Vera Farmiga isn’t new to the weird side effects or supernatural occurrences while starring in The Conjuring franchise, but her latest confession might scare you a little… or a lot. In an exclusive interview with E! News, Farmiga revealed that while filming The Conjuring: Last Rites, she ended up with a cross-shaped bruise on her leg. “Yeah, I get battered,” she told E! News. “That happens every time we do it. It’s just these inexplicable bruising shapes that occur on my body. It just is what it is.”
These marks aren’t from staged stunts or careless bumping around. According to the stars, they just show up while filming. Farmiga and co-star Patrick Wilson have quietly endured these odd injuries for over a decade, choosing not to talk about them publicly. Until now. “We don’t like talking about it,” she said. “We’re caught between a rock and a hard place—sensationalizing this and selling a movie.”
The Conjuring: Last Rites is Farmiga and Wilson’s final outing as Lorraine and Ed Warren, chronicling the infamous Smurl haunting. From 1974 to 1989, the Smurl family in Pennsylvania claimed they were tormented by a demonic presence: loud noises, foul smells, even violent attacks, like their dog being thrown against a wall. In 1986, the Warrens stepped in, describing a powerful, malevolent entity that left chilling messages on mirrors and dark shadows roaming the house.
Director Michael Chaves, who has helmed The Devil Made Me Do It and The Curse of La Llorona, carried the responsibility of ending the Warrens’ saga. “James asked me when I signed on to this,” Chaves told CGMagonline. “Why do you want to make another Conjuring movie? This will be the third, maybe fourth, depending on the count. And I told him… This was a chance to tell a final chapter, to tell an ending.”
The Conjuring: Last Rites drops September 5, 2025, and according to reports (per Deadline), the early tracking looks solid: $35M-$40M ahead of release. Warner Bros. has owned the post-Labor Day horror slot since It opened to $123.4M in 2017, and The Nun still holds the biggest opening in the franchise at $53.8M.
Younger versions of the Warrens, played by Orion Smith and Madison Lawlor, had their own brushes with fear, too. Lawlor admitted she wasn’t initially scared of Annabelle, but recent news coverage and creepy incidents left her uneasy. “Recently, Annabelle has been really freaking me out,” she told TooFab. “She’s been in the news a lot and I’m like, ‘Okay, Annabelle.’ Yeah, she knows the film’s coming out.”
Farmiga’s bruises, Wilson’s decade-long patience, and the Smurl case itself all remind you that this franchise hasn’t just been scary on-screen. It’s left a mark on its stars, too. The Conjuring: Last Rites promises a definitive, chilling end to one of modern horror’s most enduring sagas, and for the actors who brought these paranormal investigators to life, some of those scares literally came home with them.
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