‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’ Review: Jumpscare Galore In The Final Instalment

The scariest franchise at the moment is finally back for a supposed final instalment The Conjuring: Last Rites following 2021’s The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. In the director’s chair is The Nun II and The Devil Made Me Do It director Michael Chaves, who also directed the universe-adjacent The Curse of La Llorona film, also for Warner Bros.

The Conjuring: Last Rites follows paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) as they grapple with one last explosive adventure; the marriage of their daughter Judy (Mia Tomlinson). Things get complicated when they meet the Smurls, a Pennsylvanian family who are plagued by four entities and are in desperate need of an exorcist.

By now, when you enter a Conjuring Universe instalment, you should not be expecting high-brow art. Now that franchise creator and executive producer James Wan is no longer directing features in the saga, that era of quality is gone. What remains is not as compelling, but sometimes just as scary as those first two Conjuring films. 

A debate lingers in the horror community regarding the validity of jumpscares as a technique in eliciting reactions from an audience. Some find it cheap, some find it clever, and I believe whatever way you sway on this debate will effect your enjoyment of this film, as it is jam-packed with jumpscares. They’re pretty scary for jump scares too, with some of the apparitions appearing in super wild moments. As effective as these are, there are also many slower moments that build up tension by the lack of jumpscares, and whilst the anticipation itself is scary, the real fear is of what isn’t there. 

This is especially clear in the finale of the film, where the movie loses all scare factor as the action ramps up in its final moments. The moment serves the character arcs of several involved, but loses the scariness from overexposure to the threat. In the grand scheme of the film, this doesn’t really matter, as it’s the creative and just downright shocking jumpscares that will leave you loving it. 

Also introduced as a plot point in this film is the engagement of Judy and her fiancée, Tony (Ben Hardy). It adds another level of depth to the film that I am not particularly sure it needed. It isn’t bad by any means, but Tony as a character isn’t completely necessary in the narrative of the story, even if things may have went down like this in the sliver of truth in this pretty fictionalised account of a true story.

Performances are fantastic throughout, especially from Mia Tomlinson, who plays Judy Warren, who gets a lot of screentime as she grapples with her past hauntings with Annabelle, as well as a new demon introduced over the course of the film. Her relationship with Vera Farmiga’s Lorraine is really strong and the dynamic between the two feels quite realistfic. Judy and Ed’s dynamic however is where a lot of the comedy that alleviates the tension in the film comes from, with a lot of the comedy stemming from Ed’s disapproval of Tony as a boyfriend and later fiancée. It’s typical but it’s funny and allows a further level of relatable depth to Patrick Wilson’s Ed, who finally indulges in that fatherly role. 

The Conjuring: Last Rites works largely as a scarefest, which is exactly what it tries to be. As a send-off for the Warrens (which will last who knows how long), it’s solid and perhaps touching enough to elicit a nostalgic, if not an emotional, reaction. I was satisfied with the film and eagerly await what they have in store for the next phase of the universe.

The Conjuring: Last Rites stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as Ed and Lorraine Warren, with Mia Tomlinson playing Judy Warren. Ben Hardy plays Tony, and Rebecca Calder, Elliot Cowan, Kíla Lord Cassidy, Beau Gadsdon, Molly Cartwright, Tilly Walker, Peter Wight, and Kate Fahy as the Smurl Family. 

The Conjuring: Last Rites is directed by Michael Chaves and is now playing in theatres worldwide. 

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