The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025)

🪞 The case that broke the Warrens, scarred their family, and made Annabelle look like a Happy Meal toy. 🪞


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🎥 Let’s start by showing y’all the trailers shall we?

⚠️ Content Warning ⚠️
This is easily the bloodiest entry in the Conjuring franchise to date. Expect scenes of vomiting blood and glass shards, implied sexual assault during a possession, and an axe-wielding ghost leaving trails of gore in his wake. If you’re squeamish or used to the more “restrained” scares of the earlier films, know that this one does not pull punches.

Also this films made by Micheal Chavez, who made La Llorona and The Conjuring The Devil Made Me Do It. So does he ruin another in this franchise? Or has he finally learned? Stick around and find out.

Also let me bring this up right now, I know this franchise has been a controversy because of the debate of is Ed and Lorraine Warren were phonies or not. And now adding onto it u got this film basing it’s story off the most controversial case they’ve done, oh and the alleged reports of Ed Warren dating younger woman.

Look im not here to talk about that, im here to talk about the film, I can and will be separating this film from the real world baggage, so sit tight and relax.

🎬 Studio Shuffle

Now here’s something wild — when this movie started, there was no Warner Bros. logo. At all. None. Instead, we just get the production company cards: Atomic Monster, New Line Cinema, and The Safran Company. Technically WB is still the distributor, but the fact their shield wasn’t plastered up front feels… intentional. And honestly? It kinda makes sense. This film is darker, meaner, and pushes harder than The Devil Made Me Do It or The Nun II. Maybe WB didn’t want their big family-friendly logo tied to implied assaults, vomiting glass shards, and a grinning axe ghost filling the screen with blood.

It honestly worked in the movie’s favor — it set the vibe that this wasn’t gonna be your typical glossy studio horror.

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📖 Non-Spoiler Plot Overview

Welcome to supposed final entry in this franchise, is what rhey are promoting this film as but we’ll wait and see, because does anything in Hollywood ever stay dead?

It’s 1986 and the Smurl family in Pennsylvania is going through hell. Strange noises. Bruises. Objects flying. And three distinct spirits locked into their home, tied to a cracked antique mirror with three baby angels carved across the top. The Warrens? They’re semi-retired at this point — Ed’s heart isn’t what it used to be, their classes are dwindling, and students now heckle them with Ghostbusters jokes. But when their daughter Judy gets pulled into the case, the Warrens realize this isn’t just another haunting. This mirror has been waiting for decades — since Lorraine’s pregnancy in 1964 — to come for their family again.

👻 The Warrens Aren’t Rockstars Anymore

One thing I gotta bring up is how this film finally shows the Warrens not as universally admired. Their classes are half-empty, students heckle them with Ghostbusters jokes, and Ed (Patrick Wilson) straight-up feels like he’s being seen as a fraud. Add in the fact that he’s just barely recovered from a heart attack, and the guy looks and acts older, weaker, and way more vulnerable than before. It’s a smart touch — it grounds the film and makes their decision to take on the Smurl case feel heavier.

And yeah, this ties into what some critics are whining about: the so-called “mundane” stuff. Like Tony trying to win Ed’s approval to marry Judy, or Ed flipping pancakes for the Smurl kids. But honestly? That’s what gives the scares their punch. You need those slower, ordinary beats to show what’s at stake. Without them, it’d just be wall-to-wall demon shrieking — and at that point, the audience goes numb. The mundane is the anchor. It’s the contrast that makes scenes like the blood vomiting, the attic possession, and the Axe Man so jarring.

⏱️ Pacing / Runtime Thoughts

So here’s the thing — The Conjuring: Last Rites runs about 2 hours and 15 minutes, and yeah, it’s a slower burn compared to the “throw everything at you” style of Conjuring 3. But honestly? That’s what makes it work. The movie takes its time letting the Smurl family’s haunting unfold before the Warrens swoop in. For most of the first half, you’re stuck with this family as things spiral from weird noises to full-on nightmare fuel, and that slow escalation makes the horror feel heavier.

The Warrens don’t actually dig in until late in the second act, which might frustrate people who just want Ed and Lorraine doing ghostbuster duty right away. But this structure mirrors the first Conjuring — where you really sit with the family’s terror and desperation first. It builds sympathy, raises the stakes, and by the time the Warrens arrive, it doesn’t feel like a quick fix. It feels like the last desperate shot at saving lives.

So yeah, slower burn = scarier payoff. This is exactly why this film feels closer in tone to the first Conjuring than any of the sequels or spinoffs.


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📽️ How It Mirrors Conjuring 1

This movie deliberately echoes the first Conjuring. The Perrons in 2013, the Smurls in 2025 — both introduced with those low, grainy tracking shots of the family moving through their home, setting up the “normal life about to collapse” vibe. Both films also build around infamous real-world cases and ground their scares in physical, raw imagery instead of overdone CGI. And like Bathsheba in Conjuring 1, the Axe Man and Elder Woman here work because they’re simplistic and terrifying in detail, not overused. This really feels like a bookend — a final “full circle” case for the Warrens.


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👥 Character Rundown

Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson) – Older, weaker, but still stubborn. He’s had heart problems, but nothing will stop him from protecting his family.

Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) – Clairvoyant as always, but shaken. She sees three spirits tied to the mirror — and something darker manipulating them.

Both Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga still being the best in this franchise, I still stick with mt opinion I’ve never said before but they both refined Ed and Lorraine Warren and made them better characters then their real counter parts.

Patrick Wilson Ed has charm, the real world Ed Warren? Looked like a sleazebag.

Judy Warren (Mia Tomlinson) – Now in her 30s, finally in the spotlight. She inherits her mother’s sensitivity to the supernatural. Stronger arc here than in any other entry.

Tony Spera (Ben Hardy) – Judy’s boyfriend who just wants Ed’s approval. Ends up thrown into the nightmare. The poor guy wanted to propose, not battle demons.

Jack & Janet Smurl (Elliot Cowan, Rebecca Calder) – Parents trying to protect their kids in a house that wants them dead.

Heather Smurl (Kíla Lord Cassidy) – The daughter who slowly becomes the audience surrogate — and gets some of the most disturbing scenes.

Father Gordon (Steve Coulter) – The recurring priest across the franchise. And yes, he actually dies in this one. Brutally.

The Spirits:

The Elder Woman – Pale, stringy-haired, crooked-smile nightmare who crawls into beds and hovers over her victims.

The Axe Man – Tall, pale, stretched skin, greasy black hair covering one eye, permanent grin carved across his face. He stomps like each step cracks the floor, arms out like he’s already reaching to grab you. Never blinks. Never breaks stride. The axe swings slow but deliberate — like he wants you to watch it coming.

The Wife Ghost – Least screen time, but her death scene is horrific — her head split open by the Axe Man right in front of Lorraine.


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📚 The Real Case vs. The Film

The Smurl Haunting (1970s–80s) is one of the Warrens’ most infamous cases — a Pennsylvania duplex plagued by violent activity, including claims of levitations, foul odors, physical attacks, and even sexual assaults. The real Smurl family reported years of torment that escalated to shocking extremes, making the case controversial and infamous in paranormal circles.

The movie version doesn’t shy away much. Sure, it dials back the graphic detail of the real-world claims, but it still pushes harder than most mainstream horror. We see implied assault imagery, possession, brutal gore (vomiting glass shards, blood floods, head trauma), and ghosts that feel personal and vicious. It’s closer in tone to Conjuring 1 than the overly polished style of 2 or 3.

🪞 The Mirror Is the Real Big Bad

Something that really hit me while watching this? The Conjuring: Last Rites feels like it’s looping back to the DNA of the very first film. Both cases are infamous, both families get torn apart by relentless hauntings, and both movies lean into that raw, grainy “haunted house realism” instead of the over-stylized Hollywood gloss the sequels fell into.

But the biggest surprise? Valak ain’t the Thanos of this universe anymore — that honor goes to the cursed mirror. This thing has been stalking the Warrens since the ‘60s, it’s tied to Judy’s literal birth, and it manipulates not one but three ghosts inside the Smurl home. By the end, the mirror feels like the true puppet master, outlasting and overshadowing Valak’s “peekaboo demon” shtick.

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⏱️ Pacing / Story Flow

This film takes its time. The Warrens don’t dive into the case until near the end of the second act. Instead, we sit with the Smurls as their haunting escalates — blood, vomit, axes, news crews outside their house. By the time the Warrens arrive, the tension is already at a breaking point. And honestly? It works. Just like the first Conjuring, the slow build makes the payoff hit harder.

🎭 Fan Expectations vs. Reality

A lot of people went into The Conjuring: Last Rites expecting this to be “the scariest case the Warrens ever faced.” The case so terrifying that it finally broke them, made them retire, and ended their legacy. But let’s be real — when would the Warrens ever quit just because a case was too scary? That was their job. Bathsheba didn’t stop them. Valak didn’t stop them. They literally spent their careers chasing horrors no sane person would touch.

The truth is, nothing supernatural was ever going to frighten them into retirement. What actually makes sense — and what this movie shows — is that the real enemy wasn’t the demon in the mirror. It was time. Ed’s heart condition meant he was one heartbeat away from collapse. Judy getting pulled into the danger meant the work was no longer just theirs — it was putting their daughter’s life on the line. That’s the line they couldn’t cross.

So no, the Warrens didn’t quit because the case was “too scary.” They quit because the personal cost became too high. And honestly? That’s more human, more grounded, and more tragic than any cheap “this was the worst demon yet” angle fans might have wanted.



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✅ Pros

Finally feels like a return to Conjuring 1’s tone: grim, grainy, slow-burn, terrifying.

Judy’s best arc in the entire franchise.

The Axe Man and Elder Woman ghosts are more unsettling than Valak has ever been.

Scenes that don’t hold back: vomiting glass, implied assault, gallons of blood in the basement.

Performances — especially the younger actors playing Ed and Lorraine in the 1964 prologue.



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❌ Cons

Annabelle cameo… again. At this point she’s like a cursed Funko Pop shoved into every movie whether we want her or not. I’ve never been a fan of Annabelle, she has got to be by far the laziest demon.

The lighting or lack thereof of, will get very grading and hard to see anything, but I found it affective. Again thsts just me.

Not a issue but something i point out i noticed, thr Smurls neighborhood is stuck in grey cloudy skies.

Honey! What’s the weather today!?

Sighhh, it’s cloudy again.

Judy’s possession was predictable. Saw that one coming a mile away.

There are 2 scares that are so cookie cutter, like there’s a scene of Loraine doing dishes and their drain gets clogged and she has to stick her hand into it, yeah how many times we’ve seen that scare done?

Thr lighting in this film is mainly dark, and that can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what u want, for me i liked it.

⚖️ The Long Wait for the Warrens
So here’s the thing — in the first Conjuring, Ed and Lorraine step into the Perron case about halfway through, which gave us a nice balance of family-haunting build-up and Warren-centered resolution. In Last Rites, though? They don’t actually dig in until near the end of the second act. And remember, this film runs a chunky 2 hours and 15 minutes, making it the longest in the franchise so far.

Now, for me, this worked — because the time is used to steep us in the Smurl family’s suffering, which raises the stakes sky-high once the Warrens finally arrive. But I’ll admit: for viewers expecting the Warrens front-and-center earlier, it’s a much slower burn than they might be ready for.

In other words, this is a case where what I loved (the build, the patience, the tension) could easily be what frustrates others.


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💭 Final Thoughts

I honestly didn’t expect to love this after hating Conjuring 3. But this film gets it. It’s grim, it’s cruel, and it feels dangerous again. It mirrors the first Conjuring in tone, camera work, and structure, while finally putting Judy at the center. Yes, Annabelle needs to retire already, and yes, Judy’s possession was telegraphed — but the sheer creep factor of the Axe Man alone makes this movie unforgettable.


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🎯 Rating

Even with all the issues I’ve pointed out, im still gonna give this film a solid.

Solid 9/10. But hey thats my opinion, go out and dorm ur own opinion.


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👻 Creepiest Moments

Heather’s sister vomiting blood, glass, and hair at the breakfast table.

The VHS tape replay showing a ghostly face blow out Heather’s birthday candle.

The Axe Man’s basement chase: Lorraine crawling through rising blood as he stalks her, axe swinging inches from her.

Annabelle’s giant form lunging at Judy.

Father Gordon’s suicide, manipulated by the demon.



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⚠️ Spoiler Warning

Stop here if you haven’t seen it yet.


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🩸 Spoilers

We start in 1964. Young Ed and Lorraine encounter the mirror in a haunted antique shop. Lorraine touches it — it cracks. She immediately goes into labor. Their baby is stillborn, but revived through their desperate prayer. The mirror’s connection to Judy is sealed.

Flash forward to 1986: The Smurls move into their duplex, and the haunting ramps up. Heather’s sister vomits blood, glass shards, and hair while the mirror is crushed in a garbage truck. The Axe Man appears for the first time — stomping out of the shadows, grin plastered across his face, axe ready. His second appearance is even worse: chasing Lorraine through a basement flooding with blood, swinging his axe into the stairs to block her escape.

Father Gordon tries to bless the house. The demon manipulates him into hanging himself with a church cord. His death rocks the Warrens, especially Judy, who goes rogue to help the Smurls.

The Warrens reluctantly helps when they fins our Judy went there on her own ans they go to retrieve her but she won’t leave so they decide to stay and help.

Also, Annabelle shows up again — at first sitting in the corner, back turned. Judy sighs, “not you again,” but then the doll elongates, grows massive, and chases her with giant porcelain hands. Easily the scariest Annabelle has ever been, even if it’s brief.

Anyways, the Warrens confirm in this film back on that unfaithful night in 1964 when Loraine touched that mirror and gave birth, they never returned to that shop to deal with the mirror, they ran away and never turned back. That mirror has unfinished business.


Judy becomes possessed after the ghosts lure her into the attic. Ed nearly dies of a heart attack. Lorraine gets shoved into the basement where the Wife Ghost is murdered by the Axe Man right in front of her. Tony saves her in the nick of time.

The climax: Judy is hung in the attic, Ed and Tony barely cut her down. The mirror begins to consume Tony, trapping him under its weight. Lorraine and Judy put their hands on the cracked glass and scream, “You’re not real!” The mirror shatters completely, ending the haunting.

A little cheesy? Sure, but i find this scene wholesome.

Afterwards, the Warrens keep the broken mirror in their artifact room. Judy and Tony get married.

I swear in the crowed I saw the Perron family from the first film, I had to do a double take. I was wait are those the Perrons? Also James Wan is here in the crowd, man this is definitely the avengers endgame of this franchise.

During the wedding, Lorraine tells Ed she saw their future: they grow old together, become grandparents, and eventually slow down. The film closes with text about Ed’s stroke years later, his eventual death, and Lorraine’s care for him.

The case that ended it all. And we get words on the screen that tell us that Ed Warren eventually had a stroke and became bed ridden then passed away a few years later. Oh and that even if the Warren’s work was divisive, it did bring the paranormal to the mainstream audience.

Is that a bit corny? Uhhhhh yeah, but it’s also not wrong. Anwyays the end hope y’all enjoyed today’s review.