The Conjuring: Last Rites

The Conjuring series has seen its share of ups and downs. The first two films were solid, respectable entries in the possession/haunting categories. The first Annabelle film tried perhaps a bit too hard and the less said about the third film, or the Nun series, the better. This brings us to the fourth and supposedly “final” film in the core series. From the start, the main reason to watch the actual Conjuring films has been Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga. Here, they are joined by Mia Tomlison and Ben Hardy. Wilson and Farmiga, playing husband and wife paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, do not depict the real-life couple, but an idealized version. So too, here, with Tomlison and Hardy, playing their daughter, Judy, and her boyfriend, Tony. The real Warrens are very complicated, with much that argues against their publicity. If you can get past this fact, there is fun to be had in the series, and particularly this installment.

Courtesy Warner Bros

The Conjuring: Last Rites tells of a case with very personal ties for the Warrens. As the film begins, they are very early in their careers. A pregnant Lorraine suffers a near miscarriage after encountering a haunted mirror, which decades later winds up in the hands of a family, who begin to experience many horrors. Meanwhile, Judy, the now grown baby Ed and Lorraine nearly lost, has developed sensitivities to the supernatural, much like her mother, and feels drawn toward something. Unravelling the who, what and why is the crux of the film, with the consequences of both running away and facing things head on, being major themes in the narrative.

Unlike the third film, which covered a court case in which the Warrens assisted in trying to aid a man who attempted clearing his name of murder on account of possession, this film is not hampered by the legal, moral and ethical questionability of such proceedings. Instead, much like the first two films in the series and none of the spinoffs, this film remembers its characters and maintains emotional through lines. It does not always do this in ways that are much above laughable, and the film seems to almost revel in going over the top, but it does not insult the audience in the ways the last film did. Much of this is in creating scenes of bonding.

Courtesy Warner Bros

Some of these are between Ed and Tony, while others are between Judy and Lorraine, who has taught her daughter a poem to recite to ward off the visions. It is unfortunate that Judy, being such a central figure in the film, is reduced so often to a damsel in distress. It is perhaps fitting, however, given the history of the Warrens and the way their publicity always fed into Ed’s need for validation. Wilson and Hardy, however, play the screen versions of their characters, and here, Ed is a nice, genuine father and husband who wants only to 362.,.help people and protect his family, and Lorraine is a committed spiritualist who has spent decades trying to spare her child the same encounters against which she has battled.

Courtesy Warner Bros

The fiction presented here is nominally compelling family drama, even though the final act features ludicrous set pieces and moments that will cause a viewer to ask “what even was the point of that?” and as such, more focus on the characters and less on the haunting, as the finale, might have improved it. For a film that is about what is on the inside, The Conjuring: Last Rites ends up becoming a film about outside forces, and that unbalances what could have been a special entry in the series. If you are a fan of this sort of thing or the franchise, do not miss it. Just watch out for spinning MacGuffins.

The Conjuring: Last Rites is now playing in theaters.