Starring Demián Bichir, Taissa Farmiga, and Jonas Bloquet

Directed by Corin Hardy

New Line, out now

When a nun commits suicide in a Romanian convent, the Vatican sends troubled priest (aren’t they all?) Father Burke and nun-in-waiting Sister Irene to investigate.

There was a show in the late 1960s starring a young Sally Field called The Flying Nun, which as a child I ridiculously assumed meant that she could fly unaided, like Superman, and not (as was the reality) in a plane. Ridiculous, right? And yet, when Bonnie Aarons’ eponymous evil nun was soaring across the water towards our heroes at the end of this clunker, I thought exactly the same. Ridiculous.

This being the most highly grossing of the Conjuring series of films to date, it will no doubt be seen as a great success financially, but it’s no better than the previously worst entry in the series, Annabelle. And what’s really frustrating is that it actually has a lot going for it on paper. The Nun herself appeared in fleeting glances in The Conjuring 2, and she was terrifying. Here, she’s reduced to a generic demon in a habit, looking with her blue-grey skin, glowing eyes, pinched cheekbones and pointy teeth like a relation of Mr Barlow from Tobe Hooper’s Salem’s Lot. In the shadows, she’s scary as hell, drag her out into the spotlight and she’s just a ‘monster of the week’ from Scooby-Doo or Kolchak.

The location filming in Romania is excellent, the buildings used for the convent and its environs all help increase the authenticity, and the period setting is also well-realised. Demian Bichir (Alien Covenant) as Father Burke and Taissa Farmiga (American Horror Story) as Sister Irene are also fine, but they are poorly served by a story that essentially just requires them to wander round a creepy dark graveyard, catacombs and corridors. There’s no attempt to ratchet up any suspense, with director Corin (The Hallows) Hardy misguidedly believing that multiple jump scares are a substitute for real tension.

The actual plot is also so simple that it belies belief – it would be a secondary or tertiary sub-plot elsewhere. I really like the two Conjuring movies and Annabelle: Creation, but this just feels like an under-nourished script with little to say. And the ending feels like it’s been crowbarred in just to connect it explicitly with the other movies. But what I still don’t understand is why they used the 20-years-younger sister of Vera Farmiga (Lorraine in this franchise) in a movie set 20 years before and yet there’s clearly no connection between the characters. Facially they are so similar, which in itself was confusing, or they just missed an obvious trick.

Verdict: The most disappointing entry yet in the Conjuring franchise, I really can’t see how such potential could be squandered so easily in this low-grade dud. Scary? Engaging? Clever? Nun of the above. 4/10

Nick Joy