Spoilers for The Conjuring: Last Rites ahead. It seems it’s hard to throw in the towel on demon-hunting. The Conjuring: Last Rites is the fourth and final film in the main Conjuring series, which began in 2013 and has led to spinoffs based around the haunting characters Annabelle and The Nun. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson return once again as real-life demonologist couple Lorraine and Ed Warren, and this time they’re helping the Smurl family, who claimed that their house was haunted by a violent force.
The new movie also places a greater focus on Ed and Lorraine’s daughter, Judy (Mia Tomlinson), who is just trying to get married in peace, but keeps having to deal with terrifying visions of demons. That on top of wedding planning? Oof!
Fans of The Conjuring franchise, beware. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, turn back now because we’re about to get spoiler-y. And if you’re already seen the movie, but want to make sure you followed everything—or maybe you missed that post-credits surprise—keep reading.
First, the set up.
To keep things as brief as possible: The Conjuring: Last Rites is focused around the Smurl family, whose house becomes haunted after they buy an antique mirror. As we see in a flashback, this is the same mirror that Lorraine came across during an early investigation with Ed while she was pregnant with Judy. Upon Lorraine touching the mirror, it cracked, she went into early labor, and Judy was delivered stillborn, according to the hospital doctor… until she came back to life.
Judy has seen disturbing visions for her entire life, but Lorraine tries to teach her to distract herself and not let the visions get to her.
It all comes to a head once Judy meets up with the Smurl family—who have made national news for their haunted house—and convinces her parents to take on their case even though they’re retired from investigating.
Who’s doing the haunting and what do they want?
A demon, and it wants Judy! I’ll explain.
Lorraine, a clairvoyant, learns that the terrifying ghost people haunting the Smurls are spirits of a family that lived on the land many years ago. They’re not really the issue. Instead a demon is controlling them. The same demon that tried to kill Judy while Lorraine was pregnant, and it wants her back.
What’s up with the mirror?
The mirror is essentially a conduit for the demon, like the Annabelle doll and the other artifacts that the Warrens collect from their investigations. Even though two of the Smurl girls throw the mirror out early in the movie, it appears back in their attic and is able to summon Judy.
How is the haunting solved?
Content warning: This story contains details about a character who attempts suicide.
During the climax of the movie, Judy becomes possessed by the demon, tries to hurt her parents, and attempts to hang herself. She’s saved by Ed and her fiancé, Tony Spera (Ben Hardy).
Ed tries to take the mirror off of the property again, but it is too powerful to be removed. He also tries to perform an exorcism on it, but that doesn’t work, either. In the end, Ed, Lorraine, and Judy all have to face the mirror—their fears, the past, the demon, etc.— and with all three of them looking into it and touching it, the mirror shatters. Lorraine tells Judy the opposite of what she’s been telling her whole life: “Don’t shut it out. Don’t run.”
What happens with the Smurl family?
According to text on the screen, they live in the house for three more years before moving out. Couldn’t be me.
What happens with the Warrens?
Judy and Tony get married. While dancing at the wedding, Lorraine tells Ed she had a vision, but it was a good one: They grow old together and become grandparents and great-grandparents. They don’t take on any more cases, but they do write a book and still provide support to people who are being haunted. And they’re happy.
There’s also a scene in which Ed shows Tony around his room of haunted artifacts. Noticeably, the camera lingers on a sign warning against opening the case that contains the Annabelle doll. As they leave the room, Ed tosses keys to the room to Tony and says, “Welcome to the family.” (In real life, Tony became the curator of the Warren’s occult music and he and Judy are still involved in the world of paranormal investigations.)
We also get some onscreen text about the real Warrens, including that Ed lived until age 79 and died in 2006, while Lorraine passed away at age 92 in 2019.
Is there anything going on post-credits?
While the credits roll, there are photos and videos of the real Warren family. And if you wait all the way until the end of the credits, there is a little surprise. A photo of the real Ed Warren standing next to the real mirror appears and text explains that it is called a “conjuring mirror” because it is used to summon spirits.
Okay, now go watch an episode of something light and try to stop thinking about spooky demons.
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‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source sg.news.yahoo.com ’
