Religious horror has always been a fascinating horror for me. I have seen them all, from The Pope’s Exorcist (2023) to The Amityville Horror (2005), and The Conjuring franchise is my favorite. With real stories intertwined, but still a good mix of fiction, it is everything one could want in a horror film. The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025) was released on September 5 and has already broken box office records and is now past what it cost to make the movie. With a $55 million budget, it made $87 million domestically, making that the highest in Conjuring history, and $187 million globally, making it the biggest horror movie opening weekend. The numbers don’t lie, and you should grab a ticket after reading why it is the best ending to the entire franchise.
The Conjuring Franchise as a Whole
The Conjuring franchise is the highest-grossing horror franchise with a total of $2.3 billion globally. Because of that, it has grown a large audience and become a beacon in the horror film genre. There are ten movies within the franchise, with nine being directly related and one being a spinoff that includes some of the same characters, but we will get into that later. The franchise became 12 years old this year, with the first film being released in 2013. Warner Bros has distributed it and it’s available to watch with an HBO Max subscription, or you can pay to rent it on various sites. These are basic facts about the franchise itself, but what do you need to know about the plot before diving in?
What do you need to know?
The Conjuring series is semi-factual, more fictional-leaning films surrounding the notable Warren Family. Lorraine and Ed Warren are paranormal investigators who reside in New England. Ed is a demonologist, and Lorraine is a medium. They worked closely with the Catholic Church, hunting and exorcising demons. They were respected and worked on tens of thousands of cases, most notably the Conjuring house and the infamous Annabelle doll. Ed Warren passed away in 2006, but Lorraine continued their work alongside the film crews to depict the stories as accurately as possible, as the films were based on real-life hauntings they encountered. Lorraine, unfortunately, passed away back in 2019.
It is important to note that, despite their famous acts and services, there was heavy controversy surrounding Ed Warren.
Each film, as stated, is based on one of their hauntings, with The Conjuring (2013) being about the famous Conjuring house in Rhode Island and the demon that haunted it. The Conjuring 2 (2016) follows the Enfield poltergeist, and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021) follows a horrific murder at a house in Connecticut and goes into the demons that may have caused it.
Then we have Annabelle (2014), which has three movies surrounding the haunted doll, its creation, its devastating impact on the families that came into contact with it, and finally its end against the Warrens. There is also The Nun (2018) and The Nun 2 (2023), which are part of the series through the second Conjuring film, exploring the main demon from that film. It is entirely fictional and used to be a creation story. Finally, The Curse of La Llorona (2019) is not wholly a part of the series, but includes the same priest connected to The Conjuring series, so it is more its own show.
The Viewing Order
When it comes to this series, there is a specific order to watch it, as the movies were not released chronologically. Here is the ultimate watching guide:
- The Nun (2018)
- Annabelle: Creation (2017)
- The Nun 2 (2023)
- Annabelle (2014)
- The Conjuring (2013)
- Annabelle Comes Home (2019)
- The Curse of La Llorona (2019)
- The Conjuring 2 (2016)
- The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)
- The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025)
Why is The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025) the best ending?
Content Warning: This Excerpt Contains Spoilers to The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025).
The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025) is a very intense film, with many different aspects and a different spin on its narrative. In every other movie, the narrative focuses mainly on the family that was being haunted, while the Warrens, still important, take on a more minor role. However, this movie concentrates equally on the Warrens and the Smurls, the family being haunted. On the one hand, we get to see the Warren family live an everyday life after giving birth to their child, Judy, and on the other hand, we see the Smurl family being haunted by a creepy mirror.
However, we see that Judy has the same medium powers as Lorraine, and because of that, she has internal struggles. Mixed with the haunting, it creates a plot-heavy storyline that perfectly wraps up. Despite being against working on hauntings due to having a family and Ed’s increasing health problems, the Smurls are different, as the mirror has a history with the Warrens.
The ending is where it wraps up perfectly. The Warrens have both passed in real life, their stories over; it only makes sense for their on-screen stories to end. Good always defeats evil, and so the Warrens put the mirror in their room of haunted collections, protected by religious items. A room that is real to this day and open to visitations, but be warned, people have suffered tragic accidents after visiting it. With the haunted item locked away, Judy marries her boyfriend, the one she dated throughout the movie, and the movie ends with the family happily celebrating. With this ending, there is no cliffhanger, no more spooky items; it is a family, celebrating a happy time, ending their reign of taking on cases.
This type of ending ensures that there is nothing more to go on, and there are no more cases to take, especially after their adamancy throughout the movie that they are done. It is a bittersweet ending to my favorite horror franchise of all time.
Horror critics and lovers from all over the globe are sharing their thoughts and opinions on The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025). What are your thoughts?
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