After 13 years and three previous films, the story of Ed and Lorraine Warren finally comes to an end in the new movie, “The Conjuring: The Last Rites.” This tale revolves around the Warrens as they take on their final case.
What sets this movie apart from the rest of the “Conjuring” series is its primary focus on the Warren family. Their daughter, Judy, has grown up now, which can be exciting for those who grew up watching the series. Her screen time was limited in the first three films, so it was thrilling to see her come into her own. These movies do a great job with character building. The Warrens’ portrayal in the story had viewers incredibly invested, and watching more of their personal interactions, especially with their daughter, was satisfying.
Yet, one big issue that the film had was that it focused too much on the Warrens. If you’ve seen any “Conjuring” movie, you know how the storyline goes – a family starts to experience strange things, the Warrens go and investigate, terror ensues and the plot hits a huge, climactic point before a resolution is reached. Each film usually follows the same formula, but that plot deviation is not the primary problem with this movie. The problem is that the film is 2 hours and 15 minutes long, and the Warrens don’t even arrive at the Smurl family residence until more than halfway into the movie. While the directors may have wanted to take a more family-focused approach with the Warrens, the main point of the previous movies is that they’re paranormal investigators who help families in need. Though it was nice to see more of the Warrens, it became boring after a while.
It also definitely didn’t help that trailers built up the case as if it were going to be a huge and terrifying battle between the forces of good and evil. It was exciting to see who the main antagonists would be, yet it was unfortunately disappointing. Three spirits latched onto the Smurl family, which seemed a cool premise at first. That was until they appeared on screen.
The main female spirit that antagonized the characters wasn’t all that scary in comparison to the demons in the first two “Conjuring” movies. The CGI was awful, and it just looked like they used the liquify tool on her mouth. Though the male spirit with his giant axe and creepy smile was creepy, again, they cannot compete at all with the other “Conjuring” villains. As for the last spirit, she was completely forgettable, and I can’t even remember when or where she was in the movie.
The most disappointing part of this film was the scene where the demon is finally “revealed,’’ though it wasn’t really a reveal. We’re told from the beginning that the mirror the Smurls own is basically a host to this demon, but we literally never get to see it at all. The Warrens simply place their hands on the mirror’s glass, and it shatters, leaving viewers wondering, “That’s it? Really?”
As someone who’s a huge horror fan and has a soft spot for the Conjuring universe as a whole (The Nun is their best in my opinion), I really wanted to like this movie, but it was obvious from the start that the series just didn’t know when to end. The entire film felt like a huge cash grab, had no real focal point and lacked the eerie and off-putting atmosphere displayed in the older movies in the Conjuring series.
All I can hope is that they’ll stick to the movie’s name and make it the last film in the “Conjuring” story.