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

Why the separation of church and state was a great idea…

The hyper-successful Conjuring franchise released its latest movie on 26th May, along with its latest director Micheal Chaves. Paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) Warren, or “demonologists” take on their latest case that mixes the paranormal and the justice system.

The movie starts at its peak, and the Warrens are in their element. The wind is howling, or perhaps it's the demon, plates are flying a la Beauty and the Beast, and there is a writing little boy David (Julian Hilliard) firmly held on the table. Arne (Ruairi O'Connor), the boyfriend of David's sister, Debbie (Sarah Catherine Hook) invites the demon into his body in a desperate attempt to save him and becomes the quintessential ghost-doll. Things turn south when he turns up dazed and confused and covered in blood on the side of a road. The Warrens claim demon possession as his criminal defence and go on a peculiar supernatural inquiry that tests their strength and their relationship.

IMDb, Rotten Tomato, Metacritic give it an average rating of 57%, and deservedly so. It is a cross between a courtroom drama, a mystery adventure and a horror romance, and it fails to deliver on all ends. The story doesn’t flesh out as much as it tears its limbs off and chucks them at you. In the vast world of witchcraft and occult, packed full of religious symbolism and bat blood, the movie does a poor job establishing the ‘big bad' of the movie, and instead of relying on the good old demon, rests the climax on a stern-looking lady.

While diverting from the cliche isn’t necessarily bad, driving home the human aspect of horror requires a much more well-written character. The permissibility of a ‘get out of hell free card in a court is the final nail in the coffin of suspension of disbelief. The only thing more unconvincing about this movie being based on a true story is Patrick Wilson’s upper body strength.

Where mainstream horror can be excused for less than ideal storylines, the horror element cannot be overlooked. The jumpscare barely rendered gasps and the body contortion sequences caused nothing over mild discomfort, which is a rather devastating result from a horror movie amateur. Even the classic soundtrack is toned down by the subpar direction and leaves a dull lifeless 2-hour long historical fiction.

If Satan’s greatest ambition is to make a dry B-grade horror movie on a $39 million budget, then undoubtedly, the devil made them do it.

---