The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It delivers the scares

Warner Bros. Pictures

I have been a big fan of The Conjuring series from the beginning. The first film is a masterpiece of terror because it eschewed all the trappings of what modern horror films have become — using cheap jump cuts and absurdly loud music or sound effects to jolt the audience. If you can’t create a visual strong enough to scare people then you’re doing something wrong. In the original, the moment two hands come out of the darkness to clap next to Lili Taylor’s head without a loud sound to herald their arrival was genuinely terrifying (unless of course you already saw it in the trailer which was a dumb move on the part of Warner Bros).

The second film was fine, but maybe had too much jammed in to create the nun spin-off (which was added after principal photography had wrapped and didn’t really link to the main story), and the spin-offs have been hit and miss, with Annabelle Creation the high point of those off-shoots. And now after a long, pandemic-induced wait, the third film of the flagship has launched in theaters and on HBO Max.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It has a ridiculous title, making it seem more of a comedy than a serious horror film, but don’t let that fool you. There is not a chuckle to be had here. The story is based on another of Ed and Lorraine Warren’s real life cases involving demonic possession. The story starts with an exorcism (complete with a visual reference to the classic film itself) of David, an 8-year-old boy, that is not successful. The boyfriend of the boy’s sister, Arne, finally does what he thinks is best to help the child — invites the demon to take him instead. It’s an offer the entity can’t refuse. With all of the mayhem going on at the time, only Ed witnessed the transfer of the demon, and that was only after it had tried to stop his heart while it was still in the younger boy.

Time passes and it seems all is well, until Arne murders his landlord (honestly, he had it coming) but the Warrens still can’t figure out how or why this family was targeted. They learn of an incident young David had when the family first moved into the house involving a waterbed and something inside, but Ed noticed the ‘water damage’ covered by a rug was not that. Lorraine goes into the crawlspace under the house and discovers a witch’s totem which has placed a curse on whomever came in contact with it first … and that was David. So this now isn’t a traditional demonic possession case, it’s a case of a curse that requires three souls for the witch to get what they want from the demon, which explains why Arne doesn’t fit the traditional model of possession. He’s able to read from the Bible and be close to religious objects, so the demon is only activated when the witch calls it forth. But several lives now hang in the balance, from Ed recovering from his heart attack to Arne who is facing the death sentence for murder. The Warrens need to prove that Arne is not guilty by reason of demonic possession, and they need to locate the witch’s alter and destroy it because only that will break the curse.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is a very taut thriller. It had me on the edge of my seat because I’m always expecting something to happen in the background of a scene, something these movies are famous for. It’s those subtle scares that really put these above the traditional horror films. That sense of dread makes the scares in the foreground all the more frightening … and yes, they have begun to add some overly loud music cues to accentuate the scares, which disappoints me a bit but I never find the scares in these movies done just for cheap effect so it doesn’t bother me that much.

These films are also so grounded by the performances of Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as Ed and Lorraine. They are always the foundation the films are built on and no matter how crazy the storylines and visuals may get, you believe that they believe what they’re seeing. And they both get equal time to have their own moments, although because of Ed’s demonic heart attack, Lorraine does get more spotlight moments to herself in this chapter. Other performances from Julian Hilliard (The Haunting of Hill House) as David, Ruairi O’Connor as Arne, and Sarah Catherine Hook as Debbie are also very good. John Noble (Fringe) also turns up in a small role as a former priest who has had first hand dealings with the people who create the totems and summon demons, and he may have more information for Lorraine than she expected … and you never really know how far you can trust him, because he very well could be involved. And fans of the series will be happy to see Shannon Kook as Drew, and Steve Coulter as Father Gordon back once again. Both have been on board since the beginning, and Coulter even appeared in the third ‘Annabelle’ film. Annabelle, however, does not make an appearance this time.

Earlier films in the series were set in the 1970s and here we’ve moved into the early 1980s, and the production design, costumes and cinematography really evoke the period. Director Michael Chaves, who helmed the not great, non-‘Conjuring’ franchise (but it really is) The Curse of La Llorona, really has a much better story and cast to work with this time around, really using his camera placement to ratchet up the tension, again making you think that any minute something is going to pop out of the darkness far back in the frame (and sometimes it does). Chaves did a fine job on La Llorona considering what he had to work with (and in my review I did complain about his reliance on loud music cues to sell a scare), but I think his skills have improved considerably with this film … even if he could dial back the loud music just a bit. And speaking of music, Joseph Bishara’s score is terrific with its deep, ominous, nerve-wracking tone. It truly adds to the entire experience.

If you’re a fan of the ‘Conjuring’ films, I think you’ll be happy with this one. It does feel a bit different than the others, perhaps because of the time period, perhaps because it’s not centered specifically around an object with an evil entity attached to it. The objects — the totems, the alter — are certainly part of the story, but this is more about the human who unleashes Hell on these unsuspecting people. And now that we have a proper trilogy of films with The Conjuring as a title, will this be the last one to feature Ed and Lorraine? There are a lot more cases the Warrens investigated, so it would be a shame to end it all here (of course, the spin-offs could continue), but if it is the end they are going out on a high note.