But for the absence of a colon after the title’s first word, fans of The Conjuring and Annabelle movies could understandably be fooled into believing this to be yet another chapter in an apparently endless string of sequels and spinoffs. However, here we see the power of punctuation, as Conjuring the Beyond (written and directed by Calvin Morie McCarthy) has no connection to any of the aforementioned films whatsoever (apart from the word ‘conjuring’).

The cynic in me couldn’t help narrowing her eyes and wondering if this was simple coincidence, or a trickshot to lure viewers hungry for more of the possession productions in for a closer look. Even if it turned out to be the latter, it’s unlikely the result would be a disgruntled mass exodus of that section of the audience, because there’s nothing at first to suggest it wouldn’t be worth a go.

Wanda (Victoria Grace Borrello), young and recently divorced, is staying with her sister Gloria (Stephanie Leet) and Gloria’s husband Lucas (Neil Green), both of whom, unsympathetic (and more than a little condescending) about her struggles with anxiety and depression, are putting pressure on the poor girl to sort her life out. In an attempt to ease the tension, Wanda signs up for a sleep study (for those participating there’s a healthy cash incentive). Dr. Richard Pretorious (Steve Larkin) plans to hypnotise her and other willing participants Margo (Jax Kellington), Porter (Jon Meggison), and Theo (Tim Coyle) to induce sleep paralysis, then reverse the process; the aim being to find a way to overcome something that’s in reality a genuinely terrifying experience for many.

Things begin go out of control somewhat when everyone starts reporting identical sleep experiences, then more so when one by one they start vanishing without a trace. Unfortunately, since it takes almost half the film (and that mainly consisting of some of the most overdramatic acting I’ve ever witnessed) to reach this point, nobody could be blamed for already having given it up as a bad job (especially if you were under the illusion that it was another of The Conjuring series).

I watched it to the end and I actually didn’t think it was that bad. The issues for me were mainly confined to disorganised pacing, cringey acting, and a rather confused plotline. Whilst I found most of the characters underdeveloped and overplayed, I rather took to Dr. Pretorious, although that may just be because I’m a bit of a weirdo who likes strange characters. He added a dash of colour to an otherwise uniformly grey and rather annoying cast, anyway. The dream sequences, whilst late to the show and rather brief, weren’t badly presented, and the hag creature all the dreamers were seeing, while largely unseen by us except for glimpses, creeped me out quite nicely with the noise it made. Rather Grudge-like in general, really.

Overall, Conjuring the Beyond is a bit of a confusing struggle between a collection of promising ideas, and the technicalities of getting the flow and characters sorted out. Too little happens for too long a time, then it’s like a college student cramming the night before the big exam (possibly during filming they realised too late that time was running out or something).  Not great, but certainly not worth the roasting it’s had in other reviews.