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The Conjuring Last Rites is Hardly a Finale. It’s More Like The Passing of the Torch.

All The Conjuring Last Rites does is to lean heavily on callbacks to earlier films. While Judy Warren’s expanded role adds some novelty, the result feels more like a greatest-hits package than a true conclusion.

The Conjuring Last Rites may mark the end of the franchise on the big screen, but HBO Max’s TV series to continue the story will keep the Warrens alive. Just this week, the streamer announced Nancy Won as showrunner, with Peter Cameron and Cameron Squires joining the writer’s room. While Ed and Lorraine Warren claimed to have investigated countless cases, only the most sensational ones ever made it to theatres—often as overblown, fictionalized spectacles. What’s missing are the controversies surrounding the couple’s methods and credibility, which can take the franchise to a level other films never explore.

At the heart of this latest film lies a familiar question: who—or what—is the evil that continues to pursue the Warrens? Earlier entries teased a hidden hand behind Annabelle and The Nun, but ultimately the lore hinges on one figure: Valak.

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Had Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom Felt More Like A Nautical Tale, Perhaps There’s Hope

Although Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is treading water these days, it hasn’t sunk yet following its holiday premiere. I saw it on a weekend when there’s nothing else to go see on the big screen.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is one of those movies that could’ve embraced all the action and love one has for a tale written by Jules Verne. But instead, what’s presented is half of one. Had this work not been a struggle to get finished, I’m sure some elements from all four storytellers (James Wan, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, Jason Momoa and Thomas Pa’a Sibbett) could’ve been retained, and the director could’ve done wonders. But instead, what’s finally put together feels like conflicting concepts smashed together and the cohesiveness barely hangs on by a thread.

By the title alone, I wanted to see an Indiana Jones style adventure unfold. After Arthur (Jason Momoa) realises he can’t stop Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) alone, he’ll have to do more than find an ally. That’s because this villain found an artefact, a black trident, and in order to counter this item, this guardian of the sea needs a way to destroy it. And along the way, the backstory gets quite involved since it is as crazy as Lord of the Rings when concerning how he who welds that power will–no matter what–become corrupt.

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The Details on Why The Devil Made Me Do It with The Conjuring Franchise

These paranormal investigators turned detectives in this fictional take cannot find plausible pieces of evidence to exonerate Arne. They show their love is indeed strong to defy evil, but where was that for the young man? None of their discoveries really helped the case.

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

MAJOR SPOILER ALERT

The reason The Conjuring franchise continues to endure is that the producers decided “The Devil Made Me Do It” (for the money). They want to celebrate the life and times of Ed and Lorraine Warren, paranormal investigators, as one of undying love from a cinematic perspective. The devil you know is in whether James Wan wants to continue writing-producing, changing details concerning their cases around so it makes sense in the cinematic chronology and build to some crazy endgame–to which there was none in our world’s version of the Warrens.

Not everyone knows Ed passed away from natural causes. The real-life couple who love to blame hauntings on demons did more book and lecture tours in their twilight years. They’re not of that right age to go chasing after evil like they did in their prime. Ed’s health was fading. By 2006, he was hospitalized and eventually crossed over into the afterlife. Lorraine continued the family business with their son-in-law and daughter. She passed away quietly in her sleep, in 2019, and there’s no insinuating meaning with the thirteen years she couldn’t be with her beau.

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Halloween is near and it’s Insidious to Fear this Franchise is Not Continuing

Insidious (2010) - IMDb By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

If there are any more Insidious movies to be made, the producers are not saying. There are whispers of a fifth movie, but how many fans want it? Many believe the saga has run full circle. When considering The Last Key ended at where it started, where it can go will depends on where the story can go next. Lin Shaye gives the character of Elise Rainier credibility to what most real-life paranormal investigators do.

When this series began, we were introduced to a young Dalton Lambert (Ty Simpkins). He is gifted with the ability to walk in a netherworld (known as the Further) unabated. His parents, Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai (Rose Byrne), are very scared and believe with this talent, he will lose his way. Spirits populate this realm and none of them are friendly; they spirits wish to feed upon his life energy like a vampire requiring blood.

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Breaking IT Chapter Two Apart & What’s Next?

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Stephen King‘s horror universe is ripe for being turned into a cinematic powerhouse. When the movie IT has a label of ‘Chapter Two,’ it sets up the possibility of new original tales can be told.

Since The Conjuring can do it with its spinoffs, so can IT! James Wan‘s restrictive franchise of angry ghosts / demons terrorizing humans can only go so far as where the Paranormal Activity films went. To deliver all the backstory requires a collective to oversee production of recent releases—namely IT, Pet Semetary and Dark Tower—and having an original story arc to bring it all together for some massive confrontation. The teases offered in how the Native Indians dealt with the occult world has me interested and they can be the saviours. Two of these three films involve them and until Universal gets their monster-verse going, there is a gap to fill.

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Aquaman, An Epic Textbook Case of Another Hero’s Journey …

Although James Wan’s concept for Aquaman is to guilde him through another hero’s journey, the story isn’t all wet

Spoiler Alert

‘Tis the season to enjoy being Aquaman. Jason Momoa is clearly having fun in the role, and his charm sells this latest DC Extended Universe product. Zack Snyder has executive producer credit and James Wan is directing. This Fast and Furious director sticks to what he knows best and translates the screenplay by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Will Beall into glorious sequences straight out of Lord of the Rings, Clash of the Titans (no surprise here, when considering David’s past work), Blade Runner and Indiana Jones.

Of the latter, it was too short and I wished for more. The visual treat of the underwater sequences is certainly overwhelming and lives up to recreating Neo Atlantis perfectly. I hoped for a more classically nuanced work (in reference to Plato’s Timaeus) and while not out of place, the archeological moments were not too much of a letdown. Balancing the origin of a superhero story with the big tease of them in the Sahara must have been tough.

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