The Conjuring Recieve Its Last Rights

            As far as 21^st century horror movie franchises go, The Conjuring is probably at the top of the list for quality and scares. The first two are highly regarded as extremely scary movies, and they had good story telling as well, so much so that it led to the creation of a whole Conjuring universe with movies like Annabell and The Nun. It is safe to say, however, that these follow up movies never lived up to the reputation of the originals, which can be said for the expanded universe, and for The Devil Made Me Do It and Last Rites. The Last Rites, which came out this past weekend, is the final film in The Conjuring specific line of movies, but the expansive universe is going to continue.

            The Last Rites tells the story of a haunted mirror. The opening scene is Ed and a pregnant Lorraine going into a store to exercise a demon from a mirror, that made the previous owner of the shop hang himself, but when Lorraine touches the mirror, she goes into labor, and they never go back for the mirror.

            Years later, Heather is given a mirror as her confirmation present from her grandma. At first, everything is fine, but when the girls try to get rid of it in the night, it reignites the fire, and things start to get weird. It starts with her sister vomiting blood and glass the next morning. Other haunts start to happen, like a scary man appearing in the basement with an axe, a spooky woman appearing at the feet of beds, and the spirit is not just haunting this family, but it also starts to haunt Judy, the Warren’s daughter that she birthed after the encounter, so the Warrens are drawn back in for one last dance with the devil.

            This movie also has a surprisingly large family element to it. The Warren’s daughter, Judy, plays a key role. She is an adult now, and she helps them when they are going around doing lectures, and she also has a boyfriend, Tony. So their relationship dynamics, and his attempts to be accepted into the family play a huge role. He is even a key part when they go to investigate the haunted house, including when the mirror starts to fight him.

            Honestly the whole family story did not work for me. This movie was over two hours, and so much of that is due to all the familial storytelling, and none of it was that emotionally moving. The only reason I liked it is because it led to the mirror room scene. Once Judy got engaged to Tony, she went dress shopping with her mom, and at the shop, they have a room that has a door that closes, and it is literally a circle of mirrors, so that you can see every angle of the dress you want.

Oddly enough, the lighting in that room sucked. One would think that the best way to see a white dress would be in shining light, but anyways, the lady helping her try the dress on steps out for a second, then somehow the door opens and closes, and Judy does not notice that no one actually entered, and then there is a bump under her dress, and the circle of mirrors becomes very claustrophobic. She gets pricked, and then some of her reflections no longer match her actions, and it is a very well-done scene that will make you not want to look into the endless reflection of multiple mirrors again.

The religious aspect of these movies always intrigues me. There are religious elements, like when the father comes into the house and is spraying holy water in the basement, and it starts to steam, before a spirit attacks. It is stated in the movie that the church ostracizes Ed and Lorraine. The church does not look at their work as legitimate. Then when the Warrens are doing their work with the mirror, Lorraine says go get “the book,” they do not say the Bible. They talk about faith and belief, but it is not like Jesus is constantly being mentioned, so really religion is just used as a plot device to advance the story rather than it being a movie saying hey you should have faith and be Christian, which seems odd in a movie that should have strong religious elements in it.

It will be sad to no longer see Ed and Lorraine on the big screen, or Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga. They really did an excellent job playing their roles. They brought some great acting into a genre that historically has below average acting performances, and their chemistry together is great as well. They even gave them a silly goodbye when they rode their motorcycle through fall foliage off into happiness. The good news is that Patrick Wilson is a part of the Insidious film franchise, so hopefully we will see him in more horror films, but if not, they received a good send off.

So it seems like the real theme of the movie is about family sticking together. There is the whole Warren story like I mentioned, but also the family in the house with the mirror as well. They all stuck together, and they needed to believe in each other and comfort each other. Even the new boyfriend was added to family, and he was willing to sacrifice himself for this new family. Family is a powerful thing.

The Conjuring universe did get back in the news recently for something other than movies as well. A well-known comedian, Matt Rife, who has multiple specials on Netflix, bought the Warren’s home, which also has the Occult Museum within it. So now he owns the infamous Annabell doll.     If you read the real-world lore, there have been multiple stories about people just touching the doll or the case in the museum and then getting into a car wreck on the way home. So it has a real reputation. It is interesting that a person of note bought this home. I am not sure if I would ever spend my money on buying something with such an intense reputation for being haunted, but I guess having a lot of money can make you do wild things.  

The best part about this movie was the feeling it gave me. Not of being scared, although this did provide a few good jump scares, but the feeling of Fall. To me, there is nothing better than watching a scary movie in the theaters with a hoodie on and some cool crisp air waiting for me outside, and what better movie to ring that in than a solidified horror franchise. On top of that, it was also the weekend that Syracuse had its first home game, that they somehow pulled out a win in overtime, and it is also week 1 for the NFL and specifically, the Bills, who also pulled out an amazing victory. Then in a couple of weeks, Him combines horror and football, the perfect fall movie. I give The Last Rites 2.5 stars, and a big thank you for what their franchise has done for horror.