The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)

58% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 185 reviews)

Runtime: 112 minutes

Directed by: Michael Chaves

Starring: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Ruairi O'Connor, Sarah Catherine Hook, Julian Hilliard

From: Warner Bros./New Line Cinema

Featuring A DEMONIC WATERBED

I've at least enjoyed most of the films in The Conjuring Universe (I've never seen the one about La Llarona, but just earlier today was a story seen by me which cast doubt if that movie is even “officially” in the franchise; apparently the movie stinks so that is why I never bothered), despite the fact that Ed & Lorraine Warren were most likely charlatans, characters full of phony stories and poppycock. The stories themselves and competent or better directing-especially the ones from James Wan-are big assets, along with the performances from Patrick Wilson & Vera Farmiga that portray a nice warm couple; I at least won't suggest that they were terrible in real life. Despite some bad buzz, last night Devil was viewed theatrically; regrettably, this is not as good as the first two.

A big problem for me is that this hardly shows any of the truth concerning the real life case of Arne Johnson, who in 1981 claimed he was possessed by a demon after he invited it in during an exorcism of his girlfriend's young brother (I'm sure it's just a coincidence that sounds like the ending to a legendary horror film from the 70's...) and he subsequently stabbed someone to death. While it's true the Warrens convinced his attorney to claim “demonic possession” as a defense, there is a clear reason why the actual trial was hardly shown at all and most of the story seen here is fictional nonsense. That fiction is foolishness concerning various tropes and far-fetched scenarios. I know that The Conjuring 2 featured creatures due to “studio notes” and between that & the final act that story was also not truthful, this was beyond the pale.

This feeling far different from the first two isn't automatically bad; the fact that this is far less frightening than the first two is. The director this time (Michael Chaves) did not do a bad job; it's just that James Wan did it better. As this goes through the motions, not even a capable cast or an appropriate creepy score help make this better than a “meh” experience from me. The movie helps remind you it is set in the early 80's between there being a waterbed (no, it being demonic was not a joke from me) and a soundtrack that mostly is from the SirusXM 80's station... as an aside, eye-rolling was done when they tried to make a Blondie song terrifying; that perhaps wasn't the most prudent idea.

Like with the recently departed Ronald DiFeo, Jr., I suspect that Arne Johnson used the “possessed” angle as a defense for having taking someone's life; as made clear already, the true story of Johnson is far different than what was portrayed here. As he and various family members are still alive now, who knows what they think of what this movie said happened to him. It's not the worst recent big studio horror movie by any means, and not even the worst of the franchise. It just suffers in comparison to the other two The Conjuring movies specifically.