Stream it.

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It’s hard to believe The Conjuring series has come to an end. That’s not to say the series as a whole is over, but the main story that kickstarted that devilish $2.5 billion global gross, including the spinoffs and sequels combined, has.

Although it’s known when famous paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren made their way to investigating the paranormal, it isn’t quite clear when they were brought to the public eye. When the weird happened, the Warrens were there to check it out via The New England Society for Psychic Research. Sometimes the activity was easy to explain wind drafts in the walls and sometimes it really was a doll possessed by a demon from hell. Over the years, there have been countless interviews, books, articles and other movies about their research and they were almost all forgotten until James Wan (Saw) decided to do a deep dive into their research. 

Back in 2013, the world was re-introduced to the Warrens (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga playing Ed and Lorraine respectively) with the first Conjuring movie. The scare-the-pants-off-you true haunted house story was an immediate hit and audiences were clamoring for the creepy. Since then we’ve had three spin-offs, two with sequels, one with a prequel and three sequels to the main story with the Warrens (total of 10 flicks). Much like the previous movies, Last Rites promises this one is their scariest story yet. However, unlike the other ones, this one is so vicious it ended the Warren’s career.

_{These demons ain’t gettin’ rid of themselves. Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga)}

Set in 1986, the aging Warrens are looking towards retirement (both would be in their early 60’s). Ed’s health is in a steady decline and he really doesn’t want to change his diet, despite doctors telling him his next heart attack will be his last. Lorraine keeps hinting at writing a book, and their little daughter Judy (Mia Tomlinson) is in her 20’s and dating a former police officer, Tony (Ben Hardy, Bohemian Rhapsody). 

A few hours south in West Pittston, Pa., Heather Smurl (Kila Lord Cassidy) and her family are celebrating her communion. Grandma and Grandpa Smurl (Kate Fahy and Peter Wright respectively) thought the perfect gift for her would be this really nice, large old mirror with three angels fixed on top. The beautiful gift almost immediately starts in tragedy as the ceiling falls on everyone as they talk about whether or not the angels looked like Heather when she was younger. 

Days pass and fed up with the mirror, Heather and her sister Dawn (Beau Gadson) throw it in the garbage pile to be picked up in the morning. During breakfast, it’s taken away and while being compacted, Heather violently throws up pieces of the mirror. 

The Warrens are deciding to take it a little easy. During their family BBQ (I always knew Officer Brad (John Brotherton) cooked a mean burger), the Warrens discover Tony wants to marry Judy. They’ve been dating a few months but Tony knows she’s the one after a life changing incident that happened right when he met her. Ed is a little concerned; Lorraine loves the idea, and Judy walks in and sees the ring! Father Gordon (Steve Coulter), fresh from a hot dog and potato salad, talks to the Warrens about the Smurl family and, as you would have guessed: There’s a new possession. But, this time it’s personal. The demons in the mirror the Smurls have made a mark on Lorraine while she was about to give birth to Judy and now, it wants her soul as well as the souls of the Smurl family. So we’re off to a good old fashion good vs evil throwdown.

_{Abner (Leigh Jones) is not doing a hack job.}

I’ll be the first to admit I wasn’t a fan of The Conjuring when it came out in 2013. At the time I really didn’t like the series because with a light Google search, you could find out what happened. Yeah, I know that’s blasphemy, but let’s be fair here: When you know no one is going to die, the suspense leaves the room. Over the years my opinion has changed slightly, and I think that The Devil Made Me Do It is the best in the series. The story is rich like a lager beer (despite the few lines of dialogue that make no sense), the characters are seasoned like a good brisket and for some reason I can’t stop thinking about that BBQ scene in the fourth installment.

Last Rites stays in the real world, as bonkers as that may sound, and delivers a solid story that we’ve seen every time in the past 12 years. Obviously it’s set up for another spin off, but we’re left feeling very stuffed in a rounded ending. This may be the weakest of the four films, but I think it has the strongest ending. 

Michael Chaves returns to the directing helm after completing two spinoffs and the third Conjuring movie. He brings with him Ian Goldberg and Richard Naing, the writing crew behind The Autopsy of Jane Doe and The Nun II (which Chaves directed) and David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick who created the Orphan character as well as a few other fun horror flicks. With all this familiarity, we should feel like nothing’s changed, right? Correct. Although everything feels the same, it has changed and it should feel different. The Warren’s “one last case” mentality looks like it is taking its toll on everything but it won’t let it’s icy grip up unless we scream “Valak!” In short: It doesn’t look like the franchise has ended, but it says it has. 

Will there be more Conjuring movies? If money has anything to say about it we’ll see The Nun 15 before my toddler becomes a teenager. However, I think as far as the Warrens are concerned, they’ve hung up their rosaries and will stay on the sidelines, showing up in the shadows of another character’s movie to declare, “I’ve dealt with this before … “

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The Conjuring: Last Rites is now playing in theaters

Director: Michael Chaves

Writer: Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick

Starring: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Mia Tomlinson

Genre: Horror/fact based

Rating: R

Runtime: 135 mins