The Conjuring: Last Rites review

THE CONJURING: LAST RITES:

ED AND LORRAINE WARREN’S DECENT FINAL CHAPTER OF HORROR FRANCHISE! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

WARNER BROS. PICTURES AND NEW LINE CINEMA

Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga in The Conjuring: Last Rites

 

            Patrick Wilson (Watchmen, Insidious franchise, Aquaman 1 and 2) and Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air, Source Code, Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)) return as paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren for the last time in The Conjuring: Last Rites, the fourth installment of the Conjuring film series and ninth (Tenth if you count The Curse of La Llorona) overall in The Conjuring Universe. The first Conjuring movie released back in 2013 was quite an unexpected surprise when I went to see it as I thought it was going to be a generic horror movie that’s nothing but jump scares, not the case at all as it was a solidly crafted and genuinely suspenseful haunted house movie with fun, creepy scares and surprisingly captivating characters. 

            A lot of people felt the same way as it was a huge critical and commercial hit thus spawning a cinematic universe consisting of three Annabelle films, two Nun films, and The Curse of La Llorona plus two direct sequels in 2016 and 2021. Which brings us to Ed and Lorraine Warren’s final case with Michael Chaves who directed the third Conjuring film in 2021, The Devil Made Me Do It as well as 2019’s The Curse of La Llorona and 2023’s The Nun IIreturning as director and Wilson and Farmiga reprising their roles. 

            I haven’t been that impressed by Chaves’ Conjuring outings with The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do Itand The Nun II being alright at best albeit forgettable while The Curse of La Llorona I didn’t see for the longest time and now I can say it’s the absolute worst of the Conjuring Universe films. Needless to say, I was a little concerned with the fourth Conjuring movie especially in this time where Zach Cregger’s Weapons is currently the hot horror film out in theaters right now. 

            So, how does The Conjuring: Last Rites hold up? Honestly, it ain’t bad! I do think it pales in comparison to the first two Conjuring movies and even the second Annabelle film from 2017 nor does it offer much new to the franchise. With that said, I found myself enjoying my time in the theater with this entry more so than the third film, I also saw it in IMAX which was pretty neat and it was one of those IMAX releases where the aspect ratio changes during certain scenes. 

            The film is set in 1986 and Ed (Wilson) and Lorraine (Farmiga) Warren have since retired from ghost investigating with their daughter, Judy (Mia Tomlinson-The Lost Pirate Kingdom, The Beast Must Die; replacing Sterling Jerins from the previous three films and Mckenna Grace from Annabelle Comes Home) about to be married. But when a family gains possession of a creepy old mirror, a terrifying spirit from Ed and Lorraine’s past resurfaces that calls them and Judy for some mysterious reason back to it in a glorious and frightening final exorcism. 

            The film also stars Ben Hardy (EastEnders, X-Men: Apocalypse, Bohemian Rhapsody) as Judy’s fiancé Tony Spera, Rebecca Calder (Altar, Wrath of Man, Memory) as Janet Smurl, Elliot Cowan (Alexander, Krypton, Black Cake) as Jack Smurl, Kíla Lord Cassidy (The Doorman, The Wonder, Salvable) as Heather Smurl, Beau Gadsdon (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, The Crown, Here) as Dawn Smurl, Peter Wright (Early Doors, Hot Fuzz, Mr. Turner) as Grandpa Smurl, Kate Fahy (Defiance, Doctors, Casualty) as Grandma Smurl, John Brotherton (One Life to Live, Furious 7, Fuller House) reprising his role as Brad Hamilton, and Shannon Kook (Degrassi: The Next Generation, The 100, Reacher) reprising his role as Drew Thomas. 

            Overall, The Conjuring: Last Rites gives exactly what it advertises and for those who have been fans of this franchise since 2013, that might be enough for them. Like I said earlier, it doesn’t really do anything new and hits familiar beats from other Conjuring movies, but it’s done well enough and it ends Ed and Lorraine’s story on a relatively strong note. 

            There are some genuinely creepy and suspenseful scenes in this movie and it isn’t just jump scare after jump scare. The movie finally shows why a demon’s vessel can’t just be destroyed and the results are absolutely horrifying and a lot of the scares are reminiscent of classic haunted house movies with the music, sound design, and editing. 

            There’s a really cool shot where the camera swoops around the house when a character gets possessed by the spirit and zooms right into a room that I just loved and looked incredible on the IMAX screen, reminded me a lot of horror and suspense movies from the 1970s or 1980s where they would do camera tricks like that. There’s also a phenomenal sequence involving a VHS tape and a character having to pause it at just the right moment to see the ghost that is legitimately chilling and one of the most unique horror movie scenes I’ve seen in a while. 

But you still have your classic jump scares and possessed people chewing the scenery and for the most part they’re executed well. Thankfully they aren’t annoying like in some of the other Conjuring Universe films because this one remembers the eerie buildup thus making them more effective. 

            The movie also handles its characters well and makes you legit care about them, Ed now has a heart condition where he could potentially die from a heart attack which adds extra urgency to when spooky things start to appear. The family dynamic between the Warrens and Judy’s fiancé is very strong and I initially thought the fiancé character was going to be an obnoxious, one-note character, but they made him very likable at times quite funny. 

            Ironically the Warrens’ dynamic kind of upstages the family seeking their help because most of them are very secondary aside from maybe the daughter that was gifted the scary mirror. At least she was given something to do in the story. 

            The Conjuring: Last Rites doesn’t live up to The Conjuring (2013) or The Conjuring 2, but out of Michael Chaves’ outings with the series, this is easily the best one he’s done. It’s a fun, throwback to early-Conjuring and classic haunted house scares with decent character development and tons of creepy scenes that should satisfy fans of the franchise.