The Year's Highest-Grossing Horror Movie Is Terrifying Audiences on Streaming

The Warrens are back — and they’re giving horror fans their most sleepless nights yet. The Conjuring: Last Rites, which stormed the box office earlier this year as the biggest horror success of 2025, is now haunting living rooms across the country, drawing massive viewership as it lands on streaming. Not only did the film close out the overarching Conjuring franchise, but it did so with shocking precision. Directed by Michael Chaves and once again featuring Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson as paranormal investigators Lorraine and Ed Warren in “the case that ended their careers,” Last Rites had horror fans flocking to theaters worldwide. With strong word of mouth, the film quickly became the highest-grossing horror title of the year — and now it’s finding a terrifying second life on streaming, shooting to the top of the HBO Max chart.

While Warner Bros.’ horror universe has spanned spin-offs like Annabelle, The Nun, and The Curse of La Llorona, Last Rites arrived with more pressure than any chapter before it. Positioned as a spiritual and narrative endpoint, the sequel had to carry the emotional fallout of the Warrens’ decades of exorcisms, hauntings, and demonic wars. Audiences responded in a big way.

Is ‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’ Worth Watching?

Collider’s Jeff Ewing reviewed the film for the site, hailing the performances of Wilson and Farmiga as “amazing” but admitting his disappointment that the film wasn’t as scary as it needed to be. Ewing added that Chaves had done a better job on this than any of his other Conjuring outings, but opined that he fell short of James Wan‘s efforts.

“There are seriously scary moments, memorable visuals, and some strong set pieces that might well be remembered alongside the first film’s hide and clap game or the sequel’s Crooked Man jump assault. Still, it’s relatively slow and comparably light on scares (compared to the first two) for a supposed franchise-ender. What’s worse is that the big bad is built up and repeatedly teased, but wildly shortchanged in its reveal of the central antagonist. It’s a much better film than director Chaves’ other Conjuring entries, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and The Nun II, as well as his non-Conjuring Conjuring movie The Curse of La Llorona, but it still ultimately falls short of the James Wan-helmed franchise starters.”

The Conjuring: Last Rites is haunting HBO Max now.