The Warrens are back for one more round of demonic showdowns. Warner Bros. has unveiled the official trailer for upcoming horror film The Conjuring: Last Rites, the ninth film in the long-running Conjuring Universe franchise and the final chapter (at least for now) in Ed and Lorraine Warren’s story.
This latest entry is set in 1986, five years after the events of the previous film, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. The Warrens, played once again by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, are living a quieter life — until one more case pulls them back into darkness.
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The trailer teases a chilling confrontation rooted in one of the Warrens’ most publicised real-life cases: the haunting of the Smurl family. As Ed and Lorraine’s daughter Judy (played now by Mia Tomlinson) and her boyfriend Tony (Ben Hardy) are drawn into the fray, the Warrens face not only demonic forces, but questions of legacy, faith, and family.
The film is directed by Michael Chaves, who helmed previous franchise entries The Devil Made Me Do It and The Nun II, as well as the sort-of connected The Curse of La Llorona.
Despite the ultra-creepy moments teased in the trailer, the film is said to be changing up the pace a little for the franchise. Rather than mostly focusing on the terror, Chaves and the creative team reportedly chose a more grounded, intimate direction for this farewell. “The biggest, most emotional story we could tell was the most personal story,” Chaves said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “Ultimately, this is a story about a family.”
Farmiga also suggested that this chapter will mark a point of difference. “You’re going to witness a moment in the Warrens’ lives — and a pretty profound moment,” Farmiga said. “This one’s different than the others. The other three were about hauntings, and this one is about reckoning.”
Added Wilson: “This really felt like a proper ending to get back to the heart of the franchise, the family of it all.”
Launched with James Wan’s 2013 hit The Conjuring — following his success with Saw and Insidious — the franchise quickly evolved into a full-blown horror universe. Across eight films (with Last Rites marking the ninth), it’s pulled in over $2.2 billion worldwide from a combined production budget of just $208 million. It’s the highest-grossing horror franchise of all time.
The Conjuring: Last Rites will open in Australian cinemas on September 4 and U.S. cinemas on September 5.
