The Conjuring: Last Rites

Plot of The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine have retired but are requested by Father Gordon to help the Smurl family in Pittsburgh who are suffering from ghostly events, and in desperation have got the press involved. Father Gordon, friend of the Warrens goes to the church for help but is induced by some means to commit suicide after which Judy, the Warren’s daughter, goes to help the Smurls, having accepted that she has powers similar to her mother’s. Ed and Lorraine with Judy’s fiancée follow and amid demonic goings on find a mirror in the attic which they had come across just before Judy’s birth. Also we have seen the Smurls identify the mirror as a possible source of their trouble and consigned it to the rubbish collection where it has been destroyed. But the trouble does not stop and the Warrens go to work and deal with manifestations from beyond our world.

Content: No sex or nudity, or drinking smoking or drug taking. Judy is born and apparently is stillborn, but when held by Lorraine is restored to life.  Ed and Lorraine are seen together as young people. Once we get to the Smurls one of the daughters is violently sick, projectile vomiting blood. Father Gordon is seen hanging himself using an electric cord. Lorraine sees her kitchen fill with blood from the sink. She identifies this as a message that Judy is in trouble. When they get to the Smurls we see ghostly figures re-enacting the killing of a woman and her daughter by an axe wielding husband, and a demon controlling the actions of a doll. Judy is taken over by the demon and everything goes to hell – so to speak! Maybe parents should be aware that young children might be really frightened by all of this, so be careful.

A View: Once more, this outing has made money and the structure of the movie suggests that Judy and her husband may take over the franchise. It does not quite follow its own rules, but what horror film does, and knowing how it would go we still paid money to see it in the cinema; although I have to say that we enjoy a weekly visit to the cinema, so it is a choice from what is on, not whether any film is worth the trip to Madrid. What can I say? Fans probably will not be disappointed.

Fun Fact: When Judy and her fiancée are seen getting married, participants from earlier films of the franchise are seen in the audience.