From Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare to Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter and beyond, horror cinema is filled with examples of “final” movies that don’t quite live up to the billing. That isn’t the plan with Warner Bros. and Atomic Monster’s The Conjuring franchise, according to filmmaker Michael Chaves. Speaking with The Beat just in time for spooky season, the director told us that The Conjuring: Last Rites really was envisioned as the final installment for the long-running horror franchise.
Of course, The Conjuring is the gift that keeps on giving, with spinoffs for Anabelle the doll and The Nun. But the big, emotional ending of Last Rites is not something New Line or Chaves have plans to walk back anytime soon.
“This was always conceived as a final chapter,” Chaves told The Beat. “I think we really wanted to land that emotional story. There’s been so many series that have shamelessly strip-mined their IP intot he ground. honestly if it was up to me, I would have kept on doing it. I love these movies — I would have just kept making them until they fall apart and it was actually the studio, in an inspired moment, who was like, ‘We want to end this.’ Dave Neustadter — his name doesn’t get spoken enough, but he is the real creative lead at New Line, an incredible guy. I owe him my career. And really, it was his impulse that he was like, ‘Let’s end this story on our terms. We’re in such a great spot, let’s end it confidently and give that big, emotional ending.'”
Shortly after we spoke with Chaves, New Line announced that they planned to go back in time and explore the early years of Ed and Lorraine Warren. Rodrigue Huart is reportedly in talks to direct what would be his studio feature debut. Richard Naing and Ian Goldberg, who wrote The Nun II and The Conjuring: Last Rites are on board to write. Variety, who broke the news, speculates that the characters will be recast.
While The Conjuring franchise is loosely based on the lives of real-life paranormal investigators (and profoundly controversial figures) Ed and Lorraine Warren, stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga have taken wildly different approaches to playing the characters, according to Chaves.
“I think that they each have their own take on it,” Chaves said. “Patrick doesn’t look like the real Ed Warren. Even as he’s aged, he somehow gets better looking, and it’s an insult to all us ordinary guys, and so I think he’s just owned his own cinematic version of Ed Warren. Vera, from the very beginning, told me she wanted to approach the film as more of a biopic. Nobody ever talks about it, but when they were making the first one, she was so committed to the dresses and the high collars and everything that was so Lorraine that when the studio started seeing it, they were panicked. They were worried about, like, ‘Oh, my God — she’s going off the rails and no one is going to connect with her.’…And so actually if you look at the first movie, you can see that her haircut changes a little bit. Sometimes it’s up, and sometimes they’re trying to soften it. For me, I love that approach. I love that it felt so real, and I always encourage her, let’s go as real as possible. I want to unleash that. And now this is such a hit, we can do no wrong. [The studio] will just let her and us do whatever we want.”
You can get The Conjuring: Last Rites on digital platforms now.
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