In 2013, James Wan’s The Conjuring was a massive hit for Hollywood mainstream horror and also served as a spark that helped to trigger a great deal of possession horror and supernatural flicks. With the infamous Insidious (2010) establishing a start to this trend, along with the skyrocketing of Wan’s career, subsequent films took clear inspiration from this film’s popularity. The Conjuring is still one of the best horror films of the 2010s and definitely one of the most influential. So many films, many of which are under the Blumhouse umbrella, have tried to follow its blueprint and have failed to even slightly induce the same horror we experienced with that film. Boldly, it also began a horror cinematic universe that has since been the most profitable horror franchise of all time, grossing over $2.3 billion. This included the likes of the Annabelle series and The Nun, but also the 3 mainline The Conjuring films that focused on the real-life ghost hunters, Ed and Lorraine Warren, portrayed by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, respectively, in each project. Wan’s attachment to the series has fluctuated throughout the years, directing the first two but then stepping back to just produce the films, handing the reins over to the likes of David F. Sandberg and Michael Chaves, amongst others. Whether it was just Wan stepping back, fatigue of the franchise, or just a noticeable lack of quality, the series has been received worse with each release, all films failing to capture the magic of the original. Now, Chaves has come back with a fourth, and potentially final, mainline entry to the series with The Conjuring: Last Rites and unfortunately, it fails in the exact same way the others did. Its narrative is disjointed, it’s overly long, but the biggest sin of all is that it fails to deliver anything convincingly scary.

The Conjuring: Last Rites once again brings us into the lives of Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), who are enjoying a hiatus, of sorts, from their ghost-hunting profession. Still, they are lecturing at universities and passing on their knowledge of the supernatural to the next generation. After a short prologue scene, we learn that the demon of choice for this film resides in a mirror that has an eerie connection to Ed, Lorraine, and their daughter Judy (Mia Tomlinson). The mirror has made its way into the home of the Smurl family and has chosen them to be its victims. Given to Heather Smurl (Kila Lord Cassidy) as a confirmation ceremony gift, it latches onto her specifically and delivers nasty results. After lots of hauntings of their own take place around them and infiltrate their minds, the Warrens decide to help the Smurls with their demon issue. Learning that it is the same mirror that haunted them in the past, the case becomes all the more daunting, and far more dangerous that will push the Warrens to their very limits.

This is an incredibly difficult film to give a synopsis of because the narrative is completely all over the place, for which it suffers greatly. The general formula for a The Conjuring film is simple but effective, and this deviation ruins the pacing and any real weight for the narrative. Generally, we have a prologue of sorts that establishes the threat, akin to that of a ‘monster of the week’ episode in Doctor Who. The Warrens then do some research and investigate the threat, progressively solving the mystery that gets messier and more gruesome the further they delve into it. However, here in its 135-minute run time, the Warrens only get to the Smurls’ house, or even know of their existence, towards the last 45 minutes. Everything before that feels like two completely separate narratives, with the Smurls being terrorised on one hand, and the Warrens piddling about and having family gatherings. The edit is not good at all, obviously trying to show the contrast between the families, but ultimately making them feel entirely separate. Of course, it is established that Ed and Lorraine are not actively ghost-hunting due to Ed’s heart condition, but it still should not take the majority of the film for them to address the threat even slightly. They make zero mention or connection to what is going on with the Smurls, so when they do eventually come to them, it feels unearned and rushed. It almost feels like they forgot the Warrens had to actually solve the case, rather than just let the Smurls get thrown about and possessed. So much time was wasted on scenes of Lorraine and Judy having visions of ghosts and such, most of which have nothing to do with the central threat. When the Warrens do eventually get to the Smurls’ house, there is barely any of the investigation aspects, and a very rushed explanation of what is happening. Once the threat is established and the Warrens are acquainted with it, the film kicks into gear, being more reminiscent of the earlier films. Unfortunately, in a film this long, it is too little too late.

So, where the narrative may be lacking, does the horror manage to succeed? In pockets, there are some well-crafted scares and some disturbing imagery, which can get the blood pumping. One particular sequence where one of the Smurl girls starts choking on something is particularly fantastic and is one of the highlights of the horror on offer. As with the other films, it is very clever when laying little breadcrumbs through the first act that foreshadow scares later on. From a writing standpoint, this is great. However, when it comes to actually being scary, seeing these things you saw earlier is just a signal that a scare is going to come, and therefore, it lacks a cutting edge. Many of the scares operate in the exact same manner, and it starts to get exhausting. The scene will go quiet, apart from that ambient hum of build-up, the victim will creep around, sensing something, and then the demon of choice will jump out and try to scare. If you have seen any of these things, you know exactly how this goes, and those who watch a lot of horror will definitely not be moved by this. The recycled formula has moments of being inventive, whether it is playing with the camera and reflections, but it always ends the same way, and so you can easily build a tolerance to it. Some jumpscares are certainly better than others, ranging from decent to genuinely pathetic. The presence of all these same sequences is more annoying than anything, especially when the plot is so full of filler as it is. When it all starts to unravel and the demon is not hiding anymore, towards the end, the intensity of some scenes can be a good substitute for the lack of scariness, and, if nothing else, it provides a good thrill.

The heart of this franchise has always been with Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga’s portrayals of Ed and Lorraine Warren, their chemistry being infectious and always welcome. These films really put them and their characters on a pedestal, which can be a great strength, but it can also be a weakness. The characterisation of them in this film is solid, with their main conflict surrounding letting Judy get married to her fiancé, Tony (Ben Hardy). Amongst a lot of the filler scenes that come with some of their other problems, this subplot is good, and Ed’s relationship with Tony, in particular, is well done. Judy has obviously inherited her mother’s clairvoyancy and so is beginning to experience a lot of the same horrors that Lorraine did. This is the reason for so many of the filler horror scenes, because she is being overwhelmed with her connection to the afterlife. All these character things are good ideas, but with how much is going on with the Smurl family, there is just so much baggage to juggle that results in the writing feeling messy. You can tell the writers love these characters because it shines through in every scene with them. It can perhaps be slightly overly sentimental and in love with them, because it makes them more of a focal point rather than everything that is going on, which quite literally pushes the main plot to the side. It is a relatively satisfying end for their stories, but with some stronger writing, it would have had a much better overall film to go along with it.

The Conjuring: Last Rites is not a dreadful film, but it is severely lacking when compared to other films in the series. The characters are overly embellished with sentiment that can get a bit tiresome, the central threat feels far removed from those characters, and the central threat itself does not feel interesting or scary enough. In a year that has spoiled horror fans rotten, it is a shame that the final entry in a beloved horror franchise pales in comparison. The biggest reason for that is a problem of the franchise’s own making. Its formula for creating scares was so influential that it has been exhausted long before this film, and it does not help that they are not well-crafted enough to be memorable like in the first film. Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, and the rest of the cast do a good job, but none of them can save this film from giving us a rather flat conclusion to a solid horror franchise.