The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025)

The horror franchise that had moviegoers watching behind their fingers but on the edge of their seats. The Conjuring quartet released its final installment this year, and it did not disappoint. The movie follows a family tortured by several spirits they cannot escape in their own home.

Religion in entertainment is hit or miss; the Conjuring writers allow the movie to hit home and get to know its characters without smacking viewers in the face with a religion they should or shouldn't follow. Ed and Lorraine Warren, played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, were devoted Roman Catholics who used their prayer and beliefs to ward off demons from the other side, as they call it.

The Conjuring: Last Rites begins with the Warrens ' retirement. Ed is dealing with health issues, while Lorraine is focused on her daughter, Judy, played by Mia Tomlinson, who may have the same gift as her mother: the ability to see and feel spirits. Together, the family grudgingly decides to help one last family rid their life of dangerous demons causing physical, emotional, and psychological pain in their family home.

In years prior, the Warrens have used religious prayer to strip homes of evil spirits. This home proved more difficult as their local church had given up on the Smurl family some time before. Feeling abandoned by their pastor, the family turned to the media for help.

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.