“The Conjuring: Last Rites” Delivers More Effective Scares and a Decent Ending of the Warren’s Story

The Conjuring universe has been scaring audiences (for the most part) since 2013. While the main series follows the Warrens as they attempt to assist people who find themselves harassed by spirits, the spin-off films focus on the origins of some of the entities the Warrens have encountered. 

The latest of the main series, “The Conjuring: Last Rites” marks the ninth installment in the overall franchise and the conclusion of the current story of Ed and Lorraine Warren.

“The Conjuring: Last Rites” delivers another thrilling chapter of this iconic series in a powerful and spine-chilling addition to the global box office breaking franchise. In 1986, paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren travel to Pennsylvania to vanquish a demon from a family’s home.

Before getting to my initial thoughts, here is a little bit about the infamous Smurl hauntings. The Smurl haunting refers to claims made by Jack and Janey Smurl of West Pittston, who alleged that a demon inhabited their home between 1974 and 1989. Their claims gained wide press attention and were investigated by demonologists who encouraged the family’s supernatural beliefs, and clergy, psychologists and scientific skeptics who offered other explanations of the hauntings.

“The Conjuring: Last Rites” delivers a decent amount of scares and even has a good focus of the Warrens’ family, which I did expect would be one of the big focuses of the movie since this is, as of now, the last “Conjuring” movie in the main series to feature the older Warrens. Now, while a good amount of the scares are pretty decent, it does take a bit before the scares to start up.

Both Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga reprise their iconic roles of Ed and Lorraine Warren and, once again, are one of the major highlights of this installment. In every “Conjuring” movie in the main series, Farmiga and Wilson brought these characters to life and always do an amazing job providing a compelling anchor for the initial story, including a bit of humor from Patrick Wilson.

This movie’s attempt to provide an emotional and satisfying conclusion to the story of Ed and Lorraine is highly enjoyable as we see them focusing on their family and the cost of their work over the years. This installment also focuses on their daughter, Judy, as she begins to slowly get her mother’s psychic powers and sort of hints that she could potentially take over the series after a while. “Last Rites” does focus on the Warren family dynamics, which is great and does indeed work. But, this focus does sideline the scares just a bit.

As soon as the scares and thrills start right up, “Conjuring” fans won’t be disappointed. Even though there are one or two scares that are sort of predictable, there are quite a few that are truly effective, especially when it involves the demonic mirror.

The demonic mirror (the haunted subject of this installment) is involved in quite a few of the effective and memorable moments, including it physically harming most of the family and the supernatural entity even making one of the children throw up glass after they were trying to destroy the mirror.

This installment of the franchise also features quite a few callbacks to the previous movies, including the expected appearance of the Annabelle doll and a couple cameos from past characters. And, of course, the Warren’s artifact room makes an appearance which can be nostalgic for hardcore fans of the franchise.

Overall, “The Conjuring: Last Rites” serves as a satisfying conclusion of the main series. Even though it took a little while for the scares to arrive, they are really effective. While the scares are great, they aren’t nearly as scary and exciting as the first two movies - which is hard to beat. It is also really awesome to see local areas (West Pittston; Wilkes-Barre) mentioned in a Hollywood movie.

Cast: Vera Farmiga (Lorraine Warren); Patrick Wilson (Ed Warren); Mia Tomlinson (Judy); Ben Hardy (Tony Spera); Beau Gadsdon (Dawn Smurl); Kila Lord Cassidy (Heather Smurl); Elliot Cowan (Jack Smurl); Rebecca Calder (Janey Smurl); Madison Lawlor (Young Lorraine); Orion Smith (Young Ed).

Writer/director: David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (writer) (Orphan: First Kill; Aquaman 2; The Conjuring 2-3); Richard Naing (writer) (The Nun II); Ian Goldberg (writer) (The Nun II); Michael Chaves (director) (The Nun II; The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It; The Curse of La Llorona).

MPA; Rated R for bloody/violent content and terror   (runtime 135 minutes)

You can also find some fun and interesting trivia bits of this movie on my Wyoming County Press Examiner reviews page as well! Also, make sure to keep on following my Facebook page to see what I will be checking out next for the Examiner! And, speaking of what’s next, here is what I have planned for the 9/24 edition: Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (new release); Spider-Man 3 (special movie event at the Dietrich Theater); Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle (new anime release); Bob Trevino Likes It (recent indie release and past festival selection); Small Things Like These (recent indie release). 

I also have my film selections picked out for the Fall Film Festival and getting things in the early stages of planning for the fun spooky month of October! So make sure to keep on checking my Facebook page for updates!

• The chilling story of the Smurl family's alleged haunting was dramatized in the TV movie The Haunted (1991).

• Stated to be the last movie of the Conjuring series with Ed and Lorraine Warren. Other movies within the Conjuring universe may still occur without the Warrens.

• Sterling Jerins was recast with Mia Tomlinson as Judy Warren, as the character needed to be older in this film, given the time period it takes place in, and Jerins, at 21, looked too young to play an adult Judy Warren in this film.

• Grossed $194 million worldwide in its opening weekend, the biggest opening for a horror film, surpassing It (2017), which grossed $190 million.

• The Smurl haunting refers to claims made by Jack and Janet Smurl of West Pittston, Pennsylvania, U.S., who alleged that a demon inhabited their home between 1974 and 1989. The Smurls' claims gained wide press attention and were investigated by demonologists who encouraged the family's supernatural beliefs, and clergy, psychologists, and scientific skeptics who offered more parsimonious explanations.

• The Smurls moved into a double-block house on Chase Street in West Pittston, Pennsylvania in August 1973. They claimed that the premises were disturbed by a demon that caused loud noises and bad odors, threw their dog into a wall, shook their mattress, pushed one of their daughters down a flight of stairs, and physically and sexually assaulted family members on several occasions.

• In 1986, Ed and Lorraine Warren were called to investigate. According to Ed Warren, the demon that inhabited the Smurls home was "very powerful" and it shook mirrors and furniture after they tried to persuade it to leave by playing religious music and praying. Warren claimed he felt a drop in temperature and saw a "dark mass" form in the home, and the demon once left a message on a mirror telling him to "get out". After months of investigation, Warren alleged that he had a number of audiotapes containing knocking and rapping caused by the demon.

• Professor Paul Kurtz of State University of New York at Buffalo and then-chairman of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal said the Warrens weren't objective, independent, or impartial investigators and characterized the Smurls' claims as "a hoax, a charade, a ghost story." Kurtz said that the family's claims were possibly due to delusions, hallucinations or brain impairment, and advised that they submit themselves to psychiatric and psychological examinations. Jack Smurl told a newspaper reporter he had "surgery to remove water from his brain in 1983 because he had been experiencing short-term memory loss due to a case of meningitis in his youth." Allentown psychologist Robert Gordon commented that "people often look at demonology to explain many tensions that they experience as individuals and within their families"

• Spokespeople for the Roman Catholic Church, Diocese of Scranton said they were unsure what might be causing the disturbances. St. Bonaventure University theology professor Alphonsus Trabold, OFM, said there might be other "less demonic" explanations. The home was blessed by several priests who said they saw "no harmful activity while on the property." Janet Smurl claimed an unidentified priest performed three "unsuccessful" exorcisms, and that the demon avoided the rites by "moving between the double-block home" and following the family to other locations. In 1986, a priest from the local diocese spent two nights at the Smurl home and said "nothing unusual happened" during his stay there.

• In 1986, the Smurls told the press they were tired of the constant media bombardment; however within a few months, they had authored (along with Ed and Lorraine Warren and Scranton newspaper writer Robert Curran) a paperback book version of their story called The Haunted published by St. Martin's Press. The book was criticized by reviewers such as Wilkes-Barre Times Leader staff writer Joseph Marusfak who wrote, "Robert Curran forsakes the principles of his trade to give readers a one-sided account of what did or didn't occur over several years in Jack and Janet Smurl's former home". Reviewer Mary Beth Gehrman wrote that the book was poorly written, adding that "it is hard to conceive of a supposedly sophisticated objective and (as far as I know, at least until now) credible reporter like Curran taking their story seriously given the complete lack of any empirical or physical evidence to support it."

• That same year, the pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in West Pittston, Rev. Joseph Adonizio, said the Smurls felt that after intense prayers, "things are back to normal." In 1987, Janet Smurl told reporters that they still heard knocking and saw shadows. After the Smurl family moved to Wilkes-Barre, Debra Owens moved into the former Smurl home in 1988 and told reporters she "never encountered anything supernatural while living there."