The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025)
By William Pattison
So, now I managed to get to see the final installment of The
Conjuring film series…
Paranormal investigators, Ed & Lorraine Warren take on
their most disturbing case to date. Jack & Janet Smurl and their family,
move into a brand new home they've dreamed of, which turned into a nightmare as
their home begins to show signs of demonic infestation.
I have to say that this Conjuring is a vast improvement over the earlier installment, The Conjuring The Devil Made Me Do It. The main weakness with this installment is the same with most of the installments, with the exception of The Conjuring 2. The problem with The Conjuring film is that James Wan and crew in order to turn these cases into a franchise about the adventures of the Warrens, they have rewritten these cases to fit the narrative and connect all the films to the “Rogues Gallery” of demons trying to kill the Warrens. In most cases what this does is change the cases to the point they don’t even resemble the original sources. This actually caused issues with the Perron family with the original film and made James Wan reluctant to continue the films. He tried to do The Conjuring 2 in a way that he could still put in connective tissues but still do the case justice. Of course with the other “Conjuring Universe” films this fell by the waste side and thing fell totally into fantasy land because of the need to keep the franchise style consistent. Thus, the way the later films of the Warrens’ cases degenerated into. Facts and truth fell away and blockbuster over dramatization and hardcore fictionalization. So, in this film the storyline of Judy Warren and her father’s heart issues takes over and the Smirl case is knocked down to a subplot and fictionalized into being connected to Judy’s birth and of course connecting it all to a certain demon in a doll. Still, this film is at least entertaining, unlike The Devil Made me Do It, which was loosely based on the infamous Demon Murder Case, this I will recommend it. But, if you want to see adaptations of all the Waren’s most infamous cases you can check out the TV movies The Demon Murder Case, The Haunted, and the two pilots for the series A Haunting as well as the episode of Paranormal Witness about the Perron Case. All these present a more respectful retelling of these cases. Either that or turn off the TV and actually read of listen to the audiobooks of these cases.
