The Conjuring universe is probably one of the more respected film universes as many are constantly interested in spin-offs and sequels for some of the film’s characters. Films like Annabelle: Creation and the original The Conjuring brought some fresh scares with interesting mystery, while films like Annabelle didn’t really get much of anything. Unfortunately, the universe’s latest entry, The Nun falls in the latter as it doesn’t do much of anything that made the other films great. As a matter of fact, it has much more in common with a typical slasher movie that anything in The Conjuring universe.

The Nun actually has much more humor than scares, but the humor isn’t too bad. It comes off as refreshing at times and gives audiences a break from the dark and gloomy atmosphere the film has. However, this does lead to some groan-worthy one-liners and some out of place jokes that take away from the scary moments of certain scenes.

Characters also fall in line with teens at a summer camp as they constantly make very odd and just plain stupid decisions. More often than not, characters split up for no reason and seem very eager to die as they curiously always look in places after seeing ghosts or hearing noises. There isn’t any sort of thought in their head that they might be making a fatal choice.

The performances by American Horror Story alum, Taissa Farmiga, and Demian Bichir are pretty good, but definitely don’t break any sort of expectations for The Conjuring series.  Their characters have an interesting chemistry and bring something a little different from the other films. But, these are brought down by the film’s trope filled nature and the odd decision they make.

The Nun, herself also lacks interest as the film goes deeper into her backstory and origin. She has a major presence in the beginning with an ominous score playing with her appearance and a stalking nature that builds a lot of great suspense. The film also has a connection to the other film’s that can feel a little, but is a little bit interesting to the overall mythos.

Unfortunately, her presence dies down a bit as the film goes on as she is muddled with a convoluted backstory that will confuse audiences. Not to mention, the film relies much more on jump scares than some of the creepy imagery and tones that are ultimately under used.

It’s unfortunate too as the film’s setting is actually interesting and does boast some truly creepy things. It has a fairly dominant atmosphere and does have a deeper mystery to it. If used more, it could’ve provoked a tenseness that the film so desperately needed, but this isn’t the case with The Nun.

So even though The Conjuring universe has mostly had hits in its lineup, The Nun doesn’t fall into that denotation. It’ll have audiences laughing much more than screaming and that’s not what you want to say with a film claiming to be “the darkest chapter” in The Conjuring universe. This isn’t to say that other films won’t be made, but it’s very doubtful that we will see The Nun in another outing anytime soon.

Watch the trailer here: