Warning: Some SPOILERS for The Conjuring: Last Rites still await us!
The biggest modern horror franchise bids farewell for now with The Conjuring: Last Rites. Director Michael Chaves reveals that a very different genre inspired him for this ninth, and potentially final, main installment in the Conjuring Universe. Chaves’ third consecutive film in the franchise.
Set in 1988, The Conjuring: Last Rites sees Ed and Lorraine Warren retired from their research work due to Ed’s declining health. However, when a family is terrorized by a demon from their past, the Warrens, along with their daughter Judy and her growing psychic abilities, are drawn back into the investigations.
Returning Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as Ed and Lorraine, the cast also features Mia Tomlinson as Judy, Ben Hardy as her eventual husband Tony, and Rebecca Calder and Elliot Cowan as the Smurl family patriarchs. Despite mixed reviews, The Conjuring: Last Rites was a box office success, becoming the highest-grossing installment of the series.
As the film hits digital platforms, Joe Deckelmeier interviewed Michael Chaves for ScreenRant to discuss The Conjuring: Last Rites. Chaves explained how Hugh Jackman’s Logan was a key inspiration for the film’s story and tone, also delving into the dark opening sequence and analyzing the future of the franchise.
Logan had a big inspiration for the ending of the movie
After setting the stage for a bigger future for her in Annabelle Comes Home, the new film gives Judy a more prominent role in the story, allowing her to actively participate in the investigation. Furthermore, she assists Ed and Lorraine in destroying the haunted mirror in the finale and marries Tony in the conclusion of The Conjuring: Last Rites.
Reflecting on crafting the emotional closure for the sequel, Chaves stated that «Last Rites» was always designed as a goodbye not just for the Warrens in the spell but to the entire series. For the ending, in which Judy and Tony have the choice to lead their own stories or enjoy a quiet married life, Chaves specifically told the team that they used «Logan» for reference for the movie.
Chaves explained, «Logan is one of my favorite movies, and what I loved about it is that you can imagine the daughter going on adventures in Canada and having this young mutant life. It gives you hope just thinking about it. But I think there’s also something wonderful about feeling that conclusion; feeling the end of that story.»
The opening of The Last Rites was crucial in establishing it as «the darkest chapter.» When crafting the story with franchise veteran David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and creator James Wan, Chaves emphasized that the driving force of The Conjuring: Last Rites was the theme of «letting go.» He acknowledged that many franchises struggle with delivering a satisfying final chapter because it’s challenging for the audience to say goodbye to a beloved story.
Chaves and the team felt that the best way to bid farewell to the Warrens was to focus on Judy, making it a very Judy-centric story. The idea of the wedding symbolized letting go of a daughter as she embarks on starting her own family.
Sometimes there is so much criticism around a final chapter because it is mixed with the fact that we don’t like goodbyes.
However, to achieve this conclusion, Chaves needed to include the opening scene of Ed and Lorraine performing last rites, where they abandon an investigation due to a powerful demon and Lorraine’s water breaking while pregnant with Judy.
