"People wanted more violence," Chaves told EW.

"There was already a good degree of violence and gore in the movie, but people wanted more of it," he said.

He said: "So, we did a little bit of additional photography and we ramped that up. It just goes to show how audiences are always changing, evolving. Even in the earliest version, it was more [violent] than what was in your traditional Conjuring movie."

The filmmaker said he felt glad in adding more violence to the movie as demanded by the audience.

He said: "I think horror audiences have been on this journey, this horror renaissance, where they've seen a lot of horror movies, they've seen a lot of violence. It's something they wanted more of and we gladly gave it."

The Nun II did an estimated $13M after its release on September 8 in the USA, and is expected to rake in $31M-$34M from 3,728 theaters on the opening weekend, according to a Deadline report.

Chaves gained fame as the director of The Curse of La Llorona and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.

The Nun II serves as a sequel to The Nun (2018) and the ninth installment in The Conjuring Universe franchise.

The film stars Taissa Farmiga, Jonas Bloquet and Bonnie Aarons, returning from the first film, with Storm Reid and Anna Popplewell joining the cast.

Peter Safran and James Wan reprised their roles as producers.