Although South African audiences don’t traditionally support horror films, there’s rarely a shortage of them at cinemas or on home release. Over the past few months, three female-fronted genre releases (two of them featuring the lesser-spotted older woman protagonist) have become available for download, streaming and traditional DVD purchase.

Out of The Nun, Winchester and Insidious: The Last Key, which is worth your time? The answer may not be what you expect.

The greatest strength of The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2 is that the main characters of these two haunted house/demonic possession tales – real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga – are so likeable. In-between the seen-it-all-before demon taunts and earth-shaking exorcisms, they’re given the time and space to feel like a real, loving couple. They’re warm-hearted people committed to doing the right thing, in authentic-looking throwback settings.

So, of course, last year’s spin-off prequel The Nun completely ignores those strengths. Instead, it trots out a painfully repetitive series of clichés for 96 minutes as it delves into the origins of Valak, the nun-cosplaying demon that dominated The Conjuring 2 – and instantly became a contemporary horror icon.

The Nun actually looks and feels cheap – where the audience is supposed to be terrified by someone striding up and down cloister corridors in a habit, with a balaclava pulled over their features. This happens at least four times. But, hey, The Nun is the most financially successful of the movies in the Conjuring universe and it made box office records in South Africa.

There is literally one good idea in the film, which is that constant sacrosanct prayer is used for centuries to keep a demon at bay. Meanwhile, leads Taissa Farmiga (Vera’s younger sister) and Demián Bichir strive valiantly in their sketched roles, although it’s strange that in the midst of the film’s spine-snapping narrative contortions, the filmmakers didn’t try to establish a link between Sister Irene here and Lorraine Warren given their resemblance to one another.

Despite the hype, The Nun is absolute trash – the epitome of lazy filmmaking as it coasts on its central concept. If you’re a Conjuring franchise fan, you’re likely to be possessed yourself by rage at the waste… and just how far the series has fallen into disgrace with this entry.