When it comes to style The Conjuring films have set themselves apart from the modern day horror cinematic landscape by being brave to mix mainstream horror tropes with an artistic side that would please the European horror masters. Aside from that, The Conjuring universe also gave us the Annabelle films, which are some of the best horror movies ever made, and a few Nun movies that took origin stories to a whole new spooky level.
Now comes one of the most important Conjuring films – Last Rites – which not only as the title suggests reveals the final case that the Warrens worked on, but due to the details of the case also manages to tell the story of one of their first cases.
How does it work? Well when Ed (Patrick Wilson – Watchmen) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga – The Departed) were waiting for the birth of their daughter, Judy (Mia Tomlinson – The Beast Must Die), they were called into to investigate a haunting in an antique shop. When Lorraine touched the mirror that she believed was the source of the evil something flashed through her – as a result she nearly lost Judy during child-birth.
Unbeknownst to Ed and Lorraine the evil from that moment has haunted Judy her entire life. Now years later Judy is an adult and dating ex-Police Officer Tony Spera (Ben Hardy – X:Men: Apocalypse) and she becomes interesting in the haunting of the innocent Smurl family.
While the family goes through hell nobody takes their plight seriously until Father Gordon (Steve Coulter – Oppenheimer) realises that it was the evil that almost killed Dawn Smurl (Beau Gadsdon – Rogue One: A Star Wars Story). When Judy brings her mother and father into to solve the case they soon realise that this is the evil that almost killed Judy in the past.
To their credit director Michael Chaves (The Nun II) and his team of screenwriters have delivered a great instalment into the franchise but people should be warned this is a film for hardcore Conjuring fans – this isn’t a film for those that have never ventured into this world before.
When it comes to telling the story at hand the screenwriters don’t waste time explaining who is who and what they do – they expect you that you have seen the previous films and without that need for character set-up they delve straight into the horror and the case at hand. Having said that though I must admit that I was a little disappointed that unlike with The Nun and Annabelle this time around the horror itself only has its origins lightly touched on… despite the fact it is interesting enough to warrant a film of its own.
The screenplay also brilliantly gives credit to what the Smurl family are going through without losing focus on the fact that the film needs to mainly be centring around the Warrens and those around them.
As a thank you for that happening it feels like Wilson and Farmiga have saved their best acting performances for the finale. The scenes revolving around Lorraine trying to get the centre of Judy’s suffering are harrowing and Farmiga brings her A-Game. Likewise the scenes in which Ed tries to first interrogate and later bond with Tony are delivered with real feeling by Wilson. At times it feels like Wilson and Farmiga were determined to give their characters the perfect send-off and it was deeply personal for them to be able say goodbye to these characters this way.
Credit must also be paid to Tomlinson and Hardy who are sensational throughout the film and make their characters so memorable most audience members will hope that perhaps the franchise could continue with them in the future.
While the scenes involving the exorcism of the Smurl’s house doesn’t exactly bring anything new to the genre, Michael Chaves and his cinematographer Eli Born (Companion) do at least make the sequences look brilliant on the big screen.
The Conjuring: Last Rites was obviously made for true fans of the franchise. While it doesn’t re-invent the wheel it is a worthy goodbye to a franchise that will be forever cherished by horror fans.
The Conjuring: Last Rites is currently screening in Phuket and is rated ‘15’.
3/5 Stars.
David Griffiths has been working as a film journalist for over 25 years. That time has seen him work in radio, television and in print. He currently hosts a film podcast called The Popcorn Conspiracy. He is also a Rotten Tomatoes accredited reviewer and is an alternate judge for the Golden Globes Awards. You can follow him at Facebook: SubcultureEntertainmentAus.