jansrw

The movie signs off the main series with a decent but decidedly cautious final note. It's noticeably better than Part 3 (The Devil Made Me Do It), which I can barely remember today, but it never reaches the freshness and punch of the first Conjuring. I was entertained, yes, but I was never truly thrilled.

The strength is clearly the characters. After more than a decade with Ed and Lorraine Warren, you're automatically invested, and the film finally leverages that. We see them aging, wrestling with thoughts of retirement, putting their waning fame in perspective, and, most importantly, functioning as a couple. Daughter Judy moves to the center as well, which makes sense given her history with the supernatural. These quiet, personal beats carry the film. I saw the first part in theaters back in 2013; that baseline feeling of "I'm attached to the Warrens" was new and lively then, and here the movie tries to tap into it again as a farewell letter. It works in part. There are also a few nicely composed shots where I briefly thought, "Okay, something creative might happen now."

The strength is clearly the characters. After more than a decade with Ed and Lorraine Warren, you're automatically invested, and the film finally leverages that. We see them aging, wrestling with thoughts of retirement, putting their waning fame in perspective, and-most importantly-functioning as a couple. Daughter Judy moves to the center as well, which makes sense given her history with the supernatural. These quiet, personal beats carry the film. I saw the first part in theaters back in 2013; that baseline feeling of "I'm attached to the Warrens" was new and lively then-and here the movie tries to tap into it again as a farewell letter. It works in part. There are also a few nicely composed shots where I briefly thought, "Okay, something creative might happen now."

But sadly, it stays at "might." On the horror side, the movie runs the well-worn jump-scare template for the umpteenth time: you enter a strangely quiet room, an object isn't where it was, the music swells, then total silence, a prolonged stare, and after the turn into the off-screen space comes the loud BAM. This cycle repeats almost beat-for-beat throughout. It's no longer nerve-racking; it's predictable. Precisely because the camera occasionally offers interesting perspectives, it's frustrating when the staging slides right back into the exhausted "boo!" reflex.

Add to that the inconsistent demon logic in the finale. Throughout, the threat shows real power: trapping people in illusion loops, sealing doors, scrambling orientation and perception, even pushing someone to suicide. But once the endgame begins, the film forgets those abilities. Prime example: Judy is threatened in the attic, the ladder is left down, Ed and Lorraine simply climb up and thwart the whole thing; only afterward does the attic magically lock. That doesn't feel like clever outmaneuvering, it feels like convenient screenwriting. In general, the Warrens enter the last third without a plan, even split up, and only at the very end is the holy text brought in, the same text the demon can destroy at will. Why not earlier? Choices like these undercut the tension. On top of that, possessed characters suddenly "force-push" people and deliver wooden trash talk; it lands as unintentionally goofy rather than threatening.

Story-wise, the haunting is set in a Pennsylvania house, clearly nodding to the Smurl case from the 1980s. The focus is curious: the Warrens only get deeply involved fairly late, which slows the investigative dynamic but does bolster the character focus. And yes, Annabelle shows up again. It's narratively defensible because of Judy, but it still feels like box-ticking. The "hey, I know that!" effect is no substitute for genuine menace, and I'm personally oversaturated with that doll. For what it's worth, the spin-offs The Nun and The Nun 2 blur together for me; this sequel at least does better than those offshoots.

As a character piece about Ed and Lorraine, The Last Rites works surprisingly well and even gives the supposed finale an emotional tint. But as a horror film, it stays formulaic and risk-averse. If you like the series, you'll maybe be decently served and probably leave satisfied.