With the DCEU on its way out and MCU running on fumes, I think it’s time we discussing putting the Conjuring Universe out to pasture, too.

“The Nun II” is the sequel to the 2018 film, and the ninth installment of the Conjuring franchise. In the film, two young nuns (Taissa Farmiga and Storm Reid) who are tasked with stopping the same demon they faced before. Jonas Bloquet, Bonnie Aarons, Anna Popplewell, and Katelyn Rose Downey also star, while Michael Chaves, who had directed two previous Conjuring films, “The Curse of La Llorona” and “The Devil Made Me Do It,” directs here.

I’m not the biggest fan of the Conjuring movies, but in my defense most of them aren’t very good. They’re at their best when James Wan is in the director’s chair (he’s a producer on the ones he doesn’t helm) because he knows how to create atmosphere and let climaxes go off the rails. Michael Chaves has some fleeting moments where his direction mirrors Wan’s, but for the most part he isn’t able to create a film that is engaging to watch.

Taissa Farmiga isn’t as talented as her older sister and “Conjuring” Founding Mother Vera Farmiga, but she does a solid-enough job once more as the titular (I think?) nun. She has a good heart and gentle delivery, though you do believe she has the courage to face down a demon. The rest of the cast is…fine. I didn’t cringe, but they don’t exactly make a case for you to want to see them in anything again anytime soon.

My biggest issue with the Conjuring films, at least the bad ones (which to clarify, is most of them), is they treat their audiences like idiots. The film flashes back to events we’ve already seen, spoon-feed plot points that could easily be deduced, and zoom in on things that either move or are about to. I like when Wan and other horror directors (or directors in general) let audiences discover things on their own or trust them to connect narrative points, because when movies are put together like “The Nun II” it comes off as amateur at best, pandering at worst.

There are a few fleeting moments of fun once the demon gets unleashed, but one can’t help but imagine how much more unhinged it would be with Wan behind the camera. When the demon isn’t throwing people like rag dolls the film is dreadfully boring, taking far too long to get going and offering a plot held together by duct tape. There is a realization deep into the film that calls back to a comment made way back in the opening minutes and I audibly groaned; if these films knew what they were then maybe they’d be more fun, but they’re just so self-serious.

“The Nun II” is a bad installment of the Conjuring Universe, but what did you expect from the sequel to one of the worst installments of a not-very-good franchise? And it’s not even like it’s October and you can brush this off as a disposable spooky season romp; it was 90 degrees in most parts of the country this week! I don’t know, I jumped a few times (more reactionary than being creeped out) and smirked at a few of the kills, but those are things you can find in better movies, if not just a two-minute YouTube compilation; missing this one in theaters isn’t a sin you’ll have to repent for at confessional.

Critics Rating: 4/10