Horror Movie Review: The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025)

So, it ends (for now). Not with a frightening, exciting, and extravagant bang, but with a tiresome, lazy, overly long ‘plop’. Though, considering the diminishing results this franchise (and universe) has been giving with each new entry, that’s not too much of surprise. I certainly didn’t expect anything special, but even then, I was surprised by how poor of a film it was.

Directed by Michael Chaves and written by Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, and David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick. Yes, that’s three people to write a Conjuring film, which is always a good sign. Here, the ‘based on a true story’ angle looks at the real-life case of the Smurl family haunting and how the Warrens definitely, for real this time, we’re not lying, faced their most challenging investigation yet. A challenge that would transform their lives forever.

Except it doesn’t. Remember, Ed, Lorraine, and Judy Warren were real people, so as much as the marketing might have tried to make you believe their lives are definitely, we promise, no fooling this time, in danger, the reality says otherwise. Liberties are well and truly taken with the source material, but do harm to the Warrens? Not a chance, after all, these films have gone out of their way to make sure you believe the ghost-busting couple are damn-near saints. Who also happen to have a saintly daughter.

It’s always been a personal bone of contention, but the way the trio are lauded in this film is downright vomit inducing. To the point that even the charm of Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga can’t save it. It also doesn’t help that neither are at their best here, given very little fresh to work with, and while Mia Tomlinson should have brought something new to the franchise, her character is as bland as she is stupid, and she’s pretty damn stupid.

So, what’s the story this time? Ghosts haunt a family, and the Warrens come in to help them. Eventually. This time they’re semi-retired and don’t take cases anymore. Until they do, thanks to their daughter. Who, herself, is being haunted, refusing to tell her parents about it, and struggling to control her visions of evil entities, particularly Annabelle, who has a couple of laughs trying to scare Judy. One of which, the giant Annabelle doll, might be the worst scare attempt of the Conjuring universe overall.

What does all this mean and why does it matter? Well, Lorraine was pregnant with Judy when they dealt with a particularly nasty demon. One hiding within a big, gothic looking mirror. It’s official folks, we’ve reach Goosebumps/Are You Afraid of the Dark territory with The Conjuring. Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, this is the tale of The Haunted Mirror. You might think this is hyperbole, but that’s because you’ve not seen the last part of this film yet. A part where the Warrens literally get attacked by a mirror.

Anyway, the event caused her to go into early labour, and Judy was born stillborn. A heartbreaking event for every parent, but because the Warrens are godlike, Judy survived after not breathing for a minute. It’s a miracle, and so overcome by this, the Warrens decided to not go back and finish off the mirror demon. Well, it wasn’t done with them, it seems. Biding its time until its mirror ended up in the hands of the Smurl family (combine the first two film’s families and you have the Smurls) where it unleashes a trio of ghosts on them. All so it can sucker in Judy and take what it is owed.

I think. To be honest, the motivations of this demon are confusing. Which would be fine as a demon really doesn’t need motivation. Except this film set that motivation up by having the Warrens linked to it via Judy. Does it want to kill her to spite the Warrens? How is it so powerful that it can unleash ghosts on a family, but it’s not powerful to deal with the power of family love? Seriously, that’s what defeats it in the end, the power of family love.

This is the worst entry yet, and all because it has nothing new or interesting to say, reaching a new level of laziness when it comes to scares. You’ve seen them all before, mixing subtle creep-driven ones with garish jump scares, but overdoing it in a desperate attempt to hold the viewer’s attention. Not only over and over again, with diminishing results, but laughably going from in-your-face scares to coy attempts to unnerve without understanding that you can’t beat the viewer over the head then think a slight tap will have the same effect.

In one desperate scare attempt, they literally do three in a row. Each worse than the last. It would be funny, if it wasn’t so awful, but I suppose they had to fill 135 minutes with something more than just Ed and Lorraine Warren looking lovingly at their adult daughter, worrying about her future with the boyfriend, Tony (Ben Hardy), and pretending like their family has a dire threat to deal with.

What about the Smurls? Who cares. They’re so undeveloped, I’m surprised the ghosts even bothered to haunt them. Though that’s not really a problem as this film is all about the Warrens and that’s it. Or at least it would be, except this franchise isn’t going to end while they can continue to make money off it. Only a fool would believe that especially as Last Rites was a financial success.

Look, I get it. These films have mass appeal and that is what matters at the box office. I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed. The Conjuring: Last Rites is a boring, bloated, lacklustre horror film that, I think, takes its audience for granted. Creators believing that we’ll all watch anything related to the Conjuring universe, no matter the tripe they serve up.