Warning: This review contains spoilers

The fifth movie taking place in “The Conjuring” universe, “The Nun,” was released on Sept. 7. “The Nun” is a prequel to the film, “The Conjuring 2,” showing the backstory of the haunting nun. Directed by Corin Hardy, “The Nun” is an embarrassment to “The Conjuring” universe.

“The Nun” takes place in 1952, at an abbey in Romania, where two nuns were disturbed by a strange spirit. The surviving nun, Sister Victoria (Charlotte Hope) ends up hanging herself out of the window. Soon, a young man, Frenchie (Jonas Bloquet) discovers the nun’s body and reports the incident. Then, Father Burke (Demián Bichir) and a novitiate, Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) are asked to investigate the unholy grounds. Upon arrival, Father Burke and Sister Irene are shown the dead corpse and find in her hand a strange key. They soon reveal a spirit that lies within the church, a demonic nun, Valak (Bonnie Aarons).

As the film continues, Sister Irene begins to have hallucinations and fearful visions of Valak. She ends up imagining other nuns inside the church, that end up telling her the history of how the demonic spirit came about. Sister Irene soon learns that the only way to save herself and Father Burke from Valak is to use the blood of Jesus Christ.

For jump scares to work in a horror film, there has to be built up tension. But “The Nun” lacks that classic horror movie suspense. For this film, the dripping blood, the Cross of Saint Peter, graveyard scenes and all the other horror cliches were not enough to consider this movie truly scary. The plot line also moved very slowly, making it hard for the audience to stay interested. The film did more talking about the backstory than it did showing the viewers. There was very little action throughout the movie, then it was all jammed into the last 20 minutes.

The connection aspect between the two movies was not straightforward and was kind of hidden at the end, making it somewhat confusing as to why “The Nun” was even necessary to make.

“The Conjuring 2” had set high standards for this prequel, and is a must-see for all horror movie lovers. But “The Nun” just did not meet those expectations. Horror movie fans will be let down and disappointed with the final outcome of a film they have been waiting to see. While it could have been portrayed much better than it actually was, fans of “The Conjuring” universe are left with a unfulfilled mindset.

While “The Nun” was a letdown, “The Conjuring” and “The Conjuring 2” are must-sees for all horror movie lovers. They provide truly scary and suspenseful moment, that do not just rely on a badly portrayed jumpscare. “The Nun” was a good attempt at this concept, but just fell short of many scary aspects.

Rating: 1/5 stars