Movie Info
Movie Name: The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
Studio: New Line Cinema
Genre(s): Horror
Release Date(s): Movie Release Date
MPAA Rating: R
What a lovely day for an exorcism
When Lorraine and Ed Warren (Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson) attempt an exorcism on a young boy named David Glatzel (Julian Hilliard), things go poorly. Ed suffers a major heart attack and the demonic spirit in David transfers to his sister’s boyfriend Arne Cheyenne Johnson (Ruairi O’Connor). Later when Arne is challenged by his landlord Bruno Sauls (Ronnie Gene Blevins) over Debbie Glatzel (Sarah Catherine Hook), he kills him…claiming that it was work of the demon inside of him. Lorraine and Ed are about to be involved in a landmark case and must find evidence that Arne is innocent of the crime…and prove that the Devil made him do it.
Mom, it isn’t fair! David’s using his demonic possession to win Twister again
Directed by Miles Chaves, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is a horror thriller. The third film in The Conjuring series following The Conjuring 2 in 2016, the film is the eight film in The Conjuring Universe following Annabelle Comes Home in 2019. The film premiered in theaters and on HBO Max after originally being scheduled for release in September 2020.
The Conjuring series likes to play fast and loose with stories to make them compelling (which isn’t necessarily wrong), but it likes to wrap them in “this is a true story” which is both true and false. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is based on the murder of Alan Bono by Arne Johnson in Brookfield, Connecticut on February 16, 1981. While the exorcism, murder, and trial were real and tied into the whole Satanic Panic of the period, much of the movie is embellished for entertainment…which causes a bit of a problem.
I’m not overweight…I just have a glandular thing…in addition to the possession
The problem isn’t that it isn’t “historically accurate”, but the fact that for the most part, the film is trapped by the history. There is no way out of the case except the results of the trial and making up a compelling story in which Lorraine and Ed search for clues isn’t necessarily the most fear fraught or inspired story of the series. In some ways it just feels like a long episode of an investigative TV series with a supernatural flair…The Conjuring films have built a history with jumps and this movie is less jump based than the previous entries.
Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga have the characters down by this point. Farmiga always has the meatier role and does the best job as the psychic Lorraine while Wilson’s spiritual backed Ed isn’t as compelling (this time he’s just fighting a weak heart the whole movie). Ruairi O’Connor has “possessed guy” role and is rather typical in it. Fringe veteran John Noble plays his priest character much like his other roles but I do like Eugenie Bondurant as the occultist masterminding everything. She isn’t in the film much but she carries herself much like Damian’s protector Mrs. Baylock (Billie Whitelaw) in The Omen and I wish we had learned more about her character.
Yeah…I’ll show you Satanic Panic!!!
Visually the movie tries for jumps and scares, but it feels like old hat by now. There are a couple demons who pop up through the movie and I admire the contortionist twisting of those who are possessed (which is always horrific). There is a straight homage to The Exorcist in the beginning of the film with the Exorcist arriving and starring at the house a la Father Merrin.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is better than some of The Conjuring-verse movies, but not as good as the other two entries in The Conjuring. The different approach to the film and the attempts to adhere to history weaken the horror story and instead of making it feel like “this could really happen”, it makes it pale in comparison to the horror. The Conjuring-verse is slated to return with The Crooked Man.
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