September 2, 2025
In 1964, young Ed and Lorraine Warren were investigating the case of a haunted full-length mirror. It had a heavy wooden frame, with carvings of three faces adorning the top part. When Lorraine was heavy with child at that time, and her mere touch of the mirror surface cracked the glass and sent her into immediate labor. As her emergency delivery was underway, Lorraine was seeing demonic visions around her. When her baby came out, it was stillborn.
In 1986, the Smurl family of Pittston, Pennsylvania were celebrating the confirmation of one of the daughters. Her grandparents' gift was something they bought at the flea market -- a big mirror with a heavy wooden frame with three faces carved on the top part. From that time on, various inexplicable things were happening around the house. These were innocuous and seemingly harmless at first, but soon, they became more and more sinister.
This is the 9th film of the Conjuring Universe, which also includes the Annabelle and the Nun films. It is the fourth film in the main Conjuring series about real-life cases of Ed and Lorraine Warren: James Wan's original (2013) about the Perron family, and sequel (2016) about the Entfield poltergeist, Michael Chavez's "The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It" (2021) about the Ann Cheyenne Johnson case, and this new film about the Smurl family.
Consistent with the Conjuring tradition of horror, this latest film was also had excellently-executed creepy and startling scare scenes involving a haunted house, children, and toys. This time around, one of the younger girls had an ugly crawling baby doll that kept on calling her mother that can really get under your skin. Those scenes involving the priest Fr. Gordon (Steve Coulter) in the Smurl basement and in his superior's office were also very well done.
To appreciate the film more, better not put too much thought about the ghosts that the Smurls and the Warrens were seeing and fighting. A number of ghosts were technically not directly from the mirror at all, including the madman with the axe, the crone in the hall of mirrors-type fitting room and even Annabelle on the rocking chair. The final showdown between the Warrens and the mirror went on a bit too long, that it felt over-the-top than truly scary.
Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga have really settled into their characters comfortably. The scene where young ex-cop Tony (Ben Hardy) was asking for Ed and Lorraine's blessing to marry their daughter Judy (Mia Tomlinson) was light and comic. A lot of time was spent on the family life of the Warrens, which some may feel went on with more humor than scares. Being the final installment of the Conjuring franchise, the ending was sentimental as expected. 7/10