The True Story Of The Nun: Who Is Valak?
1. The Nun Is Not Based On A True Story
While there is a demon Valac in ancient texts, along with a Beelzebub that some sources have identified similarities with, unlike The Conjuring films and bits of the Annabelle movies, The Nun is not based on a true story.
Instead it is inspired by the 1986 Sean Connery film The Name of the Rose, which sees a fictional friar and his apprentice travel to a Benedictine abbey in Northern Italy to inquire upon the mysterious death of a beloved monk believed to have been wasted by – who else – the Devil.
Although The Nun’s plot is entirely fabricated, the depicted Romanian monastery is based on a real home to monks. Shot on location, the real-life Carta Monastery was founded in the 1200s in Southern Transylvania, and now functions as a Lutheran Evangelical church that Father Time has been unkind to.
Admittedly, not being based on a true story does make it sound less spine-chilling, but Warner Bros. have promised that The Nun is the darkest chapter yet, and after the demon sister paralysed audiences with fear back in 2016, her return to the big screen is sure to be another spooky entry in The Conjuring universe.