The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025)
The Conjuring: Last Rites Review: A Fitting Farewell That Upholds the Franchise’s Spooky Standards
The Conjuring: Last Rites arrives as the ninth installment in a universe that has grossed more than $2 billion, and it carries the weight of being the final chapter for Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson as Ed and Lorraine Warren. Directed by franchise veteran Michael Chaves, this 2025 supernatural horror film is based on the real-life Smurl haunting case, and it delivers exactly what fans have come to expect: old-school scares, demonic dread, and a deeply emotional core built around the Warrens’ love for each other and their daughter. Critics found it uneven as a climactic chapter, but the film’s commercial performance proves the franchise’s grip on audiences remains ironclad.
The numbers reflect a film that outperformed expectations at every turn. On Rotten Tomatoes, Last Rites holds a 57% critics score based on 190 reviews, with a consensus that reads: “Purportedly Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson’s final outing as the Warrens, Last Rites underwhelms as a climactic chapter for The Conjuring but solidly upholds the franchise’s spooky standards.” Metacritic assigned a score of 54 out of 100 based on 29 critics, indicating “mixed or average” reviews, while CinemaScore audiences gave it a B. Where the film truly excelled was at the box office: it grossed $499.3 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film in the entire series.
Critics have highlighted the film’s strengths while acknowledging its shortcomings. Gregory Nussen of Deadline Hollywood praised it as “appropriately terrifying, far more successful on a scare-by-scare basis than the second or third films and a really frothy return to the aesthetic pleasures of Wan’s first Conjuring.” The film’s opening weekend was nothing short of historic, debuting to $84 million domestically—the best opening of the franchise and the third-biggest ever for a horror film. It was also Warner Bros.’ seventh consecutive film to open north of $40 million, a first for any studio.
What makes Last Rites resonate is its emotional stakes. This isn’t just another haunting—it’s the story of parents who have spent their lives fighting demons now facing the possibility that their own daughter could fall victim to the very evil they’ve spent decades vanquishing. The real Tony Spera and Judy Warren make cameo appearances at Ed’s birthday party, adding a layer of authenticity, and the film’s closing scene—Lorraine sharing a vision of her family’s future while dancing with Ed at Judy’s wedding—provides a bittersweet, graceful send-off for two of horror cinema’s most beloved characters. The film was nominated for Best Horror Film at the 2026 Saturn Awards, cementing its place as a worthy conclusion to the Warrens’ on-screen journey. A prequel, The Conjuring: First Communion, is set to be released on September 10, 2027.
The Conjuring: Last Rites Cast: Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson Lead a Talented Ensemble
The film brings back the franchise’s iconic leads while introducing a new ensemble of haunted family members and supporting players:
Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson deliver their final performances as Lorraine and Ed Warren, the real-life paranormal investigators who have anchored the franchise for over a decade. Farmiga’s Lorraine is a clairvoyant and trance medium whose psychic abilities have grown stronger over the years, while Wilson’s Ed is a professed demonologist whose worsening heart condition forces the couple into retirement. Their chemistry and genuine affection for one another remain the franchise’s emotional bedrock, and the film’s final scene—a dance at their daughter’s wedding—provides a deeply moving farewell. Deadline noted that the film is “far more successful on a scare-by-scare basis than the second or third films,” a testament to the enduring power of their performances.
Mia Tomlinson takes over the role of Judy Warren from Sterling Jerins, who was recast because she looked too young to play the adult Judy in the film’s 1986 setting. Tomlinson brings a quiet intensity to the role, portraying a young woman whose inherited psychic sensitivity makes her both a powerful ally and a target. Ben Hardy plays Tony Spera, Judy’s boyfriend and eventual husband—a former police officer who becomes an unexpected hero when the demon attacks. Steve Coulter returns as Father Gordon, whose investigation into the Smurl haunting leads to his tragic demise. Rebecca Calder and Elliot Cowan deliver strong performances as Janet and Jack Smurl, the parents at the center of the haunting, while the young actresses playing their daughters—Kíla Lord Cassidy, Beau Gadsdon, Molly Cartwright, and Tilly Walker—add genuine vulnerability to the family’s ordeal. Shannon Kook returns as Drew Thomas, and the film features cameo appearances from Lili Taylor, Mackenzie Foy, Frances O’Connor, Madison Wolfe, and Julian Hilliard, reprising their roles from previous Conjuring films at Judy’s wedding.
The Conjuring: Last Rites Plot: The Warrens’ Final Battle Against an Old Evil
The story opens in 1964, with Ed Warren and his pregnant wife Lorraine investigating a haunting involving an antique mirror. Lorraine collapses upon seeing a vision of an entity and her unborn child, and goes into labor. Ed rushes her to the hospital, but the baby is stillborn. However, Lorraine’s prayers revive the baby, whom she names Judy—a miracle that will haunt the family for decades.
Twenty-two years later, in 1986, the Smurl family moves to West Pittston, Pennsylvania. Jack and Janet Smurl share the home with Jack’s parents, Mary and John, along with their four daughters: Dawn, Heather, twins Carin and Shannon, and their dog, Simon. For Heather’s confirmation ceremony, John gifts her the antique mirror—the same cursed object from the Warrens’ first investigation. During dinner, a kitchen ceiling light suddenly crashes down, narrowly missing Heather, and the family is soon terrorized by the spirits of an elderly woman, a younger woman, and an axe-wielding man.
Due to Ed’s worsening heart condition, the Warrens have retired from active investigations but continue giving lectures, which are now sparsely attended. Their daughter Judy, now a young woman, has developed increasingly powerful psychic abilities that she struggles to control. When Father Gordon investigates the Smurl haunting and is driven to suicide by the demon, Judy secretly leaves for Pennsylvania to help. Lorraine has a vision warning her about Judy, and she and Ed—accompanied by Tony—rush to the Smurl home.
Lorraine discovers that the demon is controlling the three spirits: a husband who had killed his wife and her mother. She realizes that the mirror contains the same demon from their first investigation, and that it is now hunting Judy. Unable to remove the mirror from the house, the demon possesses Judy and causes Ed to suffer a cardiac episode while Lorraine is attacked in the basement. Tony rescues Lorraine, and Ed recovers. The possessed Judy attempts to hang herself but is cut down by Ed, and Lorraine again uses prayer to revive her daughter. In the film’s climax, Ed fails to exorcise the mirror, and Lorraine tells Judy to embrace her psychic abilities. Together, the Warrens recite a prayer that destroys the mirror. In the aftermath, the Smurls live in the house for three more years without further hauntings, and the remains of the mirror are kept within the Warrens’ occult museum. Sometime later, Judy walks down the aisle with Ed during her wedding to Tony. While dancing with Ed at the reception, Lorraine shares a vision she had about their future—one full of adventure and happy times spent with family—bringing the Warrens’ story to a graceful and deeply emotional close.
“Discover why this case ended it all.”
