For anyone who thinks the cinematic universe is only the realm of the superhero look no further than The Conjuring universe. Taking the so-called true stories of Ed and Lorraine Warren and using the mainline film to create a whole spooky-verse of horror films is the kind of brainchild that only James Wan could come up with. So far the franchise has given us The Conjuring, The Conjuring 2, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation, Annabelle Comes Home, The Nun, The Nun II as well as tangentially related Wolves at the Door and The Curse of La Llorona.
Under the direction of The Devil Made Me Do It and The Nun II director Michael Chaves we are promised to discover the case that ended the Warrens investigations. Following the events of the previous film Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) are retired from demonic hunting, enjoying a life together and their daughter Judy. When Judy (Mia Tomlinson) begins experiencing strange visions that get progressively worse, her fiancé Tony (Ben Hardy) tags alone when they investigate the Smurl family who have a bad case of a haunted mirror, one that Ed and Lorraine recognise all too well.
Last Rites is a definitive step up from the previous film. Chaves' direction creates some tense sequences that build to some shit-your-pants jumps which the director clearly relishes but unlike James Wan who created the first two films doesn't have the deftness to handle the more emotional core of the film. Unlike the first two films romanticism, the second two have a much more workmanlike feel. All too happy to coast on that chemistry that Wilson and Farmiga have.
There are some fun moments, Wilson lamenting his new heart conscious diet, an intense ping-pong contest between would-be son-in-law and father, a couple of longing glances between Ed and Lorraine. However, the film never gets to anything as beautiful as Lorraine telling the Hodgson family how she met Ed, or Ed's serenading a family while his wife looks at him with nothing but adoration.
The haunting aspect of the film, one that stretches from the Warrens first case all the way to 1986 never really explains what the demon wants. It's a possessed mirror but it's manifesting as a Marilyn Manson looking farmer with an axe, but it's possessing a weird doll and then suddenly a Annabelle. It's all a bit murky, made worse by the Smurl family having four daughters all of whom look vaguely similar to each other.
It's this kind of bloated cast that makes the film feel like it can't support it's runtime. At over two hours it's a long time for a horror film, and when the film never truly explains who the victims of the demonic presence is it's hard to invest much sympathy for them. Perhaps the biggest sin the film has is that when it gets to the big climax there's far too much stock put into bluster and explosions and not enough in the emotion of the film.
What becomes clear is that this franchise worked because Wan loved the Warrens as much as he loved scaring the audience, but every director since him has enjoyed the spectacle of a good jump but without the emotion that made the monsters all the more thrilling to battle.
Even so, the film builds to an emotionally satisfying final scene between the Warrens that remind us, no matter what happens, if good people find their person, then no evil mirror can stop it. Or at least that's what the movies say.
The Conjuring: Last Rites is in cinemas from September 5th.
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