For me, the four films in the main The Conjuring series are a mixed bag. The first is a standout classic, knocking us flat with its thick, tense atmosphere and unparalleled scares; the second aspired to the frights of the first, but was couched in more doubt than its predecessor, thus leading to more disbelief than immersion; and the third was, at least in my opinion, the most forgettable. It also gave me fears that handing over the directorial reins from series creator and noted horror master James Wan to Michael Chaves—whose in-universe sequel The Nun II and The Conjuring Universe-adjacent The Curse of La Llorona were not entirely my thing—was a mistake.
The Conjuring: Last Rites is, thankfully, a whole lot of “my thing.” Chaves brings it back to the simplicity of the first film, mastering what made The Conjuring so memorable: a healthy mix of family drama and intense scares. Where the previous film stumbled through its convoluted plot, The Conjuring: Last Rites is much more confident in tone and execution, staying sharply focused from start to finish. It is definitely Chaves’ best entry in the series, and it helps that the story’s good and the actors playing their parts in it are excellent, giving this final go-round with the Warren family exactly what it needs to go out on a high note.
What makes a good Conjuring movie, to me, is how much of a bond is formed between the audience, the Warrens, and the family they’re helping. The Conjuring: Last Rites also introduces an X-factor to this equation: Judy (Mia Tomlinson), Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren’s (Vera Farmiga) daughter. Shown in both The Conjuring 2 and Annabelle Comes Home to have some of her mother’s psychic sensitivity, Judy’s starting to see more of the kinds of things that she shouldn’t be seeing. Horrible things that are getting more and more difficult to dispel with her coping mechanisms.
The addition of Judy gives the film a thrilling layer of involvement, as we’re seeing her come to grips with the abilities that seem to keep growing stronger and more intrusive in her life. We’re experiencing sort-of growing pains alongside her as she slowly opens herself up to the world she’s shoved away and kept at arm’s length. Lorraine preternaturally knows something’s wrong with her, and each denial Judy issues betrays an oncoming darkness threatening to subsume her. Another concern lies with Ed’s health and heart problems, one of the many reasons Ed and Lorraine have called it quits on their paranormal research, content (well… sort of) to do guest lectures for dwindling—and more disrespectful—college audiences.
Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson slip back into their familiar roles with their comforting presence as Ed and Lorraine. Not only do they play Judy’s parents, but they also kind of feel like our horror movie parents, having been with us for 13 years and appearing in almost all of the 9 main Conjuring Universe films (including voice cameos and archive footage). They’re the accepting, low-key parents who seem totally normal… except for their collective day job and their relic room full of cursed artifacts. But with Farmiga and Wilson, it’s more than that; it’s that they give their characters humanity and strength found both in themselves individually and in each other. It practically comes leaping off the screen through manner and word, and for some reason, we feel at home with them.
Entering the picture are Mia Tomlinson and Ben Hardy, who plays Tony, Judy’s boyfriend, and these newcomers likewise share this similar presence with and in their characters. As hesitant as Judy might be regarding her abilities, her love for her parents and Tony is never in doubt, and it’s something Tomlinson makes us feel deeply. Chaves seems to know exactly how James Wan brought this kind of feeling to the first movie and channels it through Tomlinson, seating her firmly with Wilson and Farmiga, not just making her look like part of the family—she is part of the family, and Tomlinson is a fantastic addition to The Conjuring Universe.
The Conjuring films run on two tracks—one dealing with the otherworldly and the other featuring the Warrens’ own earthbound struggles—that eventually meet in the middle; for the first time, we have two very equal stories that make this the most even-handed film in the series. In this last outing, the film finds a devout Catholic family—complete with grandparents and four kids—being terrorized by the sudden onslaught of demonic activity. And the conduit that brought these spirits into their house might have to do with something the Warrens were investigating the night Judy was born.
Chaves also allows us the room to care about the West Pittston, Pennsylvania-based Smurl family, whose working-class and loving home brings this story closer to our own lives. It’s an everyman kind of family, replete with the kinds of sit-down dinners, jokes and squabbles, and personalities you’d see in cities and suburbs everywhere. But things, of course, take a mighty sharp turn when they start to see ghastly figures in shadowy corners and someone starts levitating Exorcist-style. While the original film remains the king of the scares that accompany these gradually unfolding hauntings, Chaves works in some well-timed frights that hit just right. Don’t worry if you’ve seen the trailers; Chaves wisely keeps some aces up his sleeve, turning up the intensity just when you think “Aw, I’ve seen this in the ads.”
The Conjuring: Last Rites definitely wants to live up to the original to close out Ed and Lorraine Warren’s saga; it mostly does, and not desperately so. However, James Wan possesses a certain kind of take-no-prisoners mercilessness that Michael Chaves has chosen to balance with a pronounced lean toward the romantic and emotional. While it’s not too much of a bad thing, one misses the kind of unyielding menace found in the first two films. But Chaves’ infusions make The Conjuring: Last Rites both a part of the series and its own entity by firmly—but not cloyingly or tentatively—embracing the love that the characters share and celebrate while still finding time to smash us with jumpscares and the stuff of nightmares.
