackluster ending, one thing that I didn’t really like about the film was the soundtrack. It has a largely electronic soundtrack, which often veers into the territory of what could be almost described as techno or dance music at several key scenes. While I often appreciate soundtrack that try something innovative, in this case I personally found that it significantly detracted from the film’s atmosphere.

 A personal aside: prior to watching the movie, I was out in a bar with friends for the first time since I stopped drinking. Even more challenging: it was to attend a very boozy live music event, with—horror of horrors—a free bar. I didn’t really know anyone there, and was not really enjoying the event at all. Previously, getting drunk in order to relax and somehow enjoy myself would have been so simple—a no-brainer. It was perhaps the most challenging few hours I have had since kicking the booze, but I managed to get through it without caving-in to temptation. I couldn’t wait to get home, be by myself, and lose myself in a movie. This actually causes me some concern, as it makes me wonder if my sobriety is not, in fact, very fragile indeed: easy enough to sustain when I am cloistered on my own in front of my TV, but very precarious when out in the world amongst other people and temptation. That is something I am going to have to be careful about, and also practice and get used to.