The Warrens investigate a murder that may be linked to a demonic possession.
After I watched The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and taking a few minutes to think about it, I did something I don’t do often. I decided I would take a few days before writing instead of jumping ahead of an internal conversation I often have with myself after watching a long-awaited film. With this third part of the Conjuring universe, I had a bittersweet taste in my mouth, and unfortunately I wanted to get rid of it immediately.
In terms of watching a horror film that checks every item possible, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is a good choice. A few scares, some compelling characters and easily identifiable homages. What else could you need?
The beauty of the horror community is that answers vary and every answer is right. Enjoying horror is simple, but this franchise was always pristine in its thematic value. However, this third entry is just a lesser part of the group and sadly rests along with other spin offs that are low level films with no plot relevance and potency.
Staying within the confines of “based on a true story” settings, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It tells the story of what happened around America’s well known case of demonic possession being a cause for a murder and a defendant’s argument for not being directly responsible for the crime. It starts with the exorcism of 11-year-old David Glatzel (Julian Hilliard) which involved the Warrens. After a horrible set of events, they were able to “save” the boy. Sadly, it didn’t stop there.
A young man involved with the Glatzel family ends up being possessed and murdering someone. The Warrens believe the young man and start to investigate what could have possibly happened from the beginning, as they don’t believe it was a random possession.
As they start noticing a pattern involving other crimes, the Warrens come up with a theory of satanic rituals and devices being the cause for the horrific events. And as usual, they become part of something dangerous and evil. The famous couple will face another threat that’s not of this world. The Warrens are again portrayed by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga and the two remain committed to the franchise and as such, very watchable (even if we know the true facts concerning the Warrens).
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is bold with its approach of including other genre elements. The detective winks, the crime investigation subplots, and the whole courtroom content feels like it justifies the film’s theme. But it’s ultimately distracting considering the third and final act. This is when the film weakens, when it highlights characters downplayed during the film. I just didn’t buy the whole Ed Warren health issue being essential to the film.
The basic problem with this third entry in The Conjuring universe (or Conjur-verse. Yeah I’m terrible at this), is that the franchise always stands out amongst other more generic options, and with this they have fallen into a comfortable setting of “user asks, we deliver” and not much else.
If you want to see a horror film that will scare you but then forget minutes after you see it, then go for this one. If you want to see a worthy franchise entry, then I would suggest you rewatch the second part of the house than James Wan built.