The Conjuring Last Rites Review: A Forgettable Farewell

Peter Safran and Michael Chaves planned it to be a grand ending to The Conjuring franchise, but it did not turn out as expected. It seems that the trailer misled us about the film’s upcoming grandeur.

Here is our version of The Conjuring Last Rites review that will help you decide whether to spare some bucks on a cinema ticket or leave it for now.

Plot details of The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025)

The Conjuring: Last Rites tells the story of the Warrens’ one of the most notorious cases that remained unsolved. Directed by Michael Chaves, the film introduces the young Ed and Lorraine Warren when Lorraine was pregnant with their first child, Judy (played by Mia Tomlinson).

They encounter a demonic presence through a haunted mirror, which complicates Lorraine’s labour. Their only child, when she grows up, comes to know that she possesses the same paranormal senses just like her parents.

The film then goes on to show events taking place in 1986 when Judy is planning to have a happy life with her fiancé, Tony (played by Ben Hardy), and the Warrens have stopped their paranormal investigations. However, a turn of events occurs when Judy is drawn to the Smurl family’s house and convinces her parents to help them.

This is where the real horror begins. Watch the trailer to get a closer look:

Actors’ performances in The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025)

Vera Farmiga as Lorraine Warren, Patrick Wilson as Ed Warren, Mia Tomlinson as Judy Warren, Ben Hardy as Tony, Beau Gadsdon as Dawn Smurl, Rebecca Calder as Janet Smurl, and Elliot Cowan as Jack Smurl were all brilliant in their roles.

The most prominent ones are the first four, though. Each one of them was seen fighting for their family, their safety, and protection. The director did a great job showing the emotional ties amidst the horrors they had to face.

Farmiga and Wilson have always been fantastic in all of their Conjuring films, but seeing them with their daughter for the first time was a pleasant surprise. They are old and want the best for their kid- whether it is her fiancé or even her peaceful life without any dangers.

Farmiga demonstrates beautifully a worried mother who, all her life, has tried to help Judy by reading a poem so that she avoids thinking of any demons. Farmiga’s Lorraine wants her daughter to stay away from the dark world, and therefore asks her not to think or feel it.

But everything shifted unexpectedly when she asked in the end to stop looking away and face it. It was during the climax scene where Patrick Wilson’s Ed Lorraine and Ben Hardy’s Tony were all struggling together to get rid of the mirror’s demon.

What do critics add to The Conjuring Last Rites review?

With 146 critics reviewing the film, The Conjuring: Last Rites does not have a critics’ consensus review on Rotten Tomatoes as yet. A very low Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score tells the entire story.

The Conjuring 3 (The Devil Made Me Do It) and The Conjuring: Last Rites are both directed by Michael Chaves, and both gained a similar critics’ rating. In contrast to the James Wan-directed The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2, the last two films of the Conjuring Universe did not get much praise from the critics.

Fans reaction

Fans also did not approve much of the film, but were happy to experience the terror of the Conjuring world once again. Several of them stated that it wasn’t as scary as expected, but still they will give a ‘10/10’.

Others said it was thoroughly “disappointing”. It could be rather taken as a tribute to the franchise if this were the actual final film. It was the weakest of all the entries of the franchise, according to the general audience’s reviews.

Greatest box office opening but lowest-rated film of the franchise?

The Conjuring: Last Rites has reportedly made the series-best debut with $83 million, as per Variety, despite lower Rotten Tomatoes ratings from both critics and audience compared with the rest of the franchise’s films (excluding the spinoffs The Nun, Anabelle, and The Curse of La Llorona).

I revisited the films’ ratings from all platforms, and here’s the comparison:

	IMDb	Rotten Tomatoes (critics)	Rotten Tomatoes (audience)
The Conjuring (2013)	7.5	86%	83%
The Conjuring 2 (2016)	7.3	80%	82%
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)	6.3	56%	83%
The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025)	6.5	56%	79%

What’s real and what’s fictional in The Conjuring: Last Rites

After watching the movie, I felt that there were some Hollywood spins added to it to make it more dramatic and engaging. But what I felt was that if the film had been kept true to the real Smurl family haunting case, it would have been scarier.

I was compelled to conduct a deeper research into the real incidents of the Smurl family haunting and here’s what I found:

What’s real	What’s fictional
The Smurl family unveiled that the haunting incidents spanned over a number of years, especially after they moved to the infamous house on Chase Street followed by their Wilkes-Barre house devastation from Hurricane Agnes flooding in 1972	The film does not mention any floods in Pennsylvania
The Smurl case was noted to be the most high-profile case in Warrens’ career where Jack Smurl claimed he was sexually assaulted by the demon, the succubus	The film made no indication of the succubus
The real Warrens said there were four spirits in the house	The film mentions three
The real Lorraine did face pregnancy complications but the demon did not want their daughter	The film showed demon was “waiting patiently” for Judy
Judy felt she possesses some similar powers as her parents and feels demonic presence sometimes	The film showed the same but with a different angle.
There is a real still picture showing Ed Warren standing in front of the haunted mirror placed in their occult house	The mirror shown in the film is a bit different with three carved faces- two cherubic babies and one maternal figure. The mirror is not necessarily related to the Smurl family case.
One of the kids of Smurl family were thrown down the stairs and dog was thrashed to the wall	Only Judy, Warrens’ daughter was shown falling down the stairs while the dog thrashing scene was true
One of the younger sisters in Smurl family started throwing up whenever Warrens arrived at their house	The film showed one time blood vomit of the Smurl family daughter with pieces of glass in it
The Smurl family haunting wasn’t connected to Judy	The filmmakers wanted to make the film more personal and emotional by connecting the haunting of the Smurl family with Warrens’ daughter

Is it worth watching?

Yes, if you are a Conjuring universe fan then it is worth watching for sure. But the real turn off for me was the entire film going to waste; the only last 15 minutes deserve your attention.

The Warrens took 1 hour and 45 minutes to actually get into the house, which completely ruined the fright essence of the franchise. If it is a final goodbye to the franchise that it should have hit us hard; it should have been unforgettable.

It should have landed like a punch to the gut and stayed in our memories forever. The mere talking in the whole movie snatched away all the nightmarish fun that the Conjuring franchise has always enticed us into.

In my opinion, the real Smurl haunting story should have been adapted, keeping the actual scenes intact, which might have helped the film shape into something more chilling.  

Last Rites end-credits and post-credits scenes

Normally, there are two functions of a post-credits scene: to wrap up what has been shown so far or to tease a possible sequel. However, neither of these happened with Last Rites‘ end-credits and post-credits scenes.

The end-credits scene shows Judy and Tony’s wedding, where Lorraine mentions her beautiful dream to Ed. Ed inquires about her dream, which she explains includes Judy’s kids. She saw playing with them happily, publishing their own book, teaching other future paranormal investigators, helping families in need over the phone, and during all this, their romance never faded.

The post-credits scene unfurled all the clippings from previous films, real life photos from Warrens’ album, and film footage of their paranormal investigations. It was merely a quick overview of what they had accomplished over the years.

After the credits were done scrolling, a final shot of a still image with the “Conjuring Mirror” is seen, where real-life Ed Warren is standing right in front.

What we liked

• Strong performances from the core cast
• Emotional depth and family dynamics
• A new perspective and story complexity with Judy’s character
• An unnerving climax
• Successful box office debut

What could be better

• Misleading trailer and expectations not met
• Slow pacing and delayed horror
• Underused potential of the real Smurl case
• Disconnected elements
• Lack of scares compared to earlier films

Here’s a detailed breakdown of our rating for The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025)​​

Story/plot	5/10
Characters and acting	7/10
Direction and pacing	4/10
Visuals and cinematography	5/10
Soundtrack/score	6/10
Themes and message	3/10
Emotional impact	3/10
Creativity/originality	3/10
Rewatchability	1/10

Our rating: 6

Is Last Rites actually the final film of the franchise?

 

 

 

 

 

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According to Forbes, New Line Cinema President and Chief Creative Officer Richard Brener revealed that there will be a phase two of the Conjuring universe. There are several ideas lined up for the phase, but when it will commence is still unknown.

As of now, The Conjuring: Last Rites is the last part of what they call ‘Phase One’. The potential for more similar Conjuring horror is still there. 

Is The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025) available for streaming?

Warner Bros. is distributing The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025) in cinemas at the moment. Online streaming date will be announced later. 

Genre: Horror, mystery, thriller

IMDb rating: 6.5

Rotten Tomatoes: 56 percent on Tomatometer (critics’ rating) and 79 percent on Popcornmeter

Cast:  Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Mia Tomlinson, Ben Hardy, Steve Coulter

Director: Michael Chaves

Writers: Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick

Producers: James Wan, Peter Safran

Release date: September 5, 2025

Movie runtime: 2 hours 15 minutes

Do you agree with The Conjuring: Last Rites review here? How did you find the movie? Drop your thoughts here.