Released on Sept. 5, 2025, The Conjuring: Last Rites, directed by Michael Chaves, has broken glass since its premiere. Marketed as a climactic end to the franchise, the filmmakers promised horror and terror like never before. But does the film live up to this expectation, or did The Conjuring take its last breath?

On Sept. 15, 2025, the University of Tennessee at Martin provided a free showing of The Conjuring: Last Rites through Flight Crew. This free showing gave many students the opportunity to view the film only a short while after its release. The student body gave mixed reviews after the showing had reached its conclusion. Among the audience was Pacer staff; these are our takeaways.  

Based on a true story, the film is the final in the Conjuring franchise and covers the closing adventure of famous paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga).

The film begins with Ed and Lorraine speaking with a distraught employee in their store. She tells them about the evil presence she has been feeling over the last few days, and that it all comes from the back storage room. Lorraine investigates the back room and finds a gothic mirror covered by a tarp. After unveiling it and placing her hands on the glass, she receives rapid visions of a possible future yet to come. 

Seemingly sent into labor by the possessed mirror, Ed hurriedly drives Lorraine to the nearest hospital to have their baby delivered. After a tense birth, the doctors pronounce the child stillborn. Lorraine spends the next distressing minute pleading to God for her baby girl to return to her, and miraculously, she does. The baby is named Judy. We are then treated to a heartwarming montage of the family growing together through the years. 

A timeskip to 1986 occurs, and Heather Smurl (Kíla Lord Cassidy) gets the mirror as a gift for her confirmation from her family. This leads to a problematic life for them all. She and her sister, Dawn (Beau Gadsdon), try to throw it away after the issues it has caused made them uncomfortable. Shocker, bad idea on their part. Immediately after the mirror is crushed in the trash truck, everything gets so much worse. 

The problems they’re encountering reach a point where they have to contact someone to help. This is where Ed, Lorianne, Judy and Tony (Ben Hardy) come in and where we will leave you to wonder what happens next. 

SPOILER WARNING

Here at the Pacer, we were able to catch the film at the free showing, and we were not the only ones who had strong opinions.

After begrudgingly sitting through what felt like an eternity, it came to a point where we were simply waiting for the credits to roll. We do not know why it took so long to get to the power of friendship, and neither did other viewers. Saying that, the ending of the film was, well, disappointing. The defeat of the demon being done through them all putting their hands on a magic spinning mirror…that’s it, I think you get what we mean.

Kameron Shade, a Business Management major from Union City, TN, said that the movie “was an okay movie. It made me feel a little scared, but not extremely.”

The overall excitement after the film was over was equivalent to that of an exam day; however, some students seemed to greatly enjoy the film and a lot of its aspects.

Connor Clapp, a junior Parks and Recreation major from Michie, TN, felt differently. He said that, “[the film] was engaging, well-written and had a lot of action.”

Another student, Samantha Ripple, a Family and Consumer Health Sciences major from Middleton, TN, said, “[the film] was terrifying,” and when asked if she would recommend it to any of her friends, she said, “Some of them, yeah, but some no.

To longtime horror film viewers, The Conjuring: Last Rites has been seeded as the ninth best film in the franchise, but to the Conjuring fanbase, it has served as a well-needed conclusion.

Grade: 6/10