Directed by Michael Chaves — Screenplay by Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, and David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick.
We’ve come a long way since the first film about the demonologist duo and married couple Ed and Lorraine Warren, The Conjuring, from director James Wan. Depending on whether you count The Curse of La Llorona, there are now nine or ten films in the film series, with its reported conclusion, 2025’s The Conjuring: Last Rites, serving as the dot at the end of the sentence. Like with The Curse of La Llorona, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and The Nun 2, this latest film is directed by Michael Chaves, who, despite receiving mixed reviews for his films, has long been positioned as the heir apparent to James Wan (The Conjuring; Insidious; Saw). Chaves has failed in his attempts to reach the height of his mentor’s films, and, in the process of trying to continue Wan’s work in this connected universe of films, has turned in, at best, merely lukewarm films. Does the purported conclusion to the story of the Warrens improve things for Chaves? Well, his latest film still cannot hold a candle to Wan’s Conjuring films, but, to Chaves’ credit, I think this is his most entertaining film yet.
Mostly set in 1986, Michael Chaves’ The Conjuring: Last Rites once again follows Ed (played by Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (played by Vera Farmiga) as they have now effectively retired from paranormal investigations and are receiving noticeably smaller crowds for their lectures. For Ed’s birthday, Judy (played by Mia Tomlinson), Ed and Lorraine’s daughter, has brought along her boyfriend Tony (played by Ben Hardy), who seeks the approval of the Warrens in more ways than one. Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania-based Smurl family is experiencing numerous violent paranormal events following the purchase of a mysterious mirror. When they eventually seek out the Warrens’ help, Ed and Lorraine realize that this latest event is connected to their past.
Although the real-life Warrens are regarded as controversial figures by many, their fictional, ‘based on a true story’ on-screen counterparts played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are some of the horror genre’s most beloved characters. Since first appearing on-screen together, Wilson and Farmiga have brought a charm to these films that has made it easy to become emotionally invested in both their human and paranormal business. Chaves, as well as writers Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, and David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, know this very well. In fact, most of the runtime in the latest film is spent on the family. On the one hand, I enjoyed this. Seeing Wilson and Farmiga on screen together again is always a treat, as their portrayals make you feel warm. However, structurally, this film suffers from giving us too big a portion of it. The film is not only unevenly paced, but the first act of the film overshadows the rest of it. When the Warrens eventually make their way to the Smurl family, it almost feels like the film would need to rush things to cross the finish line in time. Indeed, there are things about this film that do feel rushed. When the haunted house horror hijinks kick into high gear, everything is resolved in a way that feels too easy. I will say that the film does a decent-enough job of communicating that the film is really about facing your demons head-on rather than running away from them, but it’s almost like the film forgets to properly explain the backstory for the demon (though the Warrens’ connection to the demon is set up in an intense prologue, we don’t really know much about the demon once the film is over) while setting up the sentimental way things are wrapped up.
Structural issues aside, the film does do a good job of saying farewell to the characters in a way that feels sweet. There are moments here with Wilson and Farmiga that earn smiles and will make the most die-hard fans of this franchise feel satisfied as the film’s closing credits begin (there are even notable cameos). Indeed, I found it to be mostly really enjoyable and entertaining. As a horror film, it sticks closer to the Conjuring formula than The Devil Made Me Do It did. Here, we actually have a family in peril in a haunted home, which, though arguably generic, feels more right for these types of films. As for the horror, it is quite serviceable. Some moments harken back to what the franchise started off with, like playful set-ups in a family home (e.g., pulling on the telephone cord). There are fairly effective jump-scares to be found (as was made evident by the loud and quite funny reactions by some of my fellow theatergoers), sometimes even with deftly designed build-up. At the same time, the demonic entity and paranormal objects are nowhere near as memorable as in the first two Conjuring films. The filmmakers tried to take inspiration from Mile Flanagan’s Oculus, but Last Rites doesn’t really do enough inventive things with its pivotal mirror, and there are a couple of relatively underbaked moments of horror-esque callbacks.
For a moment there, although it is designed and marketed as a conclusion, the focus on the Warrens’ daughter and her boyfriend made it feel like they are setting up a backdoor pilot for spin-off films. That may still be the case, but while Hardy and Tomlinson are solid in their roles, they, like the Smurl family, are relatively thinly drawn, one-dimensional characters. It really is the Wilson and Farmiga show, and they are more than capable of keeping this entertaining, despite the film’s structural quirks. I’ll also highlight the fact that Madison Lawlor and, especially, Orion Smith make for convincing younger versions of Lorraine and Ed, respectively, in the film’s intense opening prologue.
On the whole, Michael Chaves’ The Conjuring: Last Rites is an improvement on The Devil Made Me Do It and a relatively satisfying conclusion to the ongoing on-screen story of the Warrens. It does suffer from a front-loaded structure and a partially questionable climax, but it is an entertaining popcorn-horror flick that should please the film series’ strongest supporters.
7 out of 10
– Review written by Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen.
I'm Jeffrey Rex 