The Conjuring franchise has been a wild ride since James Wan’s first film terrified audiences back in 2013. It kicked off a horror universe that, for better or worse, has lasted nine movies.
I’ve stuck with it through the highs and the lows, and while not every entry has been great, there was always a certain spooky charm that kept me invested. That’s why I was excited to see The Conjuring: Last Rites, the final chapter in the saga of Ed and Lorraine Warren.
Sadly, instead of a great and chilling sendoff, what we get is a messy, uninspired finale that left me walking out of the theater feeling frustrated and dissapointed.
Set in 1986, the film reunites Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as the Warrens, now semi-retired and feeling the weight of age. Ed’s worsening heart condition makes him more vulnerable than ever, but the couple is pulled into one last haunting.
Their case this time is based on the infamous Smurl family haunting, where Janet and Jack Smurl (played by Rebecca Calder and Elliot Cowan) claimed their family was tormented by a malevolent force.
On paper, the real-life story has all the makings of a terrifying supernatural showdown, but in execution, Last Rites fumbles nearly every step of the way.
The biggest problem is how lazily the movie is written. The script feels cobbled together, with plot points that don’t connect and scenes that play out like they were stitched in from completely different drafts.
There are moments that make absolutely no sense in terms of story, setup, or payoff, and the narrative keeps piling on random elements without ever committing to a clear direction. What starts as a haunted-house mystery spirals into something so incoherent that it’s hard to believe this was meant to be the grand finale of such a popular series.
And then comes the third act, which is where the whole thing completely collapses. It’s chaotic, confusing, and poorly staged. Suddenly there are too many characters in the house, then barely anyone at all, and you never really know where people are or what they’re doing.
The supposed “big bad” demon is barely even shown. Instead, we’re left with a bizarre sequence that literally ends with the Warrens battling a mirror. I wish I were exaggerating, but the finale is laughable. It’s the kind of ending that makes you shake your head and wonder what anyone involved was thinking. Did Wan even read this script!?
Director Michael Chaves, who previously helmed The Curse of La Llorona and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, just doesn’t have the same finesse or talent that Wan brought to the earlier films. His style lacks energy, and the scares fall completely flat.
Instead of building tension, the film constantly throws jump scares at the screen, each one more predictable than the last. Even at over two hours long, it somehow feels both padded and rushed, dragging through long stretches of dullness before sprinting through a finale that doesn’t pay off anything it sets up.
The saddest part is that Wilson and Farmiga are still fantastic as Ed and Lorraine. Their chemistry and emotional depth have always been the glue holding this franchise together, and even here, they do their best to elevate weak material.
You can tell they’re giving their all, but the film doesn’t do right by them. Instead of giving the Warrens a proper farewell, Last Rites reduces them to players in a clunky, uninspired script that never allows for the kind of emotional or terrifying moments the series is known for.
While the movie does attempt to reflect on the Warrens’ legacy in a meaningful way, it plays out like a stitched-together collection of clichés, with very little passion or originality behind it. For a franchise that once stood out for reviving classic haunted-house horror with style and heart, Last Rites ironically becomes the very kind of generic studio horror it once rose above.
Walking out of the theater, I couldn’t help but feel bummed out. I wanted The Conjuring: Last Rites to be a strong, scary sendoff to one of horror’s most successful franchises. Instead, it’s an underwhelming, confused mess that squanders its story, its scares, and its characters.
Wilson and Farmiga deserved a much better ending, and so did the fans who have stuck with this series for over a decade. This is the weakest film in the franchise
