The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025)

DIRECTED BY

Michael Chaves

STARRING

Vera Farmiga - Lorraine Warren 

Patrick Wilson - Ed Warren 

Mia Tomlinson - Judy Warren 

Ben Hardy - Tony Spera 

Rebecca Calder - Janet Smurl 

Elliot Cowan - Jack Smurl 

Shannon Kook - Drew Thomas 

Steve Coulter - Father Gordon 

Genre: Horror/Supernatural/Demons

Running Time: 135 Minutes

PLOT

Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren take on one last terrifying case involving mysterious entities, from their past, they must confront.

REVIEW

For 12 years, THE CONJURING franchise has thrived through 4 main films and 6 spinoffs to varying degrees of quality. Despite the controversies behind the real life personas, the film characters of Ed and Lorraine Warren have become beloved figures in the horror genre this century. I also enjoyed watching Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga play these characters, as they bring a lot of heart into their performances by keeping things grounded within a supernatural world.

However, the last CONJURING installment [THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT] really soured me on this franchise. It was boring. The premise felt tired. Turning The Warrens into the Benson and Stabler of the series took away what made the characters endearing to begin with. To say that I wasn’t excited about a new CONJURING film was an understatement. But here I am, discussing what’s being sold as the “final” installment of the main series - THE CONJURING: LAST RITES. Never believe anything studios sell you when it comes to horror that uses the words “last” or “final” because they don’t mean a damn thing. And considering that LAST RITES has become one of the most successful horror films in recent memory, almost breaking records at the box office, I doubt this will be the last we’ll see of the Warrens.

But is the film any good?

LAST RITES begins in the 1960s as a young Ed and pregnant Lorraine take on a case involving a cursed mirror. The mirror messes with Lorraine so badly that she ends up going into labor. At first, the baby is stillborn. But once Lorraine begins to pray for the baby to come back, the baby cries and Judy is officially here.

The film moves 20 years into the 1980s, where an adult Judy is starting to have her own premonitions that worry Lorraine. Meanwhile, the Smurl family from Pennsylvania buy a gift for one of their daughters who just completed her confirmation ceremony. The gift happens to be the cursed mirror from decades ago, now ready to terrorize a new family as well as lure the Warrens to finish what it started years ago.

The positives:

Despite what I think of any of the main CONJURING films, you can’t go wrong with the strong cast. Both Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga can play Ed & Lorraine Warren in their sleep at this point, maintaining their incredibly strong chemistry and grounding the film with their charisma and heart into their roles. I liked that the two actors got to play more familial roles this time around, allowing Wilson and Farmiga to portray concerned parents and spouses. Lorraine’s worry about losing her only daughter to evil, while also juggling concern for Ed’s heart condition allows both to play different beats from the other three installments. There seems to be actual stakes this time around, which strengthened their performances I felt.

The addition of Mia Tomlinson as an older Judy Warren is a great casting choice, as she carries the role with the right amount of depth the screenplay allows her to have. She has nice chemistry with Wilson and Farmiga, while playing so many different emotional beats - from fear, to passion, and to a certain amount of malice towards the end of the film. Ben Hardy gets less to do as Judy’s boyfriend Tony, but he carries his own against the other three main actors. He plays the role of the audience very well, learning about what the Warrens have been doing for decades and slowly helping them in the family business.

The actors who play the Smurl Family do a nice job as well, but they’re not given a ton other than arguing with each other and/or reacting to the supernatural stuff around them. But they’re fine. And it’s always nice to see returning actors like Steve Coulter, John Brotherton, Shannon Kook and other familiar faces from previous films in this “last” installment. I appreciate it as a fan of continuity.

I also felt that this is Michael Chaves’ best film as a director, as he seems to finally have the confidence to make some bold choices and visualizes the groundedness and the scares equally well. The special effects look good and the pacing is better here than it was in THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT. I feel like Chaves took the criticism of the last installment and turned it around by making LAST RITES feel more in tone with the first and best CONJURING film. If you’re going to be James Wan-lite, you could do a lot worse than Chaves’ visual presentation here.

And as an 80s fanatic, I loved the soundtrack and needledrops here. 

Negatives:

Even though I do believe there will be another CONJURING installment despite the title, considering how much money it has made already, let’s be honest: this main series feels tired after four movies. It feels like the same film as the first one, but less quality each time. Same beats, similar threats with a predictable conclusion - do we really need to see more of these? Say what you want about slasher films. But I can tell you the difference between SCREAM and SCREAM 2 or A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET from A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS. Same beats and formulaic, sure. But slasher sequels usually bring something new to each installment. Besides a different cursed object or villain, what’s the difference in terms on how these movies are presented? Yes, LAST RITES is a better movie than THE DEVIL MAY ME DO IT because it feels more in line with the first two films. But that’s kind of the issue here. It feels like something I’ve seen before but in “light flavor”.

I also couldn’t really connect or care about the supporting characters in this film. This refers mainly to the Smurl Family, who just feel like a Temu version of the family in the first CONJURING. The two older daughters are pretty interchangeable. Same goes to the two younger daughters. The father and mother aren’t all that interesting or charismatic. The grandparents are just there to be fodder later on. I knew nothing of these people other than that they were being messed with by whatever demon was possessing that mirror.

And as much as I like Tomlinson’s and Hardy’s performances, their characters could have used more depth as well. While better than the Smurls, I think I needed more time to see their love story and their connection to Ed and Lorraine. It’s obvious Judy and Tony are being propped up to become the new main characters in the franchise going forward if there are more, Maybe we’ll get more personality and depth for them whenever that happens. But as of now, I don’t really need to follow these two new characters in more installments even though it could work if done right.

And while Michael Chaves does a better job here, the film does have some pacing issues. When the film doesn’t focus on the Warrens, which is more than you think, LAST RITES becomes less interesting to watch. And the film isn’t remotely scary or creepy. I still think THE CONJURING 2 is tops with that due to the presence of The Nun. Having Chaves direct this film as if it were a James Wan film just makes you realize how much better Wan is at creating this kind of film. 

And out of the four threats, this cursed mirror is probably the least threatening honestly. Yes, it hurts some people and even emotionally traumatizes the Warrens due to Judy’s troubled birth during their first encounter with the object. And yes, the idea of having an evil version of your reflection attack you can be creepy. But it doesn’t do a whole lot until the last act of the film and is solved pretty easily by the end, all things considered. I think the lamp in AMITYVILLE 4: THE EVIL ESCAPES is more threatening.

THE FINAL HOWL

The best thing I can say about THE CONJURING: LAST RITES is that it’s at least better than the last installment, THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT by a good amount. LAST RITES is a more cohesive film with stronger performances by Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga and the rest of the cast. Wilson and Farmiga can play these roles in their sleep and they’re wonderful in this sequel. Michael Graves’ direction is light years better than the previous sequel, giving us James Wan-lite for the most part. And if it’s, indeed, the final installment of the main series, the film wraps things up nicely. 

But I felt the supporting characters [other than The Warrens] weren’t all that interesting enough to care about, the scares are barely there and it just feels like the same ol’, same ol’ with this franchise by this point. And considering how much money this movie has already made [and good for horror for raking in that box office cash this year], let’s be honest with ourselves - nothing about THE CONJURING: LAST RITES will be the “last” for this main series, as I can see Judy Warren and her partner Tony Spera becoming the main focus going forward. It’s a fine enough sequel but there will most likely be more. If you don’t believe that, I have a cursed mirror I’d like to sell you for cheap.

SCORE

2.5 Howls Outta 4

(6 out of 10)