Ed and Lorraine Warren have now haunted our screens for over a decade; from Amityville to Annabelle, while the series remains one of the most iconic of the 2010s, sadly the finale did not exceed anybody’s expectations.
The film opens with a dual storyline, one of which is said to be the Warren’s worst and final case, leading to their eventual retirement. The other side of this story, however, shows their daughter, who is now in her early twenties, and her struggles with the spiritual abilities that have been passed on to her by her mother.
For a film that relies heavily on the daughter’s story, the writers did absolutely nothing to allude to this in previous films. Last Rites marks the third film that features Ed and Lorraine’s daughter, yet only in this finale do they inform everyone that not only was their daughter a stillborn, but it was all due to demonic possession, which, obviously, becomes a key plot point in this film.
Last Rites felt entirely rushed and had very little, if any, callbacks to the previous films in the series. Even the CGI looked like something that would be made on VideoStar in 2013. The Annabelle memes looked like they were made with higher production value.
The storyline was clearly given very little thought, as several points never came to fruition, and they quickly ensured that at least the daughter would be married by the end (despite only knowing her fiancé for six months). The film then ends with Lorraine claiming to have a ‘vision’ of a happy future, followed by a montage of them enjoying retired life, which just seemed like the film equivalent of ending a story with ‘and then they woke up.’
It’s a sad farewell to The Conjuring franchise, but honestly, if this is the stage production was getting to, I say quit while you’re ahead.
“Vera Farmiga” by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.