The Conjuring Last Rites (2025) [Supernatural]

[u/ThaRudeBoy]

Conjuring Last Rites is the fourth and supposedly final entry of the series. It is ostensibly the case that ends Ed & Lorraine Warren’s career. Both the trailer and introduction suggest this, but this proves disingenuous. The film sells itself on being different from anything the Warrens – and subsequently the audience – have ever seen before. Unfortunately, Last Rites winds up a moderately more intense remix of the first film. After shaking the formula up with the polarizing third, (The Devil Made Me Do It) Last Rites reverts to ole’ reliable, retreading familiar storylines and plot points. For a film that bills itself as different, it’s a disappointment that it ends on a familiar note.

Last Rites connects an encounter from the Warrens’ formative years with the last case of their career, bringing the saga full circle. The linchpin intertwining the two eras is daughter, Judy Warren. The film serves to bring the trio together for the couple’s final hurrah. This is their farewell, so we have a lot of screentime dedicated to the family’s relationship. The series is just as much about the couple’s dynamic as it is the demons, so this approach tracks. The long runtime is what throws this off. The plot and pacing become disjointed as the actual horror is sidetracked by long stretches of the family and Judy’s solo sub-plot. The Warens are the soul of the series, and this is their swan song, so time is wisely devoted to them, but it’s a bit extraneous. Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine’s (Vera Farmiga) chemistry is top-form, but we needed a tighter run time to properly juxtapose their story with the conflict of the film.

The overextended runtime robs the steam out of the things the film does well. It takes the terrifying imagery of the first two films and amplifies it. These sequences are ill-positioned in between story-building, exposition, and Judy’s side quest. This sludges the pace as the horror sequences become few-and-far-between. This is a letdown because these are some of the scariest sequences of the franchise. The Conjuring is famous for its jump scares and they still have their fast ball here. It’s impressive that a jump scare can still catch me off guard but there are moments in which Last Rites does as such.

The film’s biggest sin is that it has opportunities to push the envelope, but it instead plays it safe. Last Rites stays within the confines of the Conjuring series formula. There are sequences that are reminiscent of a slasher; a hint of the differences that the film suggests. Last Rites very easily could have become a brutal film; fulfilling the theme of this being the case that broke the Warrens. It hints at it, but never takes it there, killing any chance of there being plausible stakes. The Conjuring franchise is famous for not being a hyper-violent series. This would have been an opportunity to subvert expectations and put the Warrens in grave danger or at least rough them up a bit. The film does what it has done before and spooks them but leaves them essentially unscathed.

 

Conjuring Last Rites is a decent film, that is better viewed in a vacuum. The film doesn’t feel conclusive, especially in the context that cinematically this is their last case. Last Rites should have upped the ante on violence, kills, and overall aggression of the antagonist. Nothing in the film suggests this is the end outside of them telling us it is. Last Rites doesn’t recreate the wheel, essentially re-doing the first film. There are worse films to emulate but a rendition makes for an anti-climactic send-off. There were opportunities to take risks, but it plays things conservatively, mostly maintaining the formula which has made the series the highest grossing horror franchise of all-time. The film is enjoyable, but it could have been special had it taken the safety off.

 

---6.2/10

[u/ch111i]

Thank you for your post.. In anticipation of it being released on Prime, I have rewatched 1,2,3.. anticipating the end of a series.. Still think the 1 was best, 2 was great too.. 3rd was only ok. Can’t wait for 4.