Movie Review: ‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’

NEW YORK (OSV News) – The knockabout mix of demonology and Catholic vaudeville that has characterized a popular franchise gets what’s billed as its final outing in “The Conjuring: Last Rites” (Warner Bros.). As though to bring things full circle, though, this adieu is linked to one of the two main characters’ very first encounter with the forces of darkness.

That duo of central figures consists, of course, of real-life self-appointed lay exorcists Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) Warren. As the main action of the plot unfolds in 1986, the Warrens are hoping to enjoy retirement, though they persevere in giving lectures to hostile young audiences who jeer at them as little more than deluded Ghostbusters.

Director Michael Chaves and screenwriters Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing and David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick give the Warrens a comeback worthy of Rocky Balboa.

As with all these stories, inconvenient historical facts go missing. Ed, who died in 2006, billed himself as the only American layman permitted by the Catholic Church to perform exorcisms. The Warrens, seen in this and other films in the series as the most faithful of Catholics, always used their piety to give themselves credibility with the public.

As for the ecclesiastical authorities, they may have been less impressed. In 1985, what was then the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI), banned laypeople from performing exorcisms.

This decree relegated the Warrens — best known for their involvement with the supposedly demon-haunted Long Island, New York, residence of “Amityville Horror” fame — to the status of has-beens. But that doesn’t stop the plucky couple from tackling one last case in the blue-collar Susquehanna River borough of West Pittston, Pennsylvania.

Events transpiring there were once sufficiently famous to have provided the basis for a Fox made-for-TV movie, 1991’s “The Haunted.” According to the Smurl family, their home harbored a demon from 1974 to 1989. Commenting on this at one point, a TV anchor solemnly intones, “The Devil has come to Pennsylvania.”

Details at 11?

The source of this evil – three malign spirits, actually – is a large antique mirror given to teen daughter Heather (Kíla Lord Cassidy) as a gift on the occasion of her confirmation. (West Pittston must have had a dearth of gift shops.)

It turns out that Lorraine had had her own encounter with this mirror just before her daughter Judy (Mia Tomlinson) was born 22 years earlier. As a fiend lurked and chuckled, Judy arrived stillborn, and could only be revived by her mother’s intense prayers.

In no time at all, the prank-loving hellhounds — whose genesis, so we’re told, is traceable to an axe murder committed more than a century ago — are making faces, levitating dad Jack (Elliot Cowan), creaking around, turning the electricity off and generally frightening the clan so much that the mirror is quickly tossed out with the garbage. Not so fast, these spirits are resourceful!

The Warrens’ longtime clerical collaborator, Father Gordon (Steve Coulter), insistent that church authorities will listen to him, tries to insert himself into the chaos with a visit to the local bishop. But the malignant sprites are way ahead of him. They set the priest’s crucifix ablaze before finally killing him.

Despite this, not only do Ed and the indomitable Lorraine eventually find ways to rescue the Smurls from their awful predicament but Annabelle, the devilish dolly of earlier pictures in the franchise, manages to put in a cameo appearance as well. Ah, nostalgia!

Grown viewers will have to decide for themselves whether all this is scary or just silly. Either way, it’s not for kids.

The film contains occult themes, a fast-and-loose presentation of Catholic faith practices, incidents of murder and suicide, as well as physical violence with some gore. The OSV News classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

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