A habit has never been as dangerous as this.
If current horror movies are telling us anything, it’s that nuns aren’t going away anytime soon. The latest horror release, Immaculate, plunges Sydney Sweeney into a hellish convent for a fright-fest that cements her crown as a new “Scream Queen.” This comes after the success of another nunsploitation horror movie, last year’s The Nun II, from the Conjuring franchise. Nuns and horror are a match made in heaven hell, and this holy combination hasn’t just been reserved for movies. 12 years ago, American Horror Story trapped viewers and characters in Briarcliff Manor, a mental institution where science and faith met for monstrous results in its second season, Asylum. Men cause much of the violence within the grimy walls, but two corrupt nuns emerge to reign over Briarcliff, played by Jessica Lange and Lily Rabe. The actresses are key players in American Horror Story, and like the best entries in the blasphemous subgenre of nunsploitation, Lange and Rabe get to be sinful in ways that can be diabolical and tragic.
‘American Horror Story: Asylum’ Delivers Religious Horror
Set in 1964 Massachusetts, Asylum is an onslaught of torment. The New England setting brings grey days that seem even gloomier behind Briarcliff Manor’s locked doors and barred windows. Stepping through the entrance brings staff and visitors to a spiraling staircase that goes up a few stories, coined the “Stairway to Heaven.” But there is little comfort to be felt in this place. Once a tuberculosis hospital, it has since been taken over by the Catholic Church. Sister Jude (Lange) rules over it, the right-hand woman to Monsignor Howard (Joseph Fiennes), who believes science and faith can be blended to produce miracles for the patients. In the eyes of Jude, however, she views everyone but Howard as a sinner.
Jessica Lange’s Sister Jude Is More Than a Strict Nun
Sister Jude clings to her religion to hide her secrets. Not only does she devoutly admire Monsignor Howard, but she can lose herself momentarily in fantasizing about him. And how could she not? He whispers to her (even though they’re alone) over dinner, increasing the intimacy of the conversation as he shares his wish to become the pope and bring Jude along on his ascent. “You’d enjoy Rome,” he says, “Wouldn’t you, Sister?” Richard Einhorn’s angelic music plays when Jude imagines revealing the red lingerie she wears under her habit and feeling the Monsignor’s hands on her. The forbidden desire in this scene is a salacious and sensual nod to the season’s influence of nunsploitation.
Out of Jessica Lange’s roles on AHS, Jude is her best one, as she has the most intricate and complete arc. We learn that Jude was an alcoholic lounge singer, who committed a hit-and-run and found her faith in a quick effort to repent her sins. She hardens herself to repress all of her regrets, but she struggles to maintain her sobriety as forces within Briarcliff, both human and supernatural, push her to the edge. Every time you think you have Sister Jude all figured out, both Lange and the plot add another layer of complexity to the character. As Lange’s Jude starts to crumble, Rabe gets to be a progressively domineering force.
The Devil Causes Trouble in “AHS: Asylum’
There is the real Mary Eunice, who is meek and lacks critical thinking. Innocent characters never fare well in horror, and Mary Eunice’s purity ends up turning her into an ideal vessel for the Devil to possess, using her faith as protection from getting exorcised. Once the character becomes Sister Devil-Mary Eunice, they happily bring death and chaos to the asylum. She murders a patient and a guard. She pushes a young girl to accept her murderous thoughts towards her family. And during all of this, the nun’s demeanor changes. Gone is the real Mary’s shyness or worry over not following orders. Rabe portrays the joy of the Devil’s freedom in being away from their infernal home, and it’s almost empowering to watch Mary Eunice take charge if it weren’t for the fact she’s possessed.
In other seasons, Rabe has played ghosts, fearful wives, and a Stevie Nicks-loving swamp witch. The anthology series hasn’t given her another chance to be just as menacing, and her time in Asylum gave American Horror Story one of its best villains. That’s the unhinged beauty of actors getting the chance to play the Devil; there’s no need to work on justifying their actions, they can be irredeemably evil. Slowly, Sister Devil-Mary begins to crack open Jude’s guilt to gain the upper hand on control over Briarcliff. The possessed nun aligns herself with Dr. Arthur Arden (Cromwell), and they work together to incite Sister Jude’s fall from grace.
Jessica Lange and Lily Rabe Play Very Different Monsters
Lange plays a great drunk, all wobbling movements and dazed eyes, but she successfully makes viewers pity Jude, who had once been an iron-fisted presence. As Briarcliff goes under the unholy rise of Sister Devil-Mary and Dr. Arden, Jude recognizes the dangers. She tries to redeem herself but is soon imprisoned within the walls she used to rule over. After electroshock therapy and solitary confinement, she is left in a deteriorated mental state. Lange portrays this as if her body is becoming fragile and she loses her grip on reality, imagining herself performing “The Name Game” in the common room (perhaps the most iconic scene out of the entire series). The musical number is full of vibrant costuming and staged choreography. It’s a far cry from Sister Devil-Mary’s song-and-dance number that taps into religious horror. She wears Jude’s red lingerie while “You Don’t Own Me” plays and, out of the habit, she struts around in front of a crucifix to further spite it.
The Bad Nuns of ‘American Horror Story’
Several men in Asylum are, for lack of a better word, demented. In public, Dr. Thredson (Zachary Quinto) is a well-meaning psychiatrist: in private, he’s the Bloody Face killer. Although Dr. Arden (James Cromwell) is no longer a Nazi, his inner darkness thrives in secret experiments on unlucky patients. Monsignor Howard isn’t blameless, he knows of Arden’s collection of human guinea pigs. These men are despicable; but for Arden and the Monsignor, they are also scared of the authority Jude and Mary Eunice command. This isn’t by accident, a typical fear in nunsploitation is seeing women behave as badly as men, if not worse. Monsignor Howard is afraid of freeing Jude and having her publicly reveal how much he knows of Briarcliff’s corruption. Dr. Arden is afraid of Sister Devil-Mary, once enraptured by her purity, now disturbed by her cruelty.
It’s only fitting the endings for each nun then include religious themes. Mary Eunice cannot be exorcised, her human body must die to be cleansed from the Devil. She is thrown off the top of Briarcliff’s self-proclaimed “Stairway to Heaven,” a look of peace over Lily Rabe’s face as her habit flutters in the air. The Devil is again a fallen angel, plummeting down until Sister Mary Eunice hits the floor with a sickening thud. Jude meets a less violent fate. Evan Peter’s kindhearted Kit takes Jude out of Briarcliff and helps her recuperate. She spends her final months happier than she has ever been. On her deathbed, she accepts a kiss from the Angel of Death (Frances Conroy) in a stylized and beautiful scene, the ex-nun finding peace only after receiving Kit’s forgiveness.
While these nuns could be instigators of the men who left nightmarish damage behind, Sister Jude and Sister Mary Eunice were just as destructive.Asylum wouldn’t be the last season to emphasize gritty plots over campy ones, but this installment feels the darkest, thanks to it being nestled in between the sunny LA-set Season 1 and the humid New Orleans of Season 3. Jude and Mary Eunice were the dark sisters who lived up to the promise this franchise made when it revealed itself to be an anthology, allowing returning actors to step into very different characters from their last. And it’s abundantly clear that both actresses reveled in their roles as nuns who wreak unholy havoc.
