Before we look at the official trailer for The Conjuring: Last Rites, let’s remember where this series started.

Originally directed by James Wan and written by Chad and Carey Hayes more than 13 years ago. The Conjuring (2013) instantly became a horror phenomenon as soon as it hit theatres.

On opening night, it doubled its budget at the box office just in North America.

Against a budget of $20 million dollars, it made $319 million dollars worldwide. No doubt, the trailers and marketing had people rightfully excited for a terrifying ride well before release.

It was like striking gold. The Conjuring struck a perfect balance between heart and horror. On the top it was a brutal story of how an evil spirit psychologically torments these innocent young girls, but underneath is a story of two distinct families helping each other and forming bonds in times of need.

In 2016, The Conjuring 2 received extremely similar success, Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson’s depictions of Lorraine and Ed Warren became a pop-culture phenomenon, sequels and spinoffs were planned, and the rest is history.

These films hold a special place in my heart as I rewatch at least the first two every October for the spooky season.

My Favourite scene is in the original, where Joey King’s character is having her blankets tugged and she becomes terrifyingly fixated on an unknown figure by the door. I love the way there is literally nothing scary on the screen, but the tenseness of the scene gives room for your imagination to create the nightmare for you.

So, I’m rightfully excited for what they claim to be the last in a series with these characters.

Let’s get into this.

🚨 *Disclaimer* 🚨

This is only spoilers for the previous films in the series. Everything I say in reference to the current trailer is just conjecture. I have not seen the movie yet, I do not know any plot details for certain.

The Breakdown

• 0:00 From the very first frame, we can see that Ed and Lorraine have clearly gotten older. They both look like they’ve been through a lot.

• 0:02 “They’re both hiding something” is clearly heard from offscreen, I think this is the studio not wasting any time trying to convey the plot and themes of the film. 

• 0:05 Title card of “1986” and narration of “The Devil has come to Pennsylvania” over shots of a boisterous suburban block. Really throwing information at the viewer in quick succession.

• 0:09 – 0:24 In the trailer we see shots of, presumably, Janet Smurl being interviewed on the street in front of her home. By the way, this film is based on the Smurl Haunting of 1974 to 1989 in West Pittston, Pennsylvania, USA. This interview scene is cut up with shots of what appears to be Janet and her family experiencing ghostly activity. 

• Janet claims to the reporters that there are “eight people who have experienced this” and those “eight people are not crazy”. I think this is trying to represent a theme that is often shown in these films of how the media can be a sterile and scrutinizing eye. As a story becomes more widespread and disconnected from its place of origin, it usually gets easier to poke holes in it. 

• 0:12 The eight people being haunted are conveniently seated around the table in this shot. We can see Janet and Jack Smurl and their 4 daughters plus grandparents.

• 0:21 The girl in this scene looks to be an elder daughter in the Smurl family, and her character probably mirrors the appearance of Judy Warren in the film as well.

• 0:23 The dissonant sound effect jump scare on the guy just standing in the corner is pretty cheesy in my opinion. Lots of information stuffed into these first 25 seconds.

• 0:26 “Based on a true story” Doesn’t mean following the letter. Undoubtedly this film is gonna have a lot of dramatization and differences in order to shift the focus to the Warrens instead of the Smurls.

• 0:32 I find it funny they are about to interview Janet Smurl, the self-proclaimed victim of a haunting, but they purposely fade her out of focus and shift the attention solely to Lorraine. We are instead shown how Lorraine, presumably psychically, realizes there is something supernatural in the building. Yeah, I think Janet was about to tell you the same thing…
  • This represents a shift the characters made earlier in the series from ghost hunters to “superheroes”. They no longer work just to prove the existence of the supernatural, they actively fight and repel it, like heroes.

In 1984, we could only call on The Ghostbusters for our supernatural needs. Nowadays, if there’s something strange in your neighborhood, you have the choice to call John Constantine, Sam and Dean Winchester, or Ed and Lorraine Warren. 

• 0:37 “Ed, There’s evil here.” “Something I’ve felt before” This is the moment in the trailer that probably creates the most intrigue. Fans are now racing to prove which entity from past films is gonna make an appearance as the big bad villain. I think it will be something entirely original however.

• 0:40 The bed deflating is a very nice touch but the CGI hands going up is a little much for me.

• 0:48 “This thing… in your house… is a demon” Yeah, we know there’s a demon, this is a Conjuring film. That’s like a Scream trailer saying “there’s a masked killer on the loose”. Too much telling and not enough showing.

• 0:54 “It’s the first one that we ever encountered.” Adds on to the intrigue from earlier. Likely, we are going to see a sort of prequel origin story combined with a swan song sort of film. Comes off very comic booky to me, but no real complaints.

• Also shows a shot of young Warrens timidly opening a door and looking more nervous than usual. Some say this scene takes place when they encounter the original Annabelle demon, Malthus, but I think it’s gonna reveal a completely new entity. I do think Malthus will make an appearance in the film, but I suspect that more than one evil entity will be involved. 

• 0:56 Creepy figure doing aerobics atop door frame.

• 0:59 “We were young. We were scared. We ran away.” This is a classic hero’s journey trope of not being able to overcome an obstacle due to inexperience and then being propelled on a path of growth because of it. Other examples include; 
  • Simba can’t stand up to Scar as a cub, meets Timon and Pumba
  • Anakin loses his mother and is scared of losing Padme, so he embraces the dark side. 
  • Ed and Alphonse Elric can’t fix Nina Tucker, they vow to learn as much as possible about alchemy.
  • many such cases in hero’s journey literature.

• 1:05 Subtle shot of the cross turning upside down, which in these films is a sign of unholy activity

• 1:08 The writing says “miss me?” and fans are going to use this to justify the appearance of Annabelle, but I don’t think writing on the wall is an exclusive technique to only one demon. Likely, Malthus will make some appearance as he’s connected to Judy Warren, but I don’t think Malthus is the primary antagonist in the film.

• 1:11 “and after all these years, it wasn’t done with our family.” The family buzzword feels so cringey, but it’s used in the trailer to reveal that the girl sitting at their table is their grown daughter, Judy Warren, and the evil entity wasn’t done with her specifically.

• 1:14 The grey and ghostly hand slipping off the shoulder is a nice touch. As if she’s marked.

• 1:27 This scene seems to be based around Judy trying on a wedding gown, implying she is getting married. This solves the implication of the title, The Conjuring: Last Rites as Ed and Lorraine’s story together began with marriage rites and we’ve progressed to what might be the death of their sacred bond, or their “last rites”. 
  • I feel like the hall of mirrors with your reflection having a sinister mind of its own has been done before, but it still looks cool.

• 1:33 to 1:58 we come to the part of the trailer where it shows a montage of shots over some heavy dialogue in order to build intrigue. But we’re almost 2 minutes in, if you’re not interested by now I doubt the last 30 seconds are gonna convince you.

• 1:41 The crucifix lighting on fire goes pretty hard.

• 1:45 so does this shot of a priest holding a burning crucifix. This is clearly to show that they are dealing with a very powerful and evil force and traditional methods will not be enough.

• 2:00 “I don’t know how to protect you this time” I know this line is supposed to hit hard, but I swear this is the conflict in every one of these films? They take a case that requires Lorraine to increasingly tap into her psychic abilities and since Ed is just a normal person, he can’t protect her from the toll of fighting demons. If this happens in every case, why is this the case that ended it all?

• 2:02 It’s repeatedly shown this figure of a large and ghastly man with long smooth hair and jean overalls on. This figure seems to be the central antagonist but I’m not gonna say that until I see the movie.

• 2:04 to 2:15 In these scenes, Lorraine is trapped in the basement with the large ghastly man depicted throughout the trailer. She’s calling to Ed for help and stumbling around in blood, but he can’t get in. Further reinforces the theme that Ed feels increasingly unable to protect Lorraine when she needs it most. 

• 2:18 Title card. The Conjuring: Last Rites will be released in theatres September 5, 2025.

My Impressions:

To me, the trailer felt very shlocky and generic.

Not talking about the movie, but the trailer itself followed a pretty basic formula and as a result it reveals too much information about the film.

However, there’s still a couple unanswered questions, such as, what are Ed and Lorraine hiding? Is Judy really getting married? Why is this the case to end all cases?

I’m still excited to see this movie, but I hope they send this franchise off with a bang instead of a fizzle. If I’ve missed anything, let me know with a comment below!