Review of The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021) by Rebecca31 — 15 Jun 2021

Yet another addition to The Conjuring franchise and you know what that means, Ed and Lorraine Warren are back doing what they do best. More ghostbusting, jump scares, demon fighting, possessed people pulling all sorts of horrific contortions and even more jump scares. Is it scary? No. Is it fun? Also no. Sorry folks, I don't like to be the one to hate on a Conjuring movie but honestly this is not good, at all and it might finally be time for The Conjuring franchise to say enough.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is loosely based on the real life murder trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson. When I say loosely based I mean they took the basic premise and completely ran away with it. So Arne (Ruairi O'Connor) is arrested for murder but it wasn't really him it was a demon because why not. Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) need to gather sufficient evidence to prove it was a demon responsible and not just cold blooded murder. Unlike your typical Conjuring movie, the third instalment doesn't confine itself to the haunted house scenario. This one is all over the place in more ways than one. Ed and Lorraine must investigate and this takes them to a whole bunch of different locations but essentially the same thing keeps happening each time. They arrive to a new scary location, Lorraine holds out her rosary beads and senses the evil presence, she experiences a disjointed vision and then something scary jumps out and chases them around the woods/house/morgue. I don't believe The Conjuring 3 adds anything new to the horror genre, it clearly appreciates other horror movies and pays homage wherever it can. Most notably the opening scene reminding us all of The Exorcist, a movie you'd be better off watching to be honest. The most impressive thing about The Conjuring 3 is the opening sequence featuring a possessed child. Using no CGI and instead opting for stunt double and contortionist Emerald Gordon Wulf. Aside from that it's all downhill from there.

I'm a fan of The Conjuring 1 & 2, not the spin offs but I believe this is the point where the Conjuring Universe needs to retire. It's well past its peak now and the standard seems to be just getting worse. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson are really the only good thing I can take from this mess. Not recommended, if you're in the mood for a horror movie do yourself a favour and see A Quiet Place Part II instead.