My wife and I are big fans of the Conjuring (and Insidious) universe, having seen every movie in each franchise, and fully admitting there have been some chapters of hot garbage, but we don't care.

This was not hot garbage. In fact, the commitment to capturing the time period, the setup, and the actors, all superbly done.

The fault, however, was it got too messy as things took off, with three sub-spooks going on at any given time, and those spooks all playing a game of Calvinball. Calvinball, in case you don't know the game, is a game where the rules just make themselves up as the game goes on; how do you combat a ghost? A flashlight will do for some, a guitar might do for others. This prevents any tension from really grabbing hold since you don't know the stakes, and because the spooks are told through three different moments, you're left wondering what the other character has been doing all this time? (I've come to terms with the fact that the spooks must muffle everything in the room so nobody outside can hear it).

Other than that, wow. I was expecting a... what is this, a midquel? Whatever, I was expecting the 70th installment of this universe (that wasn't directed by Wan himself) to be crap, and it wasn't. Consider me pleased!