The Conjuring: Last Riteswill be the fourth and potentially final film in the iconic horror series, and it is setting itself up to correct the franchise’s worst Warrens mistake ahead of its ending. While the first two movies in the series are beloved,The Conjuringhas made a lot of missteps throughout its history.Last Ritesappears to be course-correcting.
Following up on 2021’sThe Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It,Last Ritessees Ed and Lorraine Warren go on another ghost-hunting adventure, where they are tasked with getting rid of a demon who is haunting a client. Thetrailers forLast Ritesmake it look absolutely horrifying, setting the entity up to be the franchise’s biggest threat yet.
The Conjuringhas been hit or miss, sincemany of the franchise’s spin-off series, likeThe NunandAnnabelle,earned more mixed receptions. Fans are hoping that the mainline series can at least stay consistent, with this movie hopefully surpassing the worst ofThe Conjuringmovies.
Last Rites Is A More Traditional Conjuring Movie After The Devil Made Me Do It
The Devil Made Me Do Itis often considered to be the worst of the mainline movies, andthis is mostly thanks to how different it is from its predecessors. ThethirdConjuringmovie is based onthe real-life 1981 trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson, a murder case in which Johnson’s defense team intended to prove that he was possessed by a demon at the time of the killing.
In the universe ofThe Conjuring, demons are real, and the movie confirms thatArne Johnson was actually possessed by a demonat the time of the murder. The film spends most of its runtime focusing on the Warrens intervening in his trial, with them discovering a cult conspiracy that led to the Johnson murder and several other similar killings.
The Devil Made Me Do It’s murder and legal story are a far cry from the otherConjuringmovies, and while some found it to be a nice change of pace, many fans didn’t like the pivot away from haunted house stories. On top of that, adding fantasy elements to a real-life murder trial was controversial, as it was seen as lending credence to the defense.
Although there are still a lot of questions surrounding the story of the fourth film,it luckily seems to be a return to form for the franchise. The trailers and synopsis all highlight that this is another haunted house story, moving away from the controversial change-up ofThe Devil Made Me Do It.
This is a good call for whatcould be the lastConjuringmovie, as it is a throwback to the beloved first two films. While it is possible thatThe Conjuring: Last Ritesis a critical failure, it is at least correcting the issues with the third movie.
