By Drew Dietsch
| Published
Back in 2013, The Conjuring landed on movie theater screens and became a horror hit. Back then, it was a touch refreshing to see a horror movie take its cues from more classic haunting fare. Then, as movie successes must succumb to, it became a series of movies. Not satisfied with that, it had to do the cinematic universe jig and start having spinoffs.
Now, over a decade later, the supposed final film in The Conjuring series is heading to screens. After watching the latest trailer (which you can also do below), it’s time for me to shut the door on this horror franchise.
I’m done with The Conjuring universe and the Warrens.
Ed And Lorraine Warren Stopped Being Interesting
I’m not here to debate about the real world charlatans… er, spiritualists that The Conjuring used to springboard its entire spooky universe. I’m only here to criticize Ed and Lorraine Warren as characters in these movies. Whatever feelings you have about the real Ed and Lorraine aren’t why I’m ignoring this last entry in the film series.
Instead, I came to realize during my watch of The Conjuring: Last Rites trailer that I simply did not care one lick about Ed and Lorraine as characters anymore. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson have done a solid job with the couple over the years, but this purported last movie has brought the characters into prequel/flashback territory and boy does it look lazy.
The Conjuring used Ed and Lorraine in just the right way, but as the films continued, their focal nature for the franchise became a hindrance because the stories didn’t properly keep the Warrens interesting on their own. In some ways, it would have been more beneficial to do a Conjuring TV series in the vein of The X-Files so we could spend more (and better) time with this couple. Instead, the movies plunk them into another scenario and try their hardest to make the Warrens as interesting as the problem they are trying to solve.
And even by the sequel, that was already running dry. Now, with The Conjuring: Last Rites doing everything in its power to convince me, “This is the most important Warrens story ever!”, my interest has cratered.
Diluting The Brand
It doesn’t help that none of the other Conjuring universe spinoffs did anything substantial enough to stake a creative claim. From the outset, Annabelle looked like a cheap and lazy cash grab. Its sequels, Annabelle: Creation and Annabelle Comes Home, upped the kookiness to more enjoyable degrees, but I wouldn’t venture to call those “Good” movies. They offered very little worth revisiting and I don’t see them being embraced as cult classics in the horror community.
Same goes for The Nun and its sequel. Though the first film did inject a much needed return of visual flair, it also didn’t stick around and got diluted due to its lackluster sequel. It should be noted that Michael Chaves directed The Nun II and the third Conjuring entry, both flicks that I’d argue are low points in the series. Now, he’s back for The Conjuring: Last Rites and that gives me another reason to check out.
I’m happy for horror franchises but the Conjuring is looking like it will end up one of the weakest when time has its way. Luckily, I’m going to cash in and head home instead of spending another few hours with the Warrens. You’ll have to report back to me just how “last” those rites really are.
