Ed and Lorraine Warren are back with another famous tale of paranormal possession, dirty devil tricks, and creepy goings on.
Here we go again with another film based around demonic possession, the idea of which has become tired and predictable. This one however is based on true events, The Trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson, or the “Devil Made Me Do It” case of 1981. The third film in the Conjuring series – 8th in the whole universe (these demons just keep on trying don’t they) – featuring the exploits of famed paranormal experts Ed and Lorraine Warren, with Patrick Wilson and Vera Ferminga reprising their roles from the first two films. It sees them coming to the aid of the Glatzel’s, who’s youngest member David (Julian Hilliard) believes he is being tormented by an unknown quantity, leading the Warrens to exercise an exorcism on the poor boy, forcing the spirit to latch on to the nearest vessel, Arne Johnson, (Ruairi O’Connor), which sets the wheels in motion for the infamous act that made nationwide news.
This latest installment has a strong story, the performances are believable (which lets so many horror films down) and the special effects were expertly done – they went above and beyond this time. Director Michael Chaves (directed The Curse of La Llorona, the 6th installment) and writer James Wan – who absolutely loves a horror film, with varying degrees of success – attempted something different with this one. It is quite striking, the creepy visions and the demonic scenes do catch the eye, but for me though, it felt too reliant on jump scares, you could feel when they were coming, all just a bit predictable – with some being more visually elaborate than others. A horror like this has one job and that is to scare, which it failed at. I wasn’t alone in this, the lack of gasps and noises in the cinema spoke louder to me than anything the film offered up.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It begins in the Glatzel’s family home, as the Warren’s are discussing the plan of action to battle young David’s inner demons – I don’t think counselling will cut it this time. They begin an exorcism on the boy, with the usual flying of plates and chairs making a horrible mess, here’s hoping the demon cleans it all up. The demon – now looking for a new host – latches on to David’s sister’s boyfriend Arne, leading him to succumb to the demons every wish, which is mainly to commit murder because all demons love a good killing, eventually resulting in the murder which made Arne famous. Maintaining his innocence, Arne’s girlfriend Debbie (Sarah Catherine Hook) seeks out the Warren’s again, who use their vast knowledge of the occult to determine what or who is the cause of Arne’s sudden change in behaviour.
Arne’s upcoming trial sends the Warrens down a variety of rabbit holes to prove his innocence, hoping to successfully claim on behalf of demonic possession – for the first time in history. The Warrens investigating brings them into contact with a retired priest who investigated a ram worshipping cult once upon a time (as you do). The path also leads the crime fighting couple to a case revolving around the murder of a girl under strange cult like circumstances. After some heavy research from the two, with Lorraine doing her weird precognitive thing and poking her nose into realms of the unknown, it leads to them discovering different pieces of the puzzle, hoping to bring an end to all the otherworldly acts of wickedness. It’s not all doom and gloom though, there are several contortion scenes and a prison priest who is incredibly out of his depth which will make you laugh – they certainly made me chuckle in what is a bleak film overall.
The fact there is now 3 Conjuring films and 8 in the whole universe, makes me feel that these ideas are becoming a tad played out; you expect the same things at the same times, you can feel them coming, with the only thing changing being the plot and the demonic “creature” in question. As a film, it still had its good points; it was clean and extremely well made, but it lacked a tense atmosphere throughout, watching or hearing footage of the origin story – the latter of which does get played in the credits – would have been a much scarier spectacle than the film itself. It even offers up some back story to the characters, adding depth and the odd curveball to proceedings, but it ultimately fails at the one thing it was meant to excel at, which is to be scary. If you laugh more times than you gasp or scream, then the film is doing something wrong, or maybe it is me and my unscrupulous nature that is to blame? I doubt it.
Available to watch in your local picture house now.
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