The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025)

So, Ed and Lorraine’s final outing in The Conjuring: The Last Rites is here, and I went in with mixed expectations. After the brilliance of The Conjuring 2, The Devil Made Me Do It felt like a letdown. So when this final chapter was announced, I was excited but cautious. Michael Chaves has directed some of the less strong entries in the universe (The Curse of La Llorona, The Conjuring 3, Annabelle Comes Home), so I wasn’t convinced going in.

Now that I’ve seen it, I’d say this film is interesting and sometimes frustrating, but ultimately worth watching. The movie opens in 1964 with Ed and Lorraine investigating an antique mirror at a curios shop. Lorraine touches it while pregnant and collapses, giving birth to their daughter Judy stillborn. The moment with the hand stuck to the ceiling during the stillbirth scene was chilling and effectively built tension. But the demon remains nameless, unexplained, and underdeveloped compared to Valak in The Conjuring 2, who had lore and a tangible presence.