‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’ Review
Stars: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Mia Tomlinson, Ben Hardy, Steve Coulter, Kila Lord Cassidy, Elliot Cowan | Written by Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick | Directed by Michael Chaves
Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga reprise their roles as real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren for this fourth and reportedly final entry in the Conjuring series. It also represents the ninth film set in the Conjuring Universe (comprising various spin-offs like the Annabelle movies), or the tenth if you count 2019’s The Curse of La Llorona, which has crossover characters, but is not considered canon.
The Conjuring: Last Rites opens with a prologue, set in 1964, in which a young Ed (Orion Smith) and a pregnant Lorraine (Madison Lawlor) encounter a demonic mirror in their first case. Afterwards, Lorraine is rushed to the hospital and gives birth to a stillborn baby, but the child recovers after Lorraine prays for her to be saved, and they name her Judy.
The film then jumps forward 22 years to 1986, where Ed and Lorraine (Wilson and Farmiga) are more or less retired, in part due to Ed’s heart attack, which he suffered during the events of the previous film. They now tour campus lecture halls, where Ed becomes increasingly annoyed at having to respond to jokes about Ghostbusters.
Meanwhile, Judy (Mia Tomlinson), now 22, becomes engaged to her ex-cop boyfriend Tony (former EastEnder Ben Hardy), but she has inherited her mother’s psychic gift, and as the wedding draws closer, she’s increasingly troubled by demonic visions. After a tragedy involving family friend and series regular Father Gordon (Steve Coulter), Judy, Tony, Ed and Lorraine visit the Smurl family (a real-life case) in Pennsylvania, where they come face-to-face with that pesky demonic mirror again, alongside a host of other entities that the mirror demon is using as a sort of paranormal distraction.
Director Michael Chaves has previously helmed three other films in the Conjuring Universe (including The Curse of La Llorona), and he’s on significantly improved form here, creating a suitably creepy atmosphere (complete with thunderstorms) and deploying several effective jump scares. He also orchestrates a number of grippingly tense set-pieces, the highlight of which is a scene involving a wedding dress and an infinity mirror.
The script improves significantly over the previous Conjuring movies simply by upping the emotional stakes for the Warrens themselves. This time round, the demon is targeting their own daughter, making the story that much more personal.
The performances are excellent across the board. Wilson and Farmiga have made Ed and Lorraine their own after multiple movies – they make an eminently watchable onscreen duo and their chemistry is as strong as ever. However, the stand-out this time round is Mia Tomlinson, who radiates warmth and personality, as well as bringing heartbreaking vulnerability to Judy.
In addition, there’s strong support from Kila Lord Cassidy and Beau Gadsdon as the teenage Smurl girls, who endure their fair share of haunted house shenanigans before the Warrens finally show up. Similarly, Coulter is excellent as Father Gordon and Ben Hardy nails the American accent and turns in an engaging performance as Tony.
In fairness, The Conjuring: Last Rites isn’t entirely perfect – there are way too many scenes of characters investigating dark rooms on their own, for example, and you’d think the Warrens in particular would know better by now. The film also takes a little too long to get to the main event, though it makes up for it with a frenetic, demon-heavy finale, heightened by some sterling work from editing duo Gregory Plotkin and Elliot Greenberg.
In short, The Conjuring: Last Rites is a fitting send-off for the Warrens, if this is indeed their final paranormal outing, but it’s already been a big box office hit worldwide, so don’t count them out just yet. Stick around for some fun credits material, featuring clips of the real-life Ed and Lorraine, as well as a post-credits caption that proves highly illuminating, nicely tying up the whole series.
**** 4/5
The Conjuring: Last Rites is in cinemas now.
