The dark and Gothic fifth installment of The Conjuring series hit theaters in the U.S. on September 7th. Following a great deal of hype, The Nun grossed $53 million in its opening week despite disappointing its fans.

The movie begins with an enticing start. Two nuns at the Carta Monastery in rural Romania in 1952 are stalked by an eerie tall figure disguised as a nun. The first sister is killed off by the menacing presence before handing a key to sister Victoria, the surviving nun, and telling her to escape. Sister Victoria then runs to the balcony of the castle and ties a noose around her neck and jumps off to avoid being caught by the pursuing demonic nun.

Following the suicide, the Vatican sends Father Burke, an experienced miracle seeker, and Sister Irene, a nun who has yet to take her vows, to investigate the matter and find proof of any supernatural or unearthly phenomenon. They are also accompanied by a traveler and villager, Frenchie, who escorts them to the abandoned castle.

After spending a couple of nights in the creepy monastery, the trio discover the dark secrets that lie within the abbey, including a portal to hell that was used to summon Valak (the infamous demonic nun). They learn that all the other nuns who once inhabited the abbey and held prayers to keep the evil at bay have been killed off. It is now up to Sister Irene, Father Burke, and Frenchie to seal the gate to hell and prevent Valak from leaking out into the outside world.

Although the movie contained many dark elements, including the dark cloistered setting and lack of sunlight, it did not deliver any real scares. Instead The Nun was way too reliant on jump scares, with one popping up every other minute.

These cheap form of thrills could scare anyone. If a room turns really quite and all of a sudden something 1000 decibels louder pops up, its going to alarm you whether its a demonic nun or even a puppy. The movie itself wasn’t scary — in fact we are so exposed to Valak from seeing it in previous installments that the demonic nun itself doesn’t look frightening.

Furthermore, the plot contains several holes. To begin, everyone in surrounding villages of the abbey in Romania know something is up with this place. The surrounding area is littered with crosses, animals don’t like going near it, and the few secluded nuns that once inhabited the place are dead. Yet the Vatican doubts there is an unholy presence there and only sends 2 people to investigate.

Not only that, but the nuns and priests that once shut the gate to hell that lied in the castle used the blood of Christ. So you’re telling me that the blood of Jesus Christ, who lived thousands of years ago in the Middle East, is kept in a bottle in a random castle in Romania? It would have made much more sense if the characters had to retrieve such a holy relic from the Vatican and brought it over to perform the exorcism.

Of course, a movie is entitled to create its own events, fiction or nonfiction, but The Nun went way over the edge of reality for a movie that is supposed to be in a series loosely based on true events.

As a longtime fan of The Conjuring series, this movie was not what I expected it to be. Though it was entertaining and Gothic in tone and nature, The Nun was overtly Christian, with many many references to the Bible, Catholicism, and hundreds of crosses in each scene. It also relied too much on cheap thrills. It simply lacked the nonfictional portrayal of events that made the other movies in the series seem real and genuinely scary.

Aside from its flaws, The Nun truly lived up to be the darkest chapter in the Conjuring series. None of its predecessors achieved such a dark tone or were able to keep the audience in dead silence every minute of the movie. And considering I went to the 9:45 pm show, the movies chilling atmosphere made it a great nighttime watch. And it was entertaining seeing loads of frightened people around me sink into their seats anticipating another jump scare.

The ending to The Nun did a great job tying together The Conjuring universe together. It cuts back to a presentation the infamous paranormal researchers Ed and Lorraine Warren were giving in the first movie and shows that the disturbing sight Lorraine saw while exorcising Maurice — who ends up being Frenchie several years into the future — was indeed Valak.

Despite its flaws, I was kept at the edge of my seat curious to see what would happen next. So overall, I would rate The Nun with 2.5 out of 5 stars. I had fun watching the movie even if it wasn’t what I expected, and would go back to see another sequel in this demonic series any day.