The time has come to say goodbye to the Warren’s and the evil they fought.
By: Amanda Musto
After eleven years of terror being shown on the big screen, The Conjuring universe has officially come to a close. This story of the Warren’s last encounter showed just how far evil is willing to go.
In true Conjuring fashion, this film brought the audience back in time, this time to 1986, to follow Ed and Lorriane Warren as they go against a demonic spirit in order to bring a family peace. This time however, their daughter Judy played by Mia Tomlinson, holds an even bigger role with the family than she has before. Watchers have met Judy Warren in some of The Conjuring and the Annabelle films, but even with her larger presence in Annabelle Comes Home, Judy’s role was never as prominent as it was in this film.
As opposed to some of the other films in The Conjuring universe, this film had fewer jump scares and a little less suspense, which made it not as scary this time around. It felt more predictable in some parts rather than others in the series as well. I did enjoy the aspect of a mirror as a conduit this time just due to the eeriness it brings; will someone else be looking back, will you see someone behind you when you look into it, things like that. The mirror also ‘disappearing’ threw me off, which left me stumped on what was causing all the issues for the Smurl family.
One thing that stood out to me was how well the production team did with the casting of young Ed and Lorraine Warren. The Warren team has been played by Patrick Wilson (Insidious) and Vera Farmiga (Bates Motel, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas) throughout every film in the series and truly there are no two people better suited for these roles. Between the amazing chemistry they have with each other and their acting prowess, they helped make the movies what they are today. In the case of their younger counterparts, played by Madison Lawlor and Orion Smith, the casting was spot on. Between how much they looked like Wilson and Farmiga to being an almost exact vocal match, it was a perfect pairing.
The movie starts with the younger Warrens, their work on a case while pregnant with Judy, the miracle of Judy’s life, and a fast-forwarded timeline of their lives together which lead to the Smurl case, but it was the transition from younger to older that really caught my eye. In an instant you see younger Lorraine lift and spin Judy around and in one swift and smooth switch, older Lorraine was on the screen with Judy. The film team made it such an effortless transition and it was beautifully done.
The production team put their all in this film to make it cinematically better than the others and it was clearly shown with each detail added in. The demonic spirits in this film looked more terrifying than in prior movies, the special effects seemed to have improved, and even the ominous music in this film has gotten better. A small piece that was added in that I loved the most were the cameos from prior Conjuring movie actors. It was a sweet detail to have to tie all the movies together.
While yes, it was known that this would be the final movie due to the case it followed being the last one the Warren’s took part in, I think it would have been a great way to end the movie anyway. This case showed how much power their family holds and how they are stronger than the evil they fight. It also came to light that this spirit was much more than just an angry demon, but something worse and something that has been tied to the Warren family for years and years. Not only did this case end their careers and be the case to end the films, it finally gave insight to many of the other cases they worked and why many of them needed to be handled by this family. Once the watcher learned the connection between the demon and the Warren’s, the rest of the movies become so much more powerful and hold more of an emotional tie.
I have been a fan of this universe since the start and it’s a shame that it’s come to its end, but I don’t think I could have asked for a better goodbye to the Warren family. While this is not my favorite film of the series, the original will always top at number one, I thought it was great and I rate it 8/10.
