The Conjuring: Last Rites is the latest entry in the blockbuster horror franchise, and it has plenty of unnerving scares that don’t push the genre into unfamiliar territory. The ninth movie in the franchise, Last Rites pits the Warrens against a demon they encountered years before. While they may be wiser and more experienced, they also have more to lose.

Investigating the haunting of the Smurl family, the Warrens and the Smurls (as well as the audience) experience some pretty creepy touches punctuated by sudden scares or the occasional burst of violence. For audiences curious about the severity of scares they’re about to experience, here’s a handy guide to the type of horror featured in The Conjuring: Last Rites

The Conjuring Is Mostly About Slow Builds And Jump Scares

The Conjuring: Last Rites is a frightening new entry in the popular horror franchise, with a few grisly moments breaking up the standard series approach to atmosphere and jump scares. The Conjuring franchise has always relied more upon tension and jump scares rather than the kind of overt gore and mayhem that other horror series utilize.

This carries over to The Conjuring: Last Rites. The film opens with an early investigation by Ed and Lorraine before the events of the main series, before cutting ahead to their last case. While the film contains dark and scary elements, few of them are particularly gory (except for two notable exceptions).

Instead, the film largely relies on the same PG-13 approach to jump-scares and atmosphere that defined the earlier entries in the series. This means it never hits the grislier edges of the franchise that the R-rated The Nun and its sequel reached. It’s never really trying to, either, with most scares being sudden jump scares that characters escape from.

The Conjuring: Last Rites Is A Solid PG-13 For A Reason

There are some elements of The Conjuring: Last Rites that make it a bit more unnerving than other entries in the series, however. There are actually some bloody sH๏τs, especially during the climax. There’s also a big moment where the nature of the spirit is revealed through a lot of sudden blood.

It’s a bit gorier than the other Conjuring movies, but it doesn’t linger on the moments or reveal enough to go beyond a PG-13 rating. The darker moments also extended to three instances of self-harm that are shown in the film, playing into the influence of the demonic presence that serves as the film’s overarching villain.

These moments are used to heighten the tension of The Conjuring: Last Rites, raising the stakes for the investigation by making it clear this demon doesn’t hold back in a way that other demons don’t. There are some grim and tragic touches throughout the film that bristle against the more hopeful moments of the narrative.

That’s ultimately the core of this film, pitting the sudden twists and creepy atmosphere against the unity of the Warren family (even as they struggle with Judy’s visions or Tony’s growing place in their lives). The scares specifically isolate victims, leading to possessions and ghostly encounters.

While it has some inventive jump scares and creepy imagery, the latest film in the Conjuring series finds a happy medium between the gruesome elements of The Nun and the more restrained atmospheric scares of the Annabelle movies. The Conjuring: Last Rites has plenty of big scares, but only a few of them become especially gruesome or gory.