Title – The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025)

Director – Michael Chaves (The Nun II)

Cast – Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Mia Tomlinson, Ben Hardy

Plot – Famed paranormal investigators Ed (Wilson) and Loraine Warren (Farmiga) are drawn out of retirement to help a desperate Pennsylvanian family who are being tormented by a devilish entity with long ties to the Warren family.

“The case that ended it all”

Review by Eddie on 10/09/2025

Stunningly debuting to an unexpected global weekend box office haul of $194 million dollars, setting a record for a world-wide opening weekend for a horror film, the 4th Conjuring film and 10th extended Conjuring universe film Last Rites has proven with a resounding statement that the cinemagoing public still want more Warren escapades but based off the end product we get here, one can only hope the Warren’s stay retired.

Appearing to peter out without much fanfare in 2021 when the Covid affected The Devil Made Me Do It Conjuring entry did middling box office performances alongside its day to day release on streaming services, director Michael Chaves,his willing duo of Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, the most optimistic of pundits or the films backer Warner Brothers would’ve expected Last Rites to breakout the way in which it has financially but when the initial hype dies down, one suspects many will realise they’ve been duped by a sad and sorry imitation of the heydays of James Wan’s Conjuring 1 & 2.

Clocking in at an often arduous feeling 135 minutes, Last Rites boils down to a wafer-thin plot of the Warren’s being bought out of retirement to battle an evil mirror, while their now grown daughter Judy (a solid Mia Tomlinson) gets drawn into the family business while preparing to marry the love of her life Tony (a bland Ben Hardy) with Chaves uneasily mixing the Warren’s family dramas in with the predicament of the Smurl family who have been having their breakfasts and sleep interrupted the nefarious mirror that is out for blood.

With little to zero effort by the film to explain just what makes this mirror want to lure the Warren’s into its dastardly spirit world or provide context to the various nasties that are haunting our films God fearing human fodder, it’s hard to invest into this paint by numbers studio horror that hopes past glories of the Conjuring universe will help cover up all its many flaws and baggage laden tropes.

Creating so much tension within the Perron’s remote farmstead in 2013 or the poor old Hodgson’s in 2016, alongside now iconic horror villains like The Crooked Man, Valak or everyone’s favourite haunted doll Annabelle, the initial Conjuring films were the perfect balance of cheap jump scares, foreboding tension and character development but as was the case with the Devil Made Me Do It, Last Rites throws all that too the side to tick off a few boxes here and there, while Chaves uninspired and lifeless direction makes one wonder how he keeps getting jobs in major Hollywood productions.

Taking forever to get going, with most of the films first hour dedicated to Ed battling a heart condition while he plays ping pong or painfully dull Smurl family dinner’s and bickering’s, the only hope Last Rites had of saving face was a loaded final act but the CGI riddled finale is nothing short of a giant letdown, bought to life only by one of the year’s most unintentionally hilarious moments involving Ted and his muscle car, meaning that if the Warren’s really are retiring from the big screen, this is a sad whimper of an ending for a series that started off with such a bang.

Based off financial outcomes however, it’s highly likely this frequently touted end is nothing but a ruse.

Final Say –

A dreadfully dull and unmemorable addition to the Conjuring cinematic space, Last Rites is an embarrassingly inept non-event that does nothing but sully the once great brand James Wan created with much care and consideration all the way back in 2013.

1 lasagna out of 5