The long awaited end to The Conjuring is finally here after nearly a decade with 3 previous installments and 7 spinoff movies. The Conjuring: Last Rites is supposed to be the final goodbye to The Conjuring saga. This is the last time we will see Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga play the infamous roles of Ed and Lorraine Warren.
The Conjuring: Last Rites follows the "true story" of the Smurl family and the hauntings they experienced in the 80's. The Smurl family claimed that a demon was harassing their family and making their lives absolutely miserable. The real case did not include a haunted mirror but was added to the movie for a more dramatic story. Most of the things that happened in the movie was extremely exaggerated or just never occurred.
We all know by now that The Conjuring movies are based on the most famous cases from Ed and Lorraine Warren's investigations. Each movie starts out with a blurb explaining the case and the Warren's involvement, at the end is the iconic "based on a true story". All of The Conjuring movies have a tendency to over-embellish and make the case seem way worse than it actually was. Each case seems to be the absolute worst one they ever experienced so it's hard to say which one actually was the most sinister.
The Conjuring: Last Rites is not all about the Smurl family and the horrors they experienced but the story also follows Judy, Ed and Lorraine's daughter. Judy has been in previous Conjuring movies but she is all grown up now and seems to have her mother's abilities. The haunted mirror originally wanted Judy and shows up again at the Smurl's house.
The mirror is doing everything it can to essentially take Judy's soul. Judy is arguably the main focus of the movie by following her gifts but also her budding relationship to Tony. The movie seems to be setting up Judy to be the new Lorraine and for Tony to be the new Ed. This may not be the last Conjuring movie as the torch seems to have been passed.
One thing for sure is that Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson are washing their hand clean of the universe. The long time fans (me) are of course sad about this but also know when it's time to move on. Judy (Mia Tomlinson) and Tony (Ben Hardy) may just carry on the franchise without the original Warrens.
Now let's get into the actual review of The Conjuring: Last Rites. The movies is neither good or bad, but falls in between. I found this installment to be pretty weak but also not the worst movie in the franchise (I'm looking at you The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It). There were definitely some issues that kept it from being a perfect movie but it had some scenes that really worked in my opinion.
The worst offense is the effects they used for the demons. The CGI was less than great and sometimes had the demons looking like evil Snapchat filters. There is also one scene involving our favorite doll, Annabelle, and the effects on her were a little too goofy and took me out of the scene. The demon CGI aside, I really enjoyed the ax murdering demon because they decided not to use CGI on him. I think The Conjuring movies work best when they stick to actors in scary makeup.
My other issue is the run time and pacing. The Conjuring movies are all known to be quite long, most of them stretching over 2 hours. The Conjuring: Last Rites has a run time of 2 hours and 15 minutes, which is usually not a problem, the issue lies with the pacing. The movie would give you a jump scare and then the next scene is a sentimental moment between the Warren Family. The emotional punch of the movie seemed out of balance with the scary moments and just didn't quite stick the landing.
Of course this movie is riddled with jump scares, some that worked and others that were downright cheap. The Conjuring universe is no stranger to a good jump scare but this movie was almost trying too hard. I can think of one outstanding scare that had my whole theater jumping but the rest were too predictable.
Now moving on to the things that I really enjoyed. I adore Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson as the Warrens and the chemistry they have on screen is hard to recreate. They are the backbone of the franchise and it keeps the fans coming back for more. Another treat for the fans is a number of cameos from previous Conjuring movies so make sure to keep an eye out for those!
My other favorite part of the movie was the score. The music was haunting with echos of screams mixed into the instrumentals. There was one particular scene that stuck out to me that involved Lorraine in the basement covered in blood while an eerie score plays.
The Conjuring: Last Rites is a decent scary movie but is overall underwhelming compared to The Conjuring (2013). The movie does feel very final and completes the story of Ed and Lorraine in a satisfying way. I will not be surprised if we see more of Judy Warren and the exploration of her own clairvoyant powers.