Newest Addition to the Conjuring Franchise
On September 5th, 2025, the latest film in the Conjuring series has made it’s debut. The Conjuring: Last Rights, directed by Michael Chaves, features a true story about two paranormal investigators’ final case on a family in Pennsylvania that have become haunted.
The story follows Ed and Lorraine Warren, two paranormal investigators who were about to retire. The couple gets notified by the Smurel family, claiming that there are demonic spirits haunting and the family. They have reported multiple cases of assault, strange injuries and events, gut wrenching screams, and odd smells in the house. The Warrens help out the family by investigating their house and getting rid of the entities present. But of course, terrible events happen while they’re at the Smurel’s house.
The opening scene shows Ed and Lorraine in a flashback where the two were investigating a demonic presence when the presence causes Lorriene to go into labor.
Despite the Last Rites being one of the highest grossing movies in the series, reaching $334.5 million worldwide, it has extremely mixed reviews. Many claim they like it, and many claim they dislike it. On, multiple review and rating sites, Last Rites has an average of 3 out of 5 stars. Ace Gutierrez, a freshman here at Liberty, rates it a 4 out of 5. He states, “it shows the different perspectives of the family and it focuses on the other families cases and how it ties together.” A TV and movie critic, Chris Tilly, has rated Last Rites as 3 out of 5 stars. Tilly explains that, “The Conjuring series concludes with a solid entry that is isn’t as exciting or scary as previous efforts, but delivers effective drama, and a touching finale.”
According to ratings, Last Rites is not as scary. Many ratings mention that the film is underwhelming. Gutierrez rated the film as a 5 out of 10 in how scary it was. He mentions how, “some parts were scary, but then gets repetitive at the end over the same thing.”
Helen O’hara is the Editor-at-Large on Empire. In her review of the film, she mentioned how, “there’s a spooky cellar, pantry and attic to investigate, while Chaves throws in multiple possessed dolls just to keep us on our toes.”
