---
title: "The Conjuring: Last Rites"
year: 2025
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-conjuring-last-rites"
fi1m_id: "the-conjuring-last-rites"
imdb_id: "tt22898462"
tmdb_id: 1038392
wikidata_id: "Q114802043"
fi1m_score: 55
critics_score: 53
critics_reviews: 14
published: "2026-09-09"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:37:49.514841+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025)

Directed by Michael Chaves · 2h 16m · MPA R · Horror

## Identity

The Conjuring: Last Rites

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-conjuring-last-rites
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** the-conjuring-last-rites
- **IMDb ID:** tt22898462
- **TMDB ID:** 1038392
- **Wikidata ID:** Q114802043
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22898462/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1038392, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q114802043

**Fi1m score: 55** · Critics 53 from 14 reviews

*In a sentence:* A haunted house film that keeps leaving the house to check how the family are feeling

> Wilson and Farmiga are as good as they have ever been, and the first hour has two frights worth the ticket. Then the Smurls are left to their ghost while the Warrens attend to their feelings, and 136 minutes is a long time to say goodbye.

## Synopsis

It is the Eighties, and Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) are older, slower and less inclined to answer the door. Their daughter Judy (Mia Tomlinson) is grown, with Tony Spera (Ben Hardy) at her side, and has begun to see things her mother recognises. Elsewhere, Jack and Janet Smurl (Elliot Cowan, Rebecca Calder) and their four daughters are living with something in the house that will not leave them alone. When the two families are drawn together, the Warrens take on what the tagline calls the case that ended it all. Michael Chaves directs, from a screenplay by Ian B. Goldberg, Richard Naing and David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick; Benjamin Wallfisch writes the music.

## Review

Michael Chaves directs the latest film about Ed and Lorraine Warren and, the tagline promises, the last. It is the Eighties. Ed (Patrick Wilson) is greyer and slower to the door, Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) has not stopped seeing things, and their daughter Judy (Mia Tomlinson) is grown, with Tony Spera (Ben Hardy) at her side. Elsewhere the Smurls, Jack (Elliot Cowan), Janet (Rebecca Calder) and four daughters, have something in the house that does not want them there. For an hour this is a decent, old-fashioned chiller. Then it becomes a film about the Warrens’ feelings, and it runs to 136 minutes.

The scares, when they come, are well made. Eli Born shoots the Smurl house in brown and amber and holds the frame wide, so that you spend the scene watching the far doorway rather than the actor, which is where a haunted-house film does its work. Elliot Greenberg and Gregory Plotkin cut two set pieces we would put against anything in the earlier films: a doll that crawls, slowly and at floor level, while the camera declines to look away, and a home video in which a figure appears for a single frame and is gone before the eye has agreed it was there. We jumped at the second one, and we were pleased to have been got, because it was earned by patience rather than volume.

Wilson and Farmiga have played this couple for twelve years and it shows in the right way. Wilson gives Ed a stiff back and a man’s irritation at being told to sit down; Farmiga plays Lorraine as someone who has seen the worst and is tired rather than frightened. When the film puts the two of them in a kitchen and lets them talk, it is warmer than the genre usually allows, and we did not begrudge it. The trouble is how often it does this while the Smurls are screaming in another room.

John Frankish’s production design does the decade without winking: wood panelling, patterned carpet, a television the size of a sideboard. Graham Churchyard dresses the Smurl girls in knitwear and pleated skirts that make them look like a school photograph, which is the right kind of ordinary for a family about to be terrorised. Benjamin Wallfisch’s score works in low strings and long silences and is mostly good about not telling us when to flinch.

The script is where it goes wrong. Ian B. Goldberg, Richard Naing and David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, working from a story by Johnson-McGoldrick and James Wan, have decided that the real subject is the Warren family, and so the Smurls, who have the house and the ghost, become a case file the film keeps putting down. Cowan and Calder are given fear and little else. The girls (Kíla Lord Cassidy, Beau Gadsdon, Tilly Walker, Molly Cartwright) are a set of reactions rather than people. Whatever is in the house is never much more than a shape and a noise, and a horror film with no villain to speak of has to work hard everywhere else.

The second half takes a turn we will not describe, except to say that it moves the weight from the Smurls to Judy, and that Tomlinson does what she can with a part written mostly in tears. The last forty minutes go soft in a way we found hard to forgive. We were bored, in a horror film, with the lights off and every intention of being scared, and then we were irritated that a series which once knew exactly how long to hold a shot had forgotten. The ending is sentimental, and sentiment is not what anyone bought a ticket for.

James Wan’s original, *The Conjuring* from 2013, was a small, patient film about a house, and this is a large, hurried one about a marriage. Chaves’s own previous entry, *The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It* in 2021, was worse than this, and the best scenes here are better than anything in that. The critics are split roughly down the middle and so, in honesty, are we: a good first hour, two frights worth keeping, and a farewell that outstays itself.

See it if you have followed the Warrens this far and want to see them off; Wilson and Farmiga make that worth doing. If you are coming fresh, start with the 2013 film. And if you watch this at home, the 15 certificate is about right and the last act is a fair moment to put the kettle on.

*Fi1m score 55, published 9 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

The reviews split widely, and rather more fall against the film than for it. Almost everyone agrees on one thing: Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga remain the reason to watch, their easy rapport carrying scenes the script does not. Beyond that, the reservations cluster around familiarity. Most critics find the scares recycled from earlier entries, the pacing slow to get going, and the decision to centre the Warrens’ own family a slide into sentiment that several call schmaltzy; the finale in particular draws complaints of being flat or faintly ridiculous. A minority is won over. The Telegraph calls it the freakiest film in the series, and The Times finds it hair-raising, both crediting the intimacy of the frights over any bigger set piece. At the far end, Den of Geek argues the film’s Catholic, family-first values retroactively diminish the earlier entries. Nobody argues it breaks new ground.

## Straight answers

**Is The Conjuring: Last Rites worth watching?**

*The Conjuring: Last Rites* is worth watching only if you have followed Ed and Lorraine Warren this far and want to see them off; we scored it 55. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are as good as they have been, and the first hour has two frights that earn their jumps. The last forty minutes go soft and sentimental, and 136 minutes is a long goodbye.

**How long is The Conjuring: Last Rites, and what is it rated?**

*The Conjuring: Last Rites* runs 2h 16m and is rated R by the MPA in the US. It is a horror film.

**Where can I watch The Conjuring: Last Rites in the US?**

*The Conjuring: Last Rites* is streaming on HBO Max, Hulu, The Roku Channel and Amazon Prime Video in the US, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video from $3.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is The Conjuring: Last Rites, and is it suitable for children?**

*The Conjuring: Last Rites* is a 15 in the UK and an R in the US, and we think the 15 is about right. The frights are built on patience rather than gore: a doll crawling at floor level, a figure glimpsed for a single frame in a home video. It is not for children, and the squeamish should know the scares are sharp but the violence is not the point.

**How does The Conjuring: Last Rites compare to Poltergeist?**

*The Conjuring: Last Rites* is a large, hurried haunted-house film about a marriage, where [*Poltergeist*](https://film.one/film/poltergeist) is a frightening one about a family worth protecting. Tobe Hooper's film keeps its attention on the people in the house; Michael Chaves's keeps leaving the Smurls to their ghost while the Warrens attend to their feelings. *Poltergeist* is the better film, and the one to choose if you want to be scared all the way through.

**What should I watch after The Conjuring: Last Rites?**

After *The Conjuring: Last Rites*, try [*Poltergeist*](https://film.one/film/poltergeist) (1982, Fi1m 84): The suburban family haunting this series has been borrowing from for twelve years. Then [*The Orphanage*](https://film.one/film/the-orphanage) (2007, Fi1m 81): A Spanish ghost story that puts a mother’s grief where the jump scares would go.

### Reviews we read (17)

- **The Telegraph**, Tim Robey (4/5): The review calls it the freakiest entry in the franchise and a satisfying send-off with chillingly imaginative touches. It highlights the familiar template executed with shivery intimacy and strong reaction shots from the leads. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/the-conjuring-last-rites-review/)
- **Empire**, Helen O’Hara (75/100, inferred): The critic praises the film's blend of genuine scares and sentimental elements as the Warrens' story concludes, highlighting effective frights and pacing despite a lengthy runtime focused more on character than plot. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/the-conjuring-last-rites/)
- **Vulture** (65/100, inferred): The review finds the film edges into camp with coyly trope-laden Warren family drama that verges on comedy while returning to effective haunted-house scares. It praises clever set pieces like the crawling doll and single-frame VHS apparition over the big finish. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/review-the-conjuring-last-rites-edges-into-camp.html)
- **Radio Times**, Alan Jones (3/5): The critic finds the film a polished but familiar entry that doesn't break new ground in the demonic-possession genre, yet remains an enjoyable old-school chiller thanks to strong chemistry between the leads and confident direction. The moving epilogue and respectful nod to franchise heritage are highlighted as positives. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/the-conjuring-last-rites-review/)
- **The Guardian** (40/100, inferred): The review finds the film sluggish and resistant to change, likening it to outdated dad-rock horror amid a vibrant new wave of the genre. It notes the Warrens' middle-aged portrayal and the long setup before scares, praising the lead actors' solidity while criticizing the lack of innovation. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/sep/03/the-conjuring-last-rites-review-1980s-set-paranormal-horror-proves-stubbornly-resistant-to-change)
- **Variety**, J. Kim Murphy (40/100, inferred): The critic views it as a hokey finale that accentuates the franchise's sappy and derivative tendencies by centering the story on the Warrens themselves. It singles out the strong performances by Wilson and Farmiga for praise while criticizing the muddled scares and on-rails storytelling. [Read](https://variety.com/2025/film/reviews/the-conjuring-last-rites-review-1236504198/)
- **The AV Club**, Jacob Oller (D): The review deems the film a Biblically boring victory lap and slog that solidifies the franchise as the Fast & Furious of horror with sappy schmaltz and revisited greatest hits. It criticizes the cheap happily-ever-after ending. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/the-conjuring-last-rites-review)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Katie Walsh (30/100, inferred): The critic describes it as a sluggishly routine send-off that puts a tombstone on a slackening series, with the Warren lore thoroughly picked over. It singles out the lead performances by Wilson and Farmiga as the enduring heart of the films amid the formulaic jump scares. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2025-09-04/the-conjuring-last-rites-review-vera-farmiga-patrick-wilson-michael-chaves)
- **The New York Times**, Beatrice Loayza (30/100, inferred): The critic calls it a disappointing send-off for the highest-grossing horror franchise, noting a significant decrease in quality and scares compared to the original. It singles out the shift to a cozy family affair centered on the Warrens as a notable change. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/movies/the-conjuring-last-rites-review.html)
- **IndieWire**, Alison Foreman: The review calls it a significant step-up from the previous entry in a mixed-bag film that theoretically closes the book on the Conjuring universe. It questions whether audiences will miss the series. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/the-conjuring-last-rites-review-1235149471/)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Frank Scheck: The review finds the franchise suffering from fatigue with stale scares and little freshness from returning director Michael Chaves. It notes that while Farmiga and Wilson remain engaging, the film feels old hat after 12 years. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/the-conjuring-last-rites-review-vera-farmiga-patrick-wilson-1236354949/)
- **The Times**, Ed Potton (★★★★☆): The review describes a shiver-inducing and satisfying farewell that is scary and at times genuinely hair-raising. It praises the Eighties setting and the return of the Warrens facing their fiercest foe while noting some loss of subtlety by the end. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/the-conjuring-last-rites-film-review-3cpmctp0c)
- **Deadline**, Gregory Nussen (75/100, inferred): The critic calls it a frothy and appropriately terrifying return to the first film's pleasures, more successful on scares than the prior two entries. They single out the effective tying of the haunting mechanics to the Warrens' family unit and emotional stakes, including the psychological toll on their daughter. [Read](https://deadline.com/2025/09/the-conjuring-last-rites-review-1236505393/)
- **Collider**, Jeff Ewing (7/10): The critic finds it a less scary and disappointing finale but praises the amazing performances of Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson. It shortchanges the scares and pacing, and the antagonist is underdeveloped. [Read](https://collider.com/the-conjuring-last-rites-review/)
- **NME**, Jordan Bassett (3/5): The critic finds it a mediocre farewell that begins with handsome, jumpy set pieces but slows into faux-emotional babble and a weak, laughable finale. [Read](https://www.nme.com/reviews/film-reviews/the-conjuring-last-rites-review-vera-farmiga-patrick-wilson-3889942)
- **Polygon**, Jesse Hassenger (60/100, inferred): It's a mild farewell with a few good shocks; the series remains wholesome but the finale feels flat with little at stake, though effective as a scare machine in places. [Read](https://www.polygon.com/the-conjuring-last-rites-review-series-end/)
- **Den of Geek**, Joe George (30/100, inferred): The critic calls it a bad movie that retroactively diminishes earlier entries by prioritizing conservative Catholic ideology and nuclear family values over scares or engaging characters. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-conjuring-last-rites-schmaltzy-soap-opera/)

## Details

- **Director:** Michael Chaves
- **Director:** Michael Chaves
- **Screenplay:** Ian B. Goldberg, Richard Naing, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick
- **Story:** David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, James Wan
- **Cinematography:** Eli Born
- **Editor:** Elliot Greenberg, Gregory Plotkin
- **Music:** Benjamin Wallfisch
- **Production design:** John Frankish
- **Costume design:** Graham Churchyard
- **Producer:** James Wan, Peter Safran
- **Cast:** Patrick Wilson as Ed Warren; Vera Farmiga as Lorraine Warren; Mia Tomlinson as Judy Warren; Ben Hardy as Tony Spera; Rebecca Calder as Janet Smurl; Tilly Walker as Carin Smurl; Elliot Cowan as Jack Smurl; Shannon Kook as Drew Thomas
- **Runtime:** 2h 16m
- **Certificate (MPA):** R
- **Release (the US):** 5 September 2025
- **Genres:** Horror
- **Part of:** [The Conjuring](https://film.one/collections/the-conjuring.md) · 1 of 1
- **Budget:** $55 million
- **Box office:** $499 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4aWdkM5xF8

## Where to watch in the US

- HBO Max: streaming, uhd
- Hulu: add-on, hd
- The Roku Channel: add-on, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd
- Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, uhd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, uhd

*Checked 2026-09-10.*

Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IS, IT, JP, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TH, TR, UA, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *The Conjuring* (2013): Where the Warrens started: one house, one family, and a director who knew when to wait.
- *Poltergeist* (1982), Fi1m 84: The suburban family haunting this series has been borrowing from for twelve years. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/poltergeist.md)
- *The Orphanage* (2007), Fi1m 81: A Spanish ghost story that puts a mother’s grief where the jump scares would go. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-orphanage.md)
- *The Changeling* (1980): George C. Scott, a big empty house and a bouncing ball; slow, and properly frightening.
- *Lake Mungo* (2008): Australian mock documentary in which a single frame of video does a great deal of damage.

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-conjuring-last-rites