The Conjuring: Last Rites

Intro is beautifully done and the daughter after her confirmation nearly broke me. Much more family trauma to this than the previous films. Hauntingly exemplary in the timing of the jump scares, and this is just the first 30 minutes in. Imagine a gift that keeps giving, but in the worst possible way. In the 40+ years of being engrossed with watching any and as many movies as possible, this one has the most heart tugging feeling I've ever felt in a horror film. Tremendous effort went into this project, and in saying it works... Terrifying and Haunting and loaded with fear beyond reason for all those involved. Best in the Series to date...

I expected better. A disappointment.

Oh well, all good things must come to an end - except, well, this isn’t really very good. It’s reminiscent of the second Enfield Haunting one (2016) as the Smurl family start to find their home is being terrorised by a spirit that this time has been malevolently lingering on the land that their new home has been built on. Initially, the Warrens (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) are reluctant to get involved, but when a priest is found dangling down the stairwell of the bishop’s residence and then their daughter “Judy” (Mia Tomlinson) - whom we learn had her own near-death experience at birth - gets involved with the struggling and terrified family, it falls to them and her unsuspecting but plucky boyfriend “Tony” (Ben Hardy) to try and save the day before the body count gets any larger. I liked Hardy in “Unicorns” (2023). He brings an enthusiasm to the roles he plays and he actually does fine here. The rest of it, though, is entirely by-the-numbers stuff only now we are in the attic with a mysterious mirror. Every scenario that involves a degree of peril also involves a degree of stupidity. Who walks into a darkened room at the best of times without turning on the light? Let alone when the place is creaking and moaning. Farmiga looks more like she belongs in “Downton Abbey” every time she appears and at well over two hours, this is seriously strung out as it tries to incorporate familial and investigative history into this fairly repetitious series of spooky set-pieces. Sorry, but this just isn’t anyone’s finest hour, the story is pretty unoriginal and I went away hoping that this was, indeed, the last rites.

"The Conjuring: Last Rites" will divide audiences with some people irritated by the fact there is too much talking going on and it takes too long to get around to the excellent special effects extravaganza everyone wants to see while other people will relish the slow build coupled with the Smurl family dynamics which are great fun to watch. In any case the film will certainly make you sit up and take notice and not just because of ceiling fixtures being ripped out or the levitation and beating of the family dog. No, you will sit up and take notice simply because this film lacks the inherent superficality to be found in some other popcorn movies. It is a brilliantly atmospheric film which has the power to leave a disturbing impression in its wake and for those amongst us who do not believe in the paranormal there is the distinct possiblity that if you watch this film with an open mind you cannot come away still disbelieving.

My expectations were already down.