The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025) Dir: Michael Chaves

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James Wan's 'The Conjuring' franchise has been a staple of the horror genre since it first arrived on our screens in 2013. Now, over a decade later, the main arc of films was set to end, with this fourth and final film under 'The Conjuring' name. This one was once again directed by Michael Chaves, who had also directed the third film; 'The Devil Made Me Do It', a film that had been okay, but nothing to shout home about. That was the kind of expectation I held for this film too. With it being the final film, I was hoping it would at least end on an entertaining note.

In regards to the cinematography, this was very similar to that of the previous film, in that, it looked better than the first two, but was otherwise unremarkable. In fact, I would argue this was actually slightly worse than 'The Devil Made Me Do It', because it didn't seem to do anything new or interesting. I did appreciate the hair and make-up design of the spirits, though. I think this franchise has done very well to make the creepy characters look the part.

I have not minced words when it comes to my feelings about the controversial escapes of Ed and Lorraine Warren - I think they were willfully and manipulatively superstitious at best, and downright fraudulent at worst - but they do at least take up an interesting space in the true crime and supernatural communities, and they have given the horror genre a whole lot to work with. The choice to finish with this particular case was a slightly odd one, but it gave plenty of leeway to add various character arcs around that, at least.

The film suffered greatly in the pacing department. It took far too long to get interesting, and the second act was far too long, but the finale was at least pretty entertaining, even if it was complete nonsense. I actually preferred the bulk of the narrative to at least two of the prior films, but the aforementioned sluggish pacing meant that this film slipped down quite markedly in my estimations. The call-backs towards the end were a little weird, but I get where the temptation to include them came from.

Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga engaged in one last ride together, bringing their iconic on-screen husband and wife duo to the fore one last time. This was Wilson's best, and most versatile outing yet, as he was able to show so much more character than in the first two films. Farmiga was actually the weaker of the two, on this occasion, but I still enjoyed her performance a fair amount. These two have had instant and wonderful on-screen chemistry from the start of this franchise, and it was actually quite sad to see them make their final bow.

Mia Tomlinson stood out the most of anyone, in my opinion, including Wilson and Farmiga. I wasn't sure if I was going to like her character's significantly increased presence in the film, but she ended up providing some very solid acting, particularly in the final third of the film, where she got to get really involved. Ben Hardy also had a fairly significant role to play, and while he sort of felt a bit forced into the film at times, Hardy's actually acting was fine. I wouldn't say he was particularly impressive, but he did what he needed to do well enough.

Of the other cast members, I'll give mentions to Kíla Lord Cassidy, Beau Gadsden, Rebecca Calder, Tilly Walker, Elliot Cowan, Molly Cartwright, and Steve Coulter, for their various performances, with a particular credit going to Cassidy and Gadsden for their scenes together, which I thought were very good. Coulter also filled his role very well, and deserves praise for doing so.

Overall, I came into this film hoping for some halfway-decent horror entertainment, and that's pretty much exactly what I got. These films are far from perfect, and their source material is definitely sketchy, but the entertainment value has always been there, and their place in the horror community is undeniable. For a last hurrah, this wasn't a bad way to send one of modern horror's most iconic on-screen couples off into the sunset, so-to-speak.