The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
Ed and Lorraine Warren were a horror franchise waiting to happen- thankfully, they fell into the hands of James Wan to bring them to the screen in 2013’s “The Conjuring.” A big part of what makes “The Conjuring” films work is the love between Ed and Lorrain, and the performances by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as the couple. In real life, they were probably nothing more than grifters with church backing for their paranormal exploits, but there’s at least one time in each of the movies in this trilogy where their connection is tested, and the other one needs to bring them back to reality. This is the secret weapon at the heart of the “Conjuring” trilogy, something the “Annabelle” movies and “The Nun” essentially lack.
Wan has a story credit on “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It,” but he is gone from the director’s chair this time out. At the helm this time out is “The Curse of la Llorona’s” Michael Chaves, and he does a fine job taking over the franchise. For his story, we go to 1981, and one of the Warren’s most controversial cases. We begin the night of the exorcism of a young boy, David Glatzel. The family had just moved into the house five months before, but from the moment they moved in, David had been acting strange. Now, the Warrens have been brought in, and the church has just approved an exorcism, but while they manage to save David, the commotion results in Ed having a heart attack, and Arne Johnson (Ruairi O’Connor)- the boyfriend of David’s sister, Debbie (Sarah Catherine Hook)- asking the demon to jump to him. It’s not long before a man has been killed, and Arne and the Warrens will have to try to prove, in court, that he was possessed to kill him in court.
The courtroom aspect of this story is secondary to the Warrens trying to discover the origins of the demonic spirit possessing Arne and David. When a talisman is found underneath the Glatzel’s home, they have a lead which will take them to a retired priest (played by John Noble) who has studied the occult his entire life. It is a satanic curse used by the Disciples of the Ram cult, which was cast on the family, for no reason that we can figure. It isn’t long before the Warrens are targets of the cult, as well. Even though both previous films were essentially “haunted house” movies, they still grounded us in an emotional connection with the victims that helped carry the film along. We don’t quite get that in “The Devil Made Me Do It” as successfully; this film ends up being much more about the Warren’s struggles with the cult than Arne’s. That works better than you think it might, however, because it cements these films being more about the Warrens. It does result in a film that feels a step below the rest of the trilogy, however, in our emotional connection to it, especially as the jump scares get more predictable and “been there, done that.”
I’m curious what the cinematic future holds for “The Conjuring” series; will we get a spin-off about the Disciples of the Ram, now? Will we get more of the Warrens so further items from their “collection” can be introduced? I can say this much- I’m not ready for this franchise to end. Among horror franchises, this is one of the cooler ones we’ve been gifted.
