James Wan’s 2013 horror film “The Conjuring” dramatized the exploits of real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren in a thrilling and uncommonly poignant horror film. Since that initial installment, the series has expanded into a full-blown cinematic universe, with films like “Annabelle,” “The Nun” and their respective sequels.
“The Conjuring: Last Rites” is the fourth entry in the mainline series starring Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga. The film follows the haunting of the Smurl family by a mysterious antique mirror from Ed’s and Lorraine’s past. Meanwhile, the same demonic force haunts the Warrens’ daughter Judy (Mia Tomlinson).
The setup is typical of a film in the series. A family experiences terrifying paranormal activity, and the Warrens must intervene to save the day, often culminating in a possession and exorcism. Unfortunately, “Last Rites” fails to introduce enough new or interesting elements and feels like an inferior imitation of prior films.
The Warrens remain solid protagonists; Wilson and Farmiga are excellent actors and bring a palpable warmth to their characters that makes them easy to root for. Unfortunately, their plotline feels too separated from the comparatively underdeveloped Smurl family — they do not even converge until the third act. Compared to the haunted families of the first and second films, the Smurls are forgettable and uninteresting.
Part of the problem is that there are just too many Smurls; there are parents, grandparents and four daughters. None of them have strongly defined motivations or personalities, and they’ve mostly blended together by the end. Director Michael Chaves focuses more closely on the Warren family and Judy’s relationship with her boyfriend Tony (Ben Hardy), possibly in the interest of setting up future spinoffs. The two families are simply too disconnected, and the Smurls are left underwritten as a result.
The film’s other major flaw is its villain. Part of what made prior films unique was following the Warrens’ investigations into the entities responsible for the haunting; they would gradually investigate the history of the homes or families and discover a crucial piece of information that would enable them to expel the evil forces. Here, the main antagonist is basically just an evil mirror. It has no clear backstory or motivations beyond wanting to target the Warrens. Consequently, the third act confrontation feels phoned-in and devoid of real dramatic stakes.
However, the scares are above average. Chaves clearly understands the setup and payoff of an adequate jumpscare, but the lack of notable villains makes most of the scarier scenes somewhat forgettable. Prior films benefitted from memorably creepy antagonists like Bathsheba, the nun Valak and the Crooked Man. Most of the scares in “Last Rites” involve a trio of generically-designed undead spirits who used to reside in the Smurl house.
It’s also hard not to notice the repetitive formula for which the spooky scenes unfold. A character hears a noise in a different room, approaches it slowly, something scary jumps out at them, they scream in terror and a second character enters to find nothing wrong. These scenes may be competent enough to make you jump, but they fail to truly get under one’s skin in the way that the best horror films do. It never feels like any of the characters are in particularly great danger, and the film refrains from showing any truly disturbing imagery.
With the title’s suggestion of finality, “Last Rites” may be the conclusion to Ed and Lorraine’s story. Still, despite a tacked-on montage resolution in the final few minutes, the film fails to communicate that this case is somehow more dramatic, personal or climactic than any of the ones that came before. It feels more like a perfunctory greatest hits album rather than an epic finale. For instance, the iconic Annabelle doll appears briefly to terrorize Judy with seemingly zero connection to this film’s plot.
On the whole, “The Conjuring: Last Rites” is a decent enough diversion for horror aficionados or fans of the franchise eager to see their favorite paranormal investigators back in action. Still, in a year full of excellent new horror films like “Sinners,” “28 Years Later” and “Weapons,” “Last Rites” falls flat as a bland, inoffensive retread.
