Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Dustin Rowles | Film | September 5, 2025
The original The Conjuring, released in 2013, ushered in a new era of horror: the blockbuster horror movie. James Wan cared less about atmosphere and suspense than about creepy visuals, lots of jump scares, and treating horror like a roller coaster. These movies were meant to be scary, sure, but also fun. They were crafted for young audiences, and while they weren’t particularly good, they were a blast.
The Conjuring spawned three Annabelle movies, two The Nun movies, and The Curse of La Llorona. They were all easy to confuse with each other, and with Wan and Patrick Wilson’s other franchise, Insidious. Eventually, they blurred together. I’ve probably seen them all — minus a Nun or Annabelle entry — but I couldn’t swear to it. They’re not designed to be remembered. What we do know is that the Warrens, Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) and Ed (Patrick Wilson), investigate paranormal activity, that ghosts and demons attach themselves to artifacts, and that the Warrens exorcise those demons. The artifacts are basically the MacGuffins of the Conjuring universe.
I’m going to set aside the fact that the real-life Warrens were grifters, because it’s not really germane. The Warrens in these films are no more real than the ghosts and demons they chase.
This time, the artifact is a creepy mirror. Back in the ’60s, on the Warrens’ very first case, demons attached to the mirror haunted a family. Lorraine, then pregnant, touched the mirror, chaos broke out, and she went into labor. She delivered a baby who was stillborn for a minute before miraculously coming to life.
Cut to the ’80s, and that baby is now Judy (Mia Tomlinson, who has the same 30-year-old-who-could-be-16-energy as Alison Lohman). Judy is about to marry Tony (Ben Hardy). Ed and Lorraine have retired because of Ed’s heart condition, which conveniently teases viewers with the possibility of him dropping dead at any moment. Tony is trying to win over his future in-laws, while Judy — like her mother — has “sensations” (she sees dead people) that she’s spent her life trying to block out.
Meanwhile, in small-town Pennsylvania, the Smurls have brought that same mirror into their home. Cue the usual: ghosts, demons, people falling down stairs. Eventually, Judy forces her parents’ hand, and the Warrens get involved. The movie builds to a showdown between the Warren family and, uh, the mirror. (Is there a bigger backstory on the mirror? Shhhhh. Stop asking questions, Dustin).
It’s fine. A perfectly serviceable Conjuring movie, and that’s the problem. Horror right now is so much better. Wan, Leigh Whannell, and Michael Chaves can’t compete with Zach Cregger, the Philippou brothers, Parker Finn, or Osgood Perkins. Those filmmakers are making films that are disturbing, provocative, and genuinely terrifying — movies that are experiences. By comparison, The Conjuring feels like a theme-park ride: fun for a few jolts, then forgotten as soon as you get off.
The Conjuring is basic. And basic is fine. Basic will probably make $80 million this weekend because audiences like cheap thrills and jump scares. But a year from now, no one will be able to distinguish The Conjuring: Last Rites from any of the other entries. It’ll just dissolve back into the vague blob of Conjuring films.
Still, for multiplex audiences who stick to mainstream horror, this is a solid enough entry, not quite as fun as Final Destination: Bloodlines, but better than the I Know What You Did Last Summer remake. And maybe that’s the point. If you haven’t watched any other horror film this year, it probably means you’re not a huge horror fan, and The Conjuring: Last Rites is made just for you!
