The Conjuring: Last Rites is the ninth entry in the Conjuring franchise, but that doesn’t mean you have to revisit every movie in the series to understand the film. The Conjuring series, which debuted in 2013 and has become a modern benchmark of the horror landscape, closes out the story of Ed and Lorraine Warren with Last Rites.

There are plenty of elements of the movie that work better for audiences familiar with the Warrens. However, that doesn’t mean horror fans who’ve missed out on the Warrens have a lot of homework to get through. Here are the Conjuring movies you need to revisit before Last Rites, and how well the film works as a stand-alone horror movie.

How The Conjuring: Last Rites Builds On The Previous Films

The Conjuring: Last Rites does a good job of catching up unfamiliar viewers with the lives of the Warrens, but there are definitely elements of the film that work better if audiences have seen previous movies in the series. Last Rites plays with franchise history by having Ed and Lorraine reencounter a demon they barely escaped in the past.

This means that the film has to do a quick job of running through the history of the Warrens, establishing them in their younger years and the kind of legacy they have two decades later. The film does this by featuring an extended sequence focused on the younger versions of Ed and Lorraine. While this gets the story across, the plot is improved with familiarity with the series.

This is especially true for Judy’s arc in the film, which has been steadily building in films like Annabelle Comes Home. The third entry in the spin-off trilogy, Annabelle Comes Home shifted focus more heavily towards Judy and her babysitter, all while underscoring the danger of the Annabelle doll and the way it specifically terrified the youngest of the Warrens.

While the enтιтy possessing the Annabelle doll isn’t much of a factor in this movie (making the first two Annabelle movies less necessary for this movie), the doll’s prominence in the Warrens’ trophy room and the clear impact it has had on Judy make Annabelle Comes Home one of the better Conjuring movies to check out before seeing Last Rites.

Judy’s ability to control the abilities she inherited from her mother also recalls some of Lorraine’s storyline from The Conjuring 2, which put emphasis on Lorraine’s powers and her own struggles at fully controlling them. These elements factor heavily into the new film, highlighting the challenge of the film’s latest demonic threat by pushing those attributes to their limit.

To get the most out of the last film in the current series, it’s worth checking out the previous mainline entries in The Conjuring series before seeing Last Rites. The film is very much an emotional goodbye to Ed and Lorraine, meaning the narrative lands better if audiences have a prior connection to the characters and their relationships.

You can skip some entries in The Conjuring universe and get along just fine, however. Notably, The Nun and The Nun 2 don’t really have any clear impact or influence on the plot of this film, although demons who target members of the Church do come into play, giving Last Rites at least a narrative connection to those two spin-offs.

Unfamiliar Audiences Can Still Check Out The Conjuring: Last Rites

You can actually go into The Conjuring: Last Rites completely blind. Part of the appeal of the series has always been the relative stand-alone nature of each entry. While characters, elements, and threats from previous films could return, each specific haunting was a new challenge for the Warrens to overcome.

This extends to Last Rites. While the film’s antagonist does have a prior connection to the Warrens, this story beat is introduced and fleshed out amid a fresh investigation. The central themes work on their own; the flashback to a young Ed and Lorraine just before Judy’s birth contrasts naturally against Ed’s worsening health and Judy’s relationship with Tony.

It’s entirely possible to check out Last Rites as your first Conjuring movie and enjoy it. However, the experience is deepened if audience members have seen the previous movies. This makes the references to previous antagonists like Annabelle and the Nun more impactful.

What makes The Conjuring: Last Rites most effective is the connection between the Warrens. Considering this has been the emotional throughline of the series as a whole, that shouldn’t be surprising. This dynamic is established well enough in the new film that the movie doesn’t need to explain everything that’s happened before to them.

However, it simply lands better if audiences have more knowledge about Ed, Lorraine, and Judy. Elements like the Warrens’ party guests, Ed’s health, and the public’s reaction to them are more effective for those familiar with these characters and this world. The Conjuring: Last Rites works as a stand-alone movie, but is better with that extra bit of context.