Sequels are tough to get right. Maintaining a level of creativity that made an original film worthy of a part 2 is nearly impossible. James Wan’s first two Conjuring movies were inventive horror experiences that understood the importance of a proper horror atmosphere. Wan’s films achieved major box office success, which led to a third entry, Michael Chaves’ The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It; a forgettable “cash grab”. Chaves returns to the director’s chair for The Conjuring: Last Rites, the fourth and (supposedly) final film in the series. This will tell the story of Ed and Elizabeth Warren’s final battle with supernatural forces as they take on a case that would cause the couple to retire from the world of ghosts and demons forever.
After a short prologue where the Warrens (Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson) come into contact with a haunted mirror (really?), The Conjuring: Last Rites begins with an on-screen crawl informing viewers that what they are about to witness is the controversial couple’s final and most terrifying encounter. The stage is set and fans are ready for a proper finish to their beloved series.
Since the mirror brouhaha, Ed and Lorraine have already retired due to Ed’s life-threatening heart condition. Perhaps the actual reason has something to do with the emotional danger and physical drain of fighting the spirit world for decades.
The Warren’s main priority is to keep their daughter Judy (Mia Tomlinson) safe. Now in her early twenties, Judy is in a relationship with socially awkward ex-policeman, Tony (Ben Hardy) and is indeed her mother’s daughter, as she begins to see dark visions of a family in Pennsylvania who, as fate would have it, is in possession of the haunted mirror. In a silly “they wouldn’t be that dense” plot point the grandparents thought the mirror to be a perfect gift for the eldest daughter Heather (Kíla Lord Cassidy) to celebrate her upcoming communion.
The Smurl family case received national attention back in 1986. The decade was the time of “Satanic Panic” and tabloid junkies were fascinated by stories of the occult and all things otherworldly. Appearing on many local and national news programs and talk shows, the Smurls told of disturbing visions, noises in the attic and walls, and Heather coughing up glass and blood after they try to throw out the mirror.
Director Chaves fumbles in his presenting the Smurls as your typical American clan. Before the hauntings begin, each moment with the family is a hurried barrage of Hallmark niceties and a full household of constant busybodies. These moments play completely phony. The first two Conjuring films presented their respective characters naturally, which helped tether audiences to their plight. The Conjuring: Last Rites sees the Smurls as caricatures and fails to give the actors portraying them anything to work with.
At the behest of their daughter, the Warrens take the case. As always, Lorraine will experience the entity’s past through violent visions and Ed will stand firm against all odds while brandishing a crucifix as the FX crews play with wind machines. Farmiga and Wilson are versatile and creative actors. Give these talented performers something to do. Especially since this will be their characters’ cinematic swan song. Written by Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, the screenplay gives its two leads nothing special to do; reducing their performances to a boring rehash of what came before. To reduce the characters to such a one-note bore is an insult to Farmiga and Wilson and to the memory of the Warrens.
As for the scares, there are a few effective moments, but they are too often followed by something preposterous. A couple of demonic visions are quite chilling, as is an unnerving child’s toy that crawls around calling for her mommy. Unfortunately, those moments become overshadowed by laughable attempts at scaring the audience. The worst offenders are yet another scene of blood spewing out of a household appliance, a certain doll that inexplicably becomes a giant, and a ridiculously dreadful finale that involves the full power of the haunted mirror.
The frights become monotonous. Today’s horror audiences have seen it all and the “jump scare” has long played out. Horror fans want to be scared, not startled. It takes work to create such a frightening atmospheric pull that will have this generation paralyzed with fear. Michael Chaves puts in the work, but to no success.
The director (who also helmed the underwhelming The Curse of La Lorna and The Nun II) doesn’t seem to have any personal cinematic voice. With his two Conjuring pictures, Chaves fails to give them any form of unique style to set them apart. In lighting and framing, it is obvious that he and his cameraman Eli Born are merely aping the look that Wan and cinematographers John R. Leonnetti and Don Burgess created. Chaves’ entries fail to pop.
The film’s biggest problem is the constant need to move away from the terrors for flat melodrama. In the middle of a supernatural horror film, the director breaks away from the frights for a clumsy proposal scene (that is as stiff as the actors performing it), a wedding were the attendees are filled with past characters who simply wouldn’t be there, and a strangely inserted ping pong game set to David Bowie’s Let’s Dance. It cannot be stressed enough how horror only works when a genuine and constant mood is set. Character building is important, but the right tone must be created and maintained. To continually break for moments of levity is distracting.
At this point, the Conjuring sequels are “rinse and repeat” horror for the uninitiated. There are no surprises and nothing new. At the halfway point of the final Warren “adventure”, you could hear the film’s cinematic wheels spinning and spinning and spinning. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson as the leads and the incredible “true life” cases the Warrens were involved with, the series’ final bow is all dressed up, but has nowhere to go.
Horror is one of this critic’s favorite genres and The Conjuring 1 & 2 stand as fine examples of modern scare films that choose mood over shocks. Exciting and eerie, those films found their place amongst the best ghost movies. In a startling shift from the effectiveness of the originals, The Conjuring: Last Rites is a tepid and redundant bore.
The Conjuring: Last Rites
Written by Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (Based on characters created by Chad Hayes & Carey W. Hayes)
Directed by Michael Chaves
Starring Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Mia Tomlinson, Kíla Lord Cassidy, Ben Hardy, Elliot Cowan, Rebecca Calder
PG-13, 135 Minutes, Atomic Monster, New Line Cinema
