REVIEW | The end of an era for 'The Conjuring: Last Rites'

The fourth instalment sees the franchise close the final chapter on its dynamic duo, but is it worth the watch?

The current age of movies has seen cinemagoers fed existing intellectual property that has proved to have the Midas touch, as seen with multiversal powerhouses. This has included sequels, prequels and reboots, with The Conjuring: Last Rites being the latest to join the fray.

In their final adventure, Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) are back in the habit after leaving the world of demon exorcisms for good. There is a considerable time jump in this follow-up to Annabelle, where we last interacted with their daughter Judy (Mia Tomlinson) who is central to the dark events that play out in Last Rites.

At the core of each movie, family bonds have always held the characters together. Whether it was the large Perron bunch in the first or even the quaint Hodgson clan. This time around, Lorraine and Ed are tested when they must confront unfinished business from their daughter's past.

The best parts of Last Rites are how it builds up its story. It becomes an antithesis to The Devil Made Me Do It, which spends a third of the film building tension awkwardly, never really sure of its direction until it finishes with a big bang. Last Rites shines in this department as we learn about a young Ed and Lorraine on their first job and how their failure invited a demonic entity into their infant's life.

The Warren family doesn't feel like any of the spooked-out members in previous instalments, all thanks to well-written dialogue from the main writers who have been around since the first. Much praise is to be given to its young cast as well, with Beau Gadsdon and Kila Lord Cassidy, who play the teens of the Smurl family. Both bring the bickering sisters to life and become central figures that define the love each Smurl family member has for the other.

The two families come together when their shared family priest is affected by the ghosts haunting the Smurl home, which leads to the most creative haunting scene in the franchise. For the uninitiated, who might have this as their first watch or interaction with the Warren family, this creates the effect of Judy being tested as a lead for a new spin-off. Especially with her father's health on the line and Lorraine feeling overwhelmed by the years they've spent helping with exorcisms.

This exciting build-up falls a bit flat once we dive into the final act. Key features of the franchise that have stood out are how Ed and Lorraine make it out of a case and how they confront evil head-on with a very clear understanding of how dark entities are to be dealt with. However, in this adaptation, the villain is nothing but a scary mirror that possesses the omniscience of Lucifer himself, with no explanation as to what it is or how to get rid of it.

In what feels like foreshadowing and laziness from the writing room, Wilson delivers a line earlier in the film alluding to how the need for a big reveal and confrontation are not necessary, which makes the time spent dealing with this family in their adieu to fans and newbies a bit half-hearted. Its predecessors have shone in expanding the lore and world of demonology with the high stakes of families being affected deeply by these entities with their own corrupt intentions. The backstory of Judy's birth is central only to this movie, which makes it feel like a spin-off that did not need the dynamic duo, considering the only person who can defeat the demonic furniture was Judy. 

In its struggle to capture the spark (or claps) of what made the first Conjuring a well-praised jump-scares-galore fest, Last Rites is a disappointing final limp of a franchise that is best suited for more celebration at a time when horror movies have become critical successes.