The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It

By: Maggie Stankiewicz

Michael Chaves’ The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It was cursed from the get-go. As the third installment of the eponymous films fueling the growth of The Conjuring universe, this movie had a lot of hype and exceedingly high expectations to meet. This isn’t to say that this is a bad film, it’s simply the least impressive of the core The Conjuring trilogy. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It switches up the standard possession film by bringing the occult into a court of law and then threads it together with a whodunnit plotline to keep audiences engaged. This tactic proves to be effective and is among the freshest elements of the Warren family procedurals we’ve come to love from the franchise. Ultimately, what The Conjuring 3 offers in terms of novel plot elements, it lacks in the scares department.

James Wan directed the first two installments of The Conjuring and his absence is felt with Michael Chaves at the helm. Not because Chaves is an inadequate director, but because The Conjuring universe is steeped in the artistic DNA of James Wan, who spent nearly a decade entrenched in the sensationalized lives of Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) Warren. The Conjuring universe exists just as much because of James Wan as it does the Warren family. Any director stepping in to fill those shoes would have more than a few demons to contend with. Even with all of this stacked against him, Chaves is responsible for perhaps the most exciting and tense opening scene of the entire franchise.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It thrusts viewers into the middle of an exorcism. The walls are already torn up, glasses shattered, a family splintered into a dozen pieces as they struggle to save young David Glatzel (Julian Hilliard) from the unnamed demon inhabiting his body. Chaos abounds as Ed tries to perform an exorcism on David, but the demon within is too powerful. The entity controlling George’s body liberates itself from its binds and punches Ed in the heart. As spiritual warfare evolves into physical warfare, the blow triggers a heart attack in Ed. While the others tend to him, Arne Cheyenne Johnson (Ruairi O’Connor), the lover of Debbie Glatzel (Sarah Catherine Hook), implores the demon to release its hold on George and take him instead. The demon obliges, unbeknownst to the others.

Time passes and Ed begins his journey to recovery, but he can never seem to remember to bring his darned nitroglycerine pills with him. The Glatzel family has moved on with their lives, but something is eating away at Arne. He and Debbie are talking about taking some big steps in their relationship, but something doesn’t feel quite right. One day, while working at the dog boarding center, Arne begins to suffer from hallucinations of a woman watching him. The hallucinations and episodes of disassociation coalesce into a full-blown psychosis in which he brutally stabs Debbie’s boss and the landlord to death. Arne appears to become unpossessed after the episode and is picked up by the police.

This incident, based on a true and infamous case involving the Warrens, marks an unprecedented moment in the spiritual and judicial history of the United States. Arne claims non-guilty by means of possession. The rest of the film follows Ed and Lorraine across town and state lines as they search for more information on the demon – who is revealed to have been summoned by The Occultist (Eugenie Bondurant). The witch, a woman obsessed with the occult, is cursing people like the Glatzels and eventually Ed himself. This small mystery wrapped within the standard possession story is not enough to distract viewers from tired scares and a lovely score that is relied on far too heavily.

The scares aren’t original or organic but are instead manufactured by a jarring crescendo of music that elicits a response more than instilling fear within the viewer. This is a shame too because The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It features some truly terrifying moments of body horror and contortionism that make Raegan’s 180-degree head spin in The Exorcist look like child’s play. This illustrates the film’s biggest issue: inconsistency and questionable prioritization. Ed Warren is sidelined a lot throughout this film thanks to his heart attack, which means Patrick Wilson does a whole lot of heavy breathing and looking handsome but little else. This puts Lorraine in the spotlight, giving Vera Farmiga a real chance to shine – but Ed is still the one who must save Lorraine at the end of the day, almost diminishing the sense of strength and independence instilled throughout the rest of the movie. There are still some great moments, though. The script is full of the standard charm and hopefulness as the others, but with more comedic elements.

There are a lot of lines in this film that will elicit laughter, intentionally – and the delivery from each actor is spot on. This helps fill the gaping hole in the hearts of genre fans looking for some type of release. If we can’t scream, we might as well laugh. Say what you will about the real-life Warrens, this popularized version of the Christian Avengers is an absolute delight to watch, even if The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It doesn’t quite live up to expectations.