The Conjuring: Last Rites: A Hauntingly Emotional End for the Warrens

The final movie in the main story of Ed and Lorraine Warren, called The Conjuring: Last Rites, is a great and kinda sad goodbye. The movie was directed by Michael Chaves again, and he does a good job of finishing the story for these characters that have been around for more than ten years. It isn't as scary as the first few movies by James Wan, but it's really good because it focuses on family, what they'll leave behind, and how tiring it is to fight bad guys all the time.

(Photo Credit: District By Zomato) The Conjuring: Last Rites: A Hauntingly Emotional End for the Warrens

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The movie is based on a real haunting of the Smurl family from the 1980's. It starts in 1964, which is a long time ago. This early scene is very personal and creepy, since a demon bothers Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) when she's having her baby daughter, Judy (Mia Tomlinson). This personal touch is what keeps the story going. The main part of the movie is in 1986, and Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine are basically retired, just focusing on their family. But then the Smurl family in Pennsylvania has a haunted house because of a cursed mirror, and the Warrens have to get back into the game, even if they don't want to.

The best thing about Last Rites isn't the jump scares, but how good Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are. This is their last time playing Ed and Lorraine, and they are so good at showing all the little feelings. Their chemistry, which has always been the most important part of the movies, feels even more touching now as they don't just fight a demon, but also think about getting older and what they've done with their lives. The movie smartly adds in Judy, who is starting to have her own psychic powers, which makes this their most personal case ever. The movie also shows things from the old films and has cameos from characters we've seen before, which is a nice treat for fans who have watched all of them.

The director, Michael Chaves, who also did The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and The Nun II, is much better in this one. Some people think the movie is slow because it spends a lot of time on the Warrens at home before they get to the case. But Chaves does a good job of making it feel tense. The scary parts are done well, mixing the classic Conjuring-style tension with new creepy images, especially with the cursed mirror. A lot of people say the movie feels more "tiring" than "creepy," though, because it sometimes uses loud noises and sudden shocks instead of the slow, creepy feeling of the older movies.

To wrap it all up, The Conjuring: Last Rites is a good and sad ending for the Warrens. It's a movie that cares more about the people and the feelings than just being super scary, which might make some people mad if they just wanted the scariest movie. But because it focuses on what it costs to fight demons, and the great acting from Wilson and Farmiga, it's a good and final ending to their story in the movies. It's a tribute to the characters that made the franchise what it is, and a touching look at the "last rites" of a really famous on-screen team.