The Netflix Spanish-language horror flick Sister Death continues a trend of scary movies with religion at their core, featuring more disturbing nun imagery and supernatural shenanigans in a 1940s convent. The story follows a young girl, who has had religious visions and comes to the attention of Sister Narcisa, who has also had similar experiences. As is often the case with religious-based content, there is an expectation that it may be based on real-life occurrences. Sister Death might not be a true story, but there are plenty of people who would believe it to be all the same.
These Blumhouse-style horrors rely on the usual tropes for precisely this reason — to pray on the beliefs, doubts, and fears of people for whom demons and devils are very real.
Sister Death is a work of fiction. Although it uses the imagery of religion and all the connotations that go along with it, the film itself is just another entertaining scary movie and isn’t based on a true story of any kind.
There does seem to be a trend that religious-based horror movies have their roots in real life. Perhaps after the advent of The Exorcist, possibly the greatest horror film ever made, and the revelations that the author based the film on real events, the idea has become so ingrained in the public’s psyche that whenever a film strays into that territory the automatic assumption is that the film must be based on a true story.
Sister Death follows the character of Sister Narcisa, who appears in the film Veronica, which was released in 2017 and directed by Paco Plaza, who is also behind Sister Death. Sister Narcisa connects both movies, making this film a prequel of sorts to the 2017 nun-based shocker.
The good news is, that you don’t need to watch that film to enjoy this one. If you have the time, it would probably make a good double bill if you like your scary movies. But don’t worry about watching Sister Death without the context of the previous entry.
Sister Death expands the character of Sister Narcisa and offers some background to the character that we meet in Veronica.
Who directed Sister Death?
Paco Plaza is behind Sister Death and the previous film, Veronica.
Paco Plaza | Image via Pau Gomez
If the name sounds familiar, then you might be thinking of Spanish shocker [Rec] and its sequels. The original was so well received that it was remade in the US as Quarantine.
The film Rec, a found footage film when the format was still quite new, is a horror fan favorite and has gained quite a reputation since its release in 2007.
Plaza would co-write and co-direct [Rec], and then [Rec] 2 in 2009 and [Rec] 3 in 2012, before introducing us to the world of haunted nuns in Veronica in 2017.
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