Henry O'Brien
In 1986, paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren faced their greatest challenge yet. The two fictional depictions of the real-life couple, played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, respectively, have faced off against evil witches, nuns and more in this film franchise that started in 2013 and has a story that has spanned across nine different films within the Conjuring universe. But, as the film has promoted and explained in its franchise-standard prologue, this would be their toughest and scariest demons to face because they sent the two into retirement.
OK, well, maybe not exactly, considering how run-of-the-mill these demons seem compared to the three prior films. But The Conjuring: Last Rites, in what seems to be the final time audiences get to see the Warrens in this horror universe, has closure for long-time fans of the franchise, even if the final product fails to produce scares on the level of the first two Conjuring films.
Director Michael Chaves, who is on his fourth film with the franchise, seems to have a grasp on how to construct a Conjuring film. Whereas The Devil May Me Do It lacked in any form of coherent or terrifying scare sequences, Chaves’ seasoned approach finds a more adequate balance in jumpscares and dread-inducing atmosphere. Plus, audience members primarily saw the third Conjuring film on streaming, and Last Rites works better as a theatrical experience.
The construction of the scares follows a very familiar formula to many of the franchise’s other films. While duds like The Devil May Me Do It and both Nun films follow the worst impulses of the 2013 classic by James Wan, Last Rites uses a variety of scare methods to its advantage. The mid-80s setting has the benefit of using VHS tapes as a literal and figurative device for scares, as a demon appears on the television in an unsettling sequence reminiscent of liminal space horror found in films like I Saw the TV Glow. Additionally, there’s a bit of grindhouse horror towards the end of the picture that adds another element of squeamishness.
But Chaves’ latest movie becomes far more of a family affair for the Warrens. While the case takes place in a northeast Pennsylvania town, Ed and Lorraine, seemingly more content lecturing than taking exorcism cases, are convinced to save another family from demons by their daughter Judy (Mia Tomlinson). The junior Warren starts to have the same premonitions and horrifying visions as her mother, persuading her further that these three demons in Pennsylvania need to be stopped.
Last Rites, like previous Conjuring films, balances time between the Warrens and the family facing a paranormal problem. But the film dedicates far more time to establishing a connection between the ghosts the Warrens see and the ghosts the family of eight in Pennsylvania sees. Lorraine describes the evil spirits (with a vaguely defined backstory, I might add) as the ones that she and her husband ran away from in cowardice. Also, these ghosts are the same ones that the Warrens dealt with early on in their investigative careers and just so happened to be at the same time Lorraine gave birth to Judy.
All these forced plot connections make the actual watching experience of Last Rites another disappointment. With so many plot threads, the 135-minute film has an unfortunate amount of bloat to it.
With an inordinate amount of cameos and references to previous films (the Warrens have a whole room full of their previous spooky escapades), The Conjuring: Last Rites serves as an ending for the Warrens and a nostalgic trip that only hardcore fans of the franchise and the real-life investigators would ask for. This is more evident in the credits sequence, which displays photos of the real-life Warrens and praises them for being “pioneers” in the field of paranormal investigation, even as there are plenty of their escapades that could be seen as dubious to say the least.
For everybody else, though, the film might feel no different from any of the other crappy sequels that lost their luster after The Conjuring 2.
