By 
The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025)
The case that ended it all.
The Conjuring: Last Rites opens with a prologue in 1964 that feels like a summation of everything this series has been about. Ed and Lorraine Warren (played here by Orion Smith and Madison Lawlor), still early in their careers, investigate a strange antique shop. Lorraine touches an unnerving vintage mirror, collapses with a horrifying vision, and moments later suffers a traumatic delivery that seems to end in stillbirth — until prayer and desperate faith bring her child back. That child is Judy. It’s a terrifying, surreal curtain-raiser that both literalizes the film’s central motif and lays down the stakes: this is not just another haunted house case, this is the object that has followed the Warrens all their lives.
The bulk of the story shifts to 1986, where the Smurl family in Pennsylvania inherit the same mirror. Jack (Elliot Cowan) and Janet Smurl (Rebecca Calder) move into their new home with Jack’s parents, John and Mary (Peter Wright and Kate Fahy), along with their four daughters: Heather (Kíla Lord Cassidy), Dawn (Beau Gadsdon), Shannon (Molly Cartwright), and Carin (Tilly Walker). Almost immediately the house becomes a breeding ground for strange phenomena. Phone cords pull and yank themselves, a child’s doll rises eerily into the air, and shadows move where no one should be. Judy Warren, now an adult played with warmth and quiet power by Mia Tomlinson, begins experiencing visions again. Her fiancé Tony Spera (Ben Hardy) proposes during Ed’s birthday gathering, a moment of familial joy that quickly darkens when the mirror’s influence becomes clear. Against their better judgment, the older, semi-retired Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) are pulled back into the field for one last case — one that threatens not just a family, but their own bloodline.
When prayer, Latin, and sheer dad energy collide.
Michael Chaves, directing his fourth Conjuring-verse entry, has clearly leveled up. His earlier franchise efforts were uneven, too reliant on jump scares and blunt force, but here the pacing is steadier, the geography clearer, and the suspense sequences carry a sense of patience and craft. He finally seems comfortable letting dread build before delivering the payoff. This isn’t James Wan at the height of his orchestral horror powers, but it is the best Chaves has ever looked, and in a series that has often floundered without Wan, that’s saying something. Several set-pieces stand out as highlights. Judy’s bridal-shop visit to try on dresses is staged in a mirrored dressing room, dozens of reflections shimmering back until one of them moves independently — and from there it only grows more unsettling. Another well executed moment comes when young Heather reviews a videotape of her Confirmation night, trying to figure out who blew out the candles on her cake. She pauses the tape and notices, frozen in the distortion, a demonic face lurking in the darkness. It’s a chilling discovery, and Chaves stages it with unnerving precision.
Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga remain the bedrock of this series, and it’s hard to imagine anyone else playing the Warrens. Wilson brings a weary physicality to Ed, his body betraying him even as his stubbornness won’t let him stop. Farmiga, as always, imbues Lorraine with serenity and deep compassion, her eyes carrying decades of psychic torment. Their chemistry remains effortless, and in this film there’s an added poignancy — this is their goodbye. Mia Tomlinson’s Judy is also solid here, her arc from fragile sensitivity to reluctant heir to her parents’ vocation providing the movie’s emotional spine. Ben Hardy gives her partner Tony Spera a credible mix of nerves and resolve, while Elliot Cowan and Rebecca Calder are convincing as parents already drained before the Warrens arrive. Steve Coulter returns as Father Gordon, and his subplot — cut short by the demon’s interference — reminds us how wide the mirror’s reach has grown.
“Say yes to the dress … or else.”
Themes of family and inheritance have always haunted these films, but here they’re sharper than ever. The mirror is a literal curse passed down through generations, connecting the Warrens’ first case to their last. It embodies the question of what we hand to our children — faith, love, or fear. Ed’s health struggles, Lorraine’s visions, Judy’s inheritance of the gift and the burden: each of these strands circles the same point. Who decides what is passed forward? And is love strong enough to sanctify it? The climax, which takes Judy to the attic for a desperate confrontation with the mirror — and the entity hiding within it — dramatizes that tug of war in blunt but effective terms. It’s not subtle, but sincerity has always been the secret weapon of this franchise, and it works here.
That’s not to say Last Rites is flawless. The story beats will feel familiar to longtime fans, and the climax runs a touch long. There are echoes of James Wan’s earlier orchestration — camera sweeps through impossible angles, practical-meets-CGI ghouls — that here feel more like tribute than invention. But as a whole, the film understands what it needs to be: a farewell. The final few scenes give Wilson and Farmiga moments that feel earned, tender, and reflective, and when the curtain finally drops, it does so with respect. The series closes on a note that feels less like a slammed door and more like a candle quietly blown out.
No GPS needed … just follow the evil vibes.
Measured against the franchise, Last Rites isn’t top-tier Conjuring. Wan’s first two entries remain untouchable, but this is a clear step up from the wobblier spin-offs and, crucially, a demonstration that Michael Chaves has finally found his groove. It’s a good film — sometimes very good — and a solid send-off for a pair of characters who defined modern studio horror. The mirror will linger in the mind, the scares will echo in memory, but most of all, the love story at the center — Ed and Lorraine Warren against the dark — lands with the deepest impact.
All up, The Conjuring: Last Rites may not reach Wan-level brilliance, but it stands as a sturdy, often scary, and heartfelt farewell. It sends Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga out with dignity, closes the circle on the Warrens, and proves there was still one last good haunting left in the franchise.
3.5 / 5 – Great
Reviewed by Dan Cachia (Mr. Movie)
The Conjuring: Last Rites is released through Warner Bros. Australia
