The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025) (USA/UK/Canada)

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The Warren’s last case is a doozy and has them lending their particular set of skills to the Smurl family whose haunting in their Pennsylvania home explodes into a full on demonic infestation. It ties into an early case of theirs back in ‘64 involving a very dark entity in an antique store. It was investigated while Lorraine was pregnant and definitely had some kind of effect on her unborn daughter. Led to an early delivery as well… that night after she felt something sinister in an antique mirror. A sinister something that showed up during Lorraine’s complicated labor of daughter Judy. Poor little thing almost died. Now, decades and a shit-ton of terrifying experiences later, the paranormal hunting husband and wife team drag themselves out of retirement (Ed’s heart being a major issue) to find themselves in a cozy home with a large (and likable) family lost at what to do about the unknown causing them endless issues and turning the tension all the way up to its highest level. That mirror Lorraine came into contact with two decades ago is a confirmation gift for one of their many daughters. Judy is also in harm’s way thanks to her powers and upbringing. The Warrens remain adamant about staying out of things but the death of a close friend (really should have stayed away from that house, padre) and Judy’s insistence of helping gets them involved with the family who has already gone to church and the media for help. Wilson and Farmiga are as great as to be expected from two reliable performers handling characters they enjoy playing. John Brotherton shows up to put in a fun cameo reprising his character from The Conjuring as does Shannon Kook, the world’s finest Lily (that would be Tomlin) and, of course, Annabelle has to appear as her spooky self. The scares are all familiar by this point (some still work) but I’ve dwelled in the horror genre for far too long (with a deep love of 80’s slashers) to be bothered by anything being predictable but the Warren family dynamics and dramatics are all well done and pretty charming because they’re all just so damn good at what they do. Weird that I’m way more into this fictionalized presentation of the questionable real life people than the actual horrors going down. Not that the spooky stuff isn’t interesting.