The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025)
By William Pattison
For Horror Bob’s Blog
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.
Keep on Creepin’ Horror Bob’s Blog…
