Film Review: The Conjuring 3
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It has Uneven scares, but plenty of heart
Your mileage will vary wildly on the scares in The Conjuring 3, but its shift to chilling occult procedural is a refreshing change of pace. Even when the film disappointingly under-delivers on its promise of a fascinating courtroom angle, there’s plenty of heart to even out its wobbly narrative. And if the first two films weren't proof enough, The Devil Made Me Do It solidifies Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as modern horror royalty. Minor spoilers below…
It’s absolutely fascinating to juxtapose the real life Ed and Lorraine Warren - whose reputation in the public forum flip flops between manipulative hoaxers and paranormal miracle workers - with the fictional portrayal of the couple created by James Wan’s The Conjuring franchise. Growing up, I was obsessed with the exploits of the famous ghost-busting duo, but I was also wary of their less-than-sterling esteem when it came to their cases: From Amityville to the Enfield poltergeist to the Snedeker house, the dubious veracity of their stories - along with a bevy of conflicting accounts - were hard to ignore. And coupled with some nasty allegations against Ed, it’s safe to say that the movies paint a much rosier portrait for the Warrens and their adventures.
But funnily enough - call it a testament to director James Wan and his storytelling - the faces I see when the Warrens come up aren’t the ones I read about as a kid, but the saintly guises of Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, who have played the couple ever since 2013’s The Conjuring. Astute and selfless samaritans that expunge “real” demons and ghosts, this version of Ed and Lorraine Warren has entered the modern horror canon as a popular and beloved power couple. Sure, The Conjuring series has its jump scares and hauntings, but it’s never been a secret that the main draw for the series has always been Wilson and Farmiga’s wholesome husband-wife dynamic, characterized by their palpable chemistry as they jump from haunting to haunting. The third installment of the series, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, is no different; the new film - helmed by director Michael Chavés (The Curse of La Llorona) - is clearly starting to reap some diminishing returns on the horror front, but the Warrens are stronger than ever.
“The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It… is clearly starting to reap some diminishing returns on the horror front, but the Warrens are stronger than ever.”
Like most of the core Conjuring films (The Nun, Annabelle, and La Llorona spinoffs excluded), The Devil Made Me Do It is billed as a “true story.” This time, it’s the story of Arne Johnson, a young man who murdered his landlord, only to use the claim that he was possessed by a demon as his trial defense. The case, along with the Warrens’ involvement, was a media sensation. The Conjuring 3, like its predecessors, plays extremely fast and loose with the facts, taking the bones of the real-life case and extrapolating it into chilling occult theater with a giant dose of imagination. Opening with the harrowing exorcism of 11 year-old David Glatzel (Julian Hilliard, The Haunting of Hill House), which actually did happen in 1981, the film sets up the purported demon’s new residence in Arne Johnson (Ruairi O'Connor), who was dating David’s older sister at the time. David is saved, but the price of the exorcism is heavy: The nightmare is only beginning for Arne, and Ed Warren suffers a heart attack that leaves him with a bum ticker.
The Devil Made Me Do It, while refreshing in its willingness to eschew the comforts of the haunted house narrative, strains to access the innovation or the well-crafted frights that made James Wan’s films so effective. And for a film based on a dramatic and sensational court case, it disappointingly leaves the fascinating courtroom drama - rife with the period’s signature “Satanic Panic” - unexplored in favor of rote horror pastures. The scares of The Conjuring 3 are a mixed bag; a huge improvement over Chavés’ The Curse of La Llorona - whose thin plot was used only to string together a series of loud jump scares - The Devil Made Me Do It runs the gamut of grotesque apparitions, shadowy witchcraft, and ear-piercing gotchas, but it lacks the clever guile of the James Wan entries. Still, genre fans will eat some of it up: a spooky waterbed scene (shamefully spoiled by the trailer) is good fun, and the film features some of the most viscerally upsetting crackling and twisting limbs in recent horror history.
“The horrors of The Devil Made Me Do It are hit-or-miss, but the film’s chilling occult procedural is given heft from a singular source: Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga’s performances as the Warrens.”
The frights of The Devil Made Me Do It are hit-or-miss, but the film’s chilling occult procedural is given heft from a singular source: Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga’s performances as the Warrens. You would think that after two films, plus a few scenes in 2019’s Annabelle Comes Home, that this heavily sanitized, glowing depiction of a husband-and-wife ghost-hunter team would tire, but the Warrens remain the beating heart of the franchise. Wilson and Farmiga remain excellent, and it’s always a blast to watch them in their element, investigating these “hauntings” via deduction and Lorraine’s psychic visions. In the entire series, The Conjuring 3 perhaps asks the most of the two as performers, delivering some exacting physical punishment and a series of fun detective moments, but none of it would work if we didn’t care, so the film provides an extra heap of shading to the Warrens in the form of some romantic back story (they met at a movie theater!). Is it hokey treacle? Sure, but I fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
The Devil Made Me Do It wobbles in a downwards trajectory from James Wan’s horror craftsmanship, but it wisely leans into its strengths. Even with a new angle and a fresh approach, the seams around The Conjuring franchise are beginning to fray; however, as long as Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga return for more of their fairytale version of the Warrens, I’ll be there to cheer them on.
