The Conjuring: Last Rites: Here's what the film reveals about Ed and Lorraine Warren's past

The Conjuring: Last Rites gives fans a thorough look into Ed and Lorraine Warren's past and a major incident that shaped their lives and careers. From the very first Conjuring film, we have gotten small instances and pieces of the couple's history with past investigations. But in the three preceding movies, we have only seen seconds-long flashbacks or videotapes. For the first time, The Conjuring: Last Rites gives us a clear look into a major incident in the Warrens' lives.

The film rewires the franchise’s origin myth to make the Warrens’ personal history feel like the haunting itself, not just backstory. Opening as a family drama disguised as a horror movie, it then peels back decades to show the moment that sets Ed and Lorraine Warren on their path.

In a striking 1964 flashback, a haunted mirror triggers Lorraine’s labor and almost costs the couple their newborn. That early trauma is matched against a present-day case by the Smurl haunting, which gives the finale its personal stakes. As their daughter Judy grows up in the present day, ready to be wed, the mirror makes a return and this time, goes straight for Judy.

Still from The Conjuring: Last Rites (Image via Warner Bros.)

For the first time, a Conjuring project has its roots in Ed and Lorraine's backstory, which later branches out cleverly to a story that is both the Smurls' and the Warrens'. The result is a film that treats the Warrens’ beginning as both the source of their mission and the emotional engine of the finale, placing them at the center of the demonic case as both the affected and the investigators.

Their origin story becomes the key that unlocks the entire narrative, turning the final chapter into something that feels intimate and mythic at the same time. The audience isn’t just watching the Warrens face down another dark entity, they’re watching them reckon with the very reasons they ever picked up the fight in the first place.

More details about The Conjuring: Last Rites

The Conjuring: Last Rites brings Michael Chaves to the director’s chair with a script from Ian Goldberg, Richard Naing, and David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, while James Wan’s fingerprints are all over the story. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson once again step into the shoes of Lorraine and Ed Warren, joined by Ben Hardy and newcomer Mia Tomlinson as their daughter Judy.

Cameos from past survivors tie the universe together, but the heart of the film beats in its closing scene, Judy’s wedding, where faith and family finally win over fear.

As of now, The Conjuring: Last Rites has seen mixed reviews from critics, as some praised its premise and the return of the leads, and how it wraps up the Warrens' story beautifully. Others have pointed out the lack of any eerie elements in the film, calling it more of a family drama than a horror movie. On the day of its release, the film bears a Rotten Tomatoes score of 54%.