The Conjuring: Last Rites Conjures a Decent Scare But Not Much More
It's Ghost Adventures: The Movie-Part IV. The entire point of The Conjuring is to make a paranormal activity movie that audiences can believe is based on a true story, as it's the tagline for every single Conjuring movie from its opening to its closing credits. To question the validity of such events introduces skepticism. Were these exorcisms really real? Did pale ghosts with black oozing mouths who look like Danny DeVito's Penguin really haunt an innocent family? Or is it all just make-believe? It's probably 95% fictitious nonsense, yet it doesn't stop the movie from being a good time. The Conjuring: Last Rites may not particularly stand out, especially within a horror genre that has been improving with each passing year. That still doesn't exclude the fact that the movie accomplishes its job of entertaining an audience. Sometimes, that's all you can really ask for. But is it enough?
If you've seen The Conjuring, then you know what to expect. The film opens similarly to the 2013 film, with a family giving a confessional about being haunted by ghosts. The only difference is that it's 1964, and we're not just watching any family. It's the Warrens. Our power couple ghost hunters from all the other films. Props should be given to Director Michael Chaves for not de-aging Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga. By casting younger actors, Chaves does what many filmmakers should do with their movies, as it's economically feasible for the production's budget and avoids the uncanny valley distraction. Shortly afterward, Lorrain (Madison Lawlor) gives birth to a child in a hideous hospital that's being possessed by a strange entity.
After the "successful" birth of their child, Judy, the film flashes forward to 1986, where Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) are giving a lecture on their paranormal investigations, only to be mocked by the students, who reference them as the Ghostbusters. Here we have our film's hurdle for our protagonists to overcome. To be taken seriously again. A pursuit the couple doesn't initially embark on since they've been through enough trauma. Sort of like a cop pulling a retired officer out of retirement, an older priest forces the Warrens back into action. If only it weren't through yet another possessed family.
There's an episodic feel to these Conjuring movies that happens when you become franchised. Everything becomes too similar. Ed and Lorrain find a new ghost of the week to exercise. When the film cuts away from the Warrens, we meet the Smurls. A family that's having an extraordinarily bad ghost haunting them. The entity causes them to do the usual. Levitate, spit blood, and have disturbing visions. The tension with the family is palpable, yet it cuts away from the central core of the story. When we cut back to the Warrens, there's a significant amount of setup that leads to a predictable final battle. If the movie stuck with the Warrens, the payoff would have been far more impactful.
Granted, the Smurls were real people whose hauntings are well documented. Yet with age and knowledge, one questions what's real and what's in someone's head. The narrative would have deviated from the true story if trimming the Smurls, yet it would have centered the encounter more closely on the characters that the last three films have established. When the Warrens are brought back into the threshold of terror by assisting the family, the film's structure loses track of some of its pacing.
Oddly, the movie will transition from a horrific event to something light-hearted, causing the picture to struggle with its own tone. Unlike Weapons, where the humor felt intrusive, the jokes in this movie don't hijack the picture's overall atmosphere. Yet, it's oddly funnier than the first film, with gags that are lame.
The way the Warrens help the Smurls is almost laughably Hollywood. It's a moment where a character musters their bravery so they can fight their past, which comes at the cost of making little sense. Do they really think that fighting one more ghost will vanquish their hauntings? It can only make things worse. Like Ed said in movie one, you can't just leave a haunted site. The spirit will just stick around you like a piece of gum stuck to a shoe. A piece of advice the Warrens oddly have forgotten. There are a lot of character choices that seem flat-out silly and poorly written, particularly with Lorrain. She's supposed to be a brilliant demon extinguisher, yet scene after scene, she looks helpless under the shadow of her husband, who seems to be doing all the work. Instead of being useful or progressing her character, Lorrain is reduced to shouting and tears as she begs Ed to help her.
Despite some structural flaws, The Conjuring: Last Rites knows how to deliver the jump scares. Perhaps a bit too many jump scares, as that's the only type of fright these movies rely on. Luckily, unlike most ineffective jump scare movies, the jumps are unpredictable. They're prolonged, constantly providing the audience with a sense of misdirection. It's not the typical scenario where everything goes quiet, then BAM! The cat knocked over some stuff. False alarm. But then BOO! The ghost pops up. There's a little more thought brought to the frights that's effective.
The saving grace of the film is its mostly consistent pace. There's not too much downtime between spooky scenes that will likely keep the audience engaged. The film can get a bit boring. Especially with an ending that could have ended 8-10 minutes earlier. By the grace of the holy spirit, the fun The Conjuring: Last Rites has to offer makes up for its glaring problems. Will this film truly be the Last Rite? Doubtfully. If there's money in it, the series can break away from the Warrens, explore different paranormal hunters, and then have them return as side characters in a legacy sequel. Spare us from that, please. After four films of the same thing, maybe that's enough Exorcist knockoffs for a while.
