Does the phrase “last rites” imply that this is the end of the Conjuring universe? After star Vera Farmiga posted an emotional, farewell-esque caption on her Instagram account bidding adieu to her “fake marriage” to Patrick Wilson, all signs point to yes. Then again, you never know when demons are going to pop up.
No matter the future of the franchise, this film skips ahead to 1986. Once again, the inspiration was taken from a real-life case, this time the Smurl family haunting in West Pittston, Pennsylvania. There, a family was plagued by seemingly supernatural occurrences—moving furniture, odd voices—that escalated in their severity over time. “I thought these things only happen in movies,” Jack Smurl, the family patriarch, famously said—a line so good they used real footage of him saying it in the trailer.
