The Conjuring: Last Rites

Story:

In 2025, Michael Chaves directed the supernatural horror movie The Conjuring: Last Rites, which was scripted by Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, and David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick. Based on the actual investigations of the Smurl haunting case, the movie is the ninth entry in The Conjuring Universe.  Along with Mia Tomlinson and Ben Hardy, Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga return to their roles as paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren.

On September 5, 2025, Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema released The Conjuring: Last Rites in the United States. Critics gave the movie mixed reviews, and it has made $421.1 million worldwide, making it the franchise’s highest-grossing movie.

Ed and Lorraine Warren, who are pregnant, look into a haunting at a curio store in 1964 that involves an antique mirror. Lorraine goes into labour after collapsing after experiencing a vision of an entity and her unborn child. The baby is stillborn, but Ed takes Lorraine to the hospital in a hurry. But Lorraine’s prayers bring the baby back to life, and she gives her the name Judy.

The Smurl family relocates to West Pittston, Pennsylvania, twenty-two years later. Jack’s parents, Mary and John Smurl, their four daughters, Dawn, Heather, twins Carin and Shannon, and their dog, Simon, live with Jack and Janet Smurl. John gives Heather the antique mirror during her confirmation ceremony. Heather barely escapes when a kitchen ceiling light abruptly goes out during dinner.

The Warrens resign from their investigations due to Ed’s deteriorating heart condition, although they still give talks, which are now rarely attended. Judy, whose sensitivity to psychic visions has increased, has an experience at dinner and starts to fear. Lorraine soothes Judy and urges her to always keep her attention off the paranormal by reciting a rhyme she wrote when she was a young child. Dawn and Heather try to get rid of the mirror, but three people—an old woman, a younger woman, and a man with an axe—still terrorise the family. The family, exhausted, tells the media their story in the hopes of getting assistance, which catches Father Gordon’s attention.

At Ed’s birthday celebration, Judy’s boyfriend Tony pops the question, and she says yes. Father Gordon seeks assistance for the Smurls from the Diocese of Scranton after failing to secure the Warrens’ assistance. Gordon is attacked by the devil at the diocese, which leads him to end his life. Judy discovers through a vision at Father Gordon’s burial that he passed away while looking into the haunting of the Smurls. Lorraine gets a vision alerting her to Judy, and she surreptitiously departs for Pennsylvania to conduct an investigation.

After guiding Ed, Lorraine, and Tony to the Smurls, Judy persuades her recalcitrant parents to assist. The three souls, which Lorraine learns are those of a husband who killed his wife and her mother, are under the demon’s power. Judy falls down the stairs after being tricked by the demon into the attic, where she is attacked. The mirror is found, and Ed and Lorraine identify it as the demon from their initial investigation. Convinced that Judy is the target of the demon, they make the decision to bring the mirror back to their house so it may be confined. Ed, Jack, and Tony try to take the mirror out of the house, but they are unsuccessful, and Judy becomes suddenly unwell.

The demon takes possession of Judy, causing Ed to have a heart attack while Lorraine is attacked in the basement; Tony saves Lorraine, and Ed bounces back; the possessed Judy, now in the attic, tries to hang herself but Ed cuts her down; Lorraine prays again to bring her back to life, and the demon attacks them; Ed is unable to exorcise the mirror, so Lorraine decides to encourage Judy to embrace her psychic abilities; the Warrens destroy the mirror with Judy’s assistance; the Smurls remain in the house for three more years without experiencing any more hauntings, and the mirror’s remnants are stored in the Warrens’ occult museum.

Later on, Judy and Ed walk down the aisle together during her wedding to Tony. Ed and Lorraine embrace on the wedding eve, and Lorraine expresses her picture of their future, eager to live the quiet life they have always desired.