For more than a decade, “The Conjuring” universe has grown exponentially, spanning across nine different movies. Each film tells a different true story that was either lived out or discovered by the infamous paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren.
The string of films began with the original “The Conjuring,” which tells the story of the Perron family, who sought help when they moved into their new home, quickly revealed to be haunted. The most recent film, “The Conjuring: Last Rites,” explains what happened to the Smurl family, who found themselves accidentally bringing a haunted object into their home.
The movie begins with a young Ed and Lorraine, played by Orion Smith and Madison Lawlor, investigating their first case. Lorraine was pregnant at the time with their only child, Judy Warren, and something went wrong.
Lorraine discovers a supernatural mirror during their search, which connects itself to her and her unborn child as she touches the glass. Not only did the mirror shatter as she placed her finger on it, but her water also broke at the same time, thus requiring the couple to leave for the hospital immediately.
Once they arrive at the hospital, Lorraine is shown giving birth to Judy, but she had been born as a stillborn baby. The film shows Lorraine and Ed crying over the loss of their baby, with Lorraine praying to God to let her child live. Within a minute, Judy is suddenly revived, as if there were no complications at all.
This leads into the first half of the movie as it follows the three throughout little moments of Judy’s childhood. In the sequence, it is discovered that Judy inherited her mother’s ability to see the supernatural through visions. But Lorraine teaches her to avoid them and not let the supernatural take over her life, as it did for her parents.
The movie then shows another family, slightly larger than the Warrens. The Smurl family is preparing for one of the four daughters’ confirmation ceremonies at their church. When the family of eight returns home to celebrate, the grandparents’ gift is revealed as the same mirror from the beginning of the movie.
Within days of having the mirror, multiple spirits begin haunting the Smurl house. It is not until months of torturous events that the Warrens decide to show up and help. But it is not Ed or Lorraine who makes this call; Judy does.
Eventually, the Warrens cast out the demons in the mirror and the other spirits from the property, but it is not without a long and treacherous fight. In the end, the two families part ways, both able to continue with their lives without being haunted.
Overall, this film did not live up entirely to the hype of its predecessors. With a runtime just over two hours, I felt there could have been a better progression for everything.
It had a promising start, but after Judy’s birth, there were so many scenes focused on the Warrens just living their normal life of semi-retirement. There were hardly any mentions of the Smurl family and their troubles until about a third of the way in.
I understand that these are based on true stories, so they follow as closely to the real-life scenarios as possible, but I wish there had been a chance to see snippets of the start of the haunting between cozy family scenes.
There was potential for the film itself, and it pulled through – mostly – on its jumpscares that had the whole crowd yelling out of shock. It felt as though there was an element missing that is more prevalent in the other films. It was honestly not very scary.
If you are a big fan of “The Conjuring” and the other movies in the franchise, it might be worth watching. But if you are just looking for a movie that can leave a good scare, I would suggest looking for something else.