THE CONJURING: LAST RITES
(15) 135mins
★★★★☆
3
FOR over a decade, the Conjuring franchise has been scaring us silly with its “true stories”.
But this will be the final haunted hurrah from parapsychologists Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) and Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson).
The married couple are as devoted to keeping bad spirits at bay as they are each other.
The film begins with a flashback to 1964, where a haunted mirror causes Lorraine to go into early labour.
The birth is traumatic and the demon that wants to get her young baby, Judy, almost wins, with the tot being stillborn.
Evil presence
But after begging the Lord to make the baby breathe, Lorraine wins that battle and we see the loving family grow up with happiness around them.
All while ghostbusting, of course.
But demons don’t rest and Judy, who has visions like her mum, often feels that she is being watched.
Fast-forward to 1986 and the Warrens are retired due to Ed having a heart condition.
But that pesky mirror turns up again, this time in the family home of the Smurls in Pennsylvania.
There are some seriously creepy goings-on and this is a demon not to be messed with. The Smurls have been so violently attacked by a powerful evil presence that they all live in terror.
As usual in these films, what you don’t see is far more terrifying than what you do.
Every usual horror trope is thrown out with a vengeance. But hey, if it ain’t broke. . .
And it certainly feels like it’s not, as my palms grew clammy and heart rate shot up countless times.
The performances by Farmiga and Wilson are as extraordinary as always, bringing believable calm to the roles.
The climax of the supernatural events includes daughter Judy (Mia Tomlinson) and her boyfriend Tony (Brit actor Ben Hardy), are both tense and unsettling.
Directed by Michael Chaves, who was also the director for the three previous entries in the franchise, the film has a hand-held camera effect that tunes into the 1980s feel very well indeed.
There’s also a nice rounding off at the end with some familiar faces that superfans will appreciate.
A spine-tingling finale to a series of films that will likely haunt generations of fans to come.
ON SWIFT HORSES
(15) 119mins
★★☆☆☆
3
THIS odd beast of a film from Daniel Minahan is adapted from Shannon Pufahl’s 2019 novel.
It opens with Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and her soon-to-be husband, Lee (Will Poulter), chasing the Californian dream after his return from the Korean War.
Their plans for a fresh start are almost derailed by the arrival of Lee’s magnetic younger brother, Julius (Jacob Elordi), who departs for Las Vegas the next day.
There, Julius finds work in a casino and falls into a secret romance with his charismatic coworker, Henry (Diego Calva).
Back in California, Muriel begins her own double life, gambling at racetracks and discovering an unexpected passion with her neighbour, Sandra (Sasha Calle).
On paper, this is rich material, but on screen, Minahan never quite delivers the goods.
The film certainly looks the part – Andre Chemetoff’s cinematography bathes everything in a golden haze – but beneath the gloss there isn’t enough here to truly hold it together.
In the end, On Swift Horses aspires to be a sweeping saga in the vein of East Of Eden, but it never gets out of a slow trot.
All style, with little substance.
LINDA MARRIC
THE COURAGEOUS
(12A) 83mins
★★★★☆
3
JASMIN GORDON’S debut feature film is an honest portrait of survival, love, and dignity.
Set against the beautiful landscape of Switzerland’s Valais region, it follows Jule (Ophelia Kolb), a rebellious single mother of three who refuses to give up on her family despite poverty, past mistakes and the indifference of the welfare system.
Kolb, best known for the hugely popular series, Call My Agent!, gives a career-defining performance. She captures Jule’s contradictions with remarkable depth.
Gordon directs with sensitivity, as she blends social realism with poetic imagery in a film that never feels needlessly moralising.
Her film never resorts to cliché or sentimentality; instead, it shines a light on the often invisible battles of the working poor in a modern Swiss society where destitution is often a taboo subject.
This is a powerful, heartfelt drama about love, resilience, and the complexity of being a flawed human.
Gordon’s sensitive direction and Kolb’s mesmerising performance combine to create a film that is both socially aware and profoundly moving.
It may be her first ever feature, but Gordon has made a film that feels both mature and hugely engaging.
LINDA MARRIC