‘THE CONJURING: LAST RITES’ Drops the Sinister For a Saccharine Sendoff

September 6, 2025 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Beau Gadsdon, Ben Hardy, Elliot Cowan, Kíla Lord Cassidy, Madison Lawlor, Mia Tomlinson, Michael Chaves, Orion Smith, Patrick Wilson, Rebecca Calder, The Conjuring: Last Rites, Vera Farmiga 3 Comments

Ed and Lorraine Warren have been at the center of WB’s expansive Conjuring franchise for its entire 12-year run. They’ve appeared, or at least been mentioned, in all nine of the core entries and spin-offs. With The Conjuring: Last Rites, allegedly the final film featuring Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the married paranormal investigators finally get a sendoff. The trouble is: that sendoff comes in the form of the franchise’s low point. Last Rites is abominably paced, way overlong, and almost completely devoid of scares. By the time we bid farewell to the Warrens, we’re so far removed from everything that made the early Conjuring films effective nightmare fuel that we’re honestly relieved to see them go. Read More

Franchise Fatigue Possesses ‘THE CONJURING: THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT’

June 1, 2021 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, Horror, Julian Hilliard, Michael Chaves, Out in Theaters, Patrick Wilson, Reviews, Ruairi O’Connor, The Conjuring, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, Vera Farmiga 3 Comments

The Conjuring extended universe is one of the – if not the most – preeminent examples of a modern horror franchise done correctly. Expansive, with spin-offs shooting off into this direction or that, and an absolute box office powerhouse (with almost two billion dollars in worldwide gross), The Conjuring’s terrifying rein is vast. And yet with three separate offshoots, including a full-fledged Annabelle trilogy, and more on the way, the haunting force of the series that began in 2013 comes sputtering to a decidedly indifferent halt with The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. Read More

Punishing ’THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA’ Will Make You Cry Tears of Boredom

April 17, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Horror, Jaynee-Lynee Kinchen, Linda Cardellini, Michael Chaves, Mikki Daughtry, Out in Theaters, Patricia Velasquez, Raymond Cruz, Reviews, Roman Christou, The Conjuring Universe, Tobias Iaconis Leave a comment

The Curse of La Llorona is why people say they don’t like horror movies. In an age of Us, Hereditary, The Babadook, The Witch, Get Out, Raw, It Follows and so so many more outstanding horror movies, it’s why some still think they don’t like the genre. Why they falsely assume it’s inferior cinema. Sure, this particular movie isn’t retroactively responsible for the distaste of scary movie avoidant moviegoers en masse but this brand of slick, soulless sludge is. With nothing more than an anorexic concept held loosely together with poorly-telegraphed jump scares, children constantly screaming and countless scenes of creeping through creaking casas in the dark, The Curse of La Llorona is the laziest pedigree of studio horror fare, coasting on brand familiarity and age-old genre tropes to pass the minutes by with nothing in the way of inspiration to lift it up or differentiate it from the pack. Read More