'The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It' Review: A Sequel Which Exploits Its Strengths and Flaunts Its Weaknesses
While tactfully employing effective scares, the shadow of James Wan looms large over the Conjuring’s next instalment.
‘The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It’ carries its lofty title directly into a continuation of the ‘Conjuring’ franchise, once again following Ed and Loraine Warren, this time as they investigate the possession of a young boy in Connecticut. After plenty of gnarly and grotesque body contortionist sequences, and not-so-subtle yet welcomed references to William Friedkin’s ‘The Exorcist’, the demon in which possesses this boy’s body is willfully transferred to his sister’s boyfriend Arne, in hopes to save the child. This of course ties into a very infamous case study in which for the first time in U.S. history, a suspect pleaded not guilty for being under the influence of demonic possession.
The Conjuring films have been somewhat of a bright spot in studio horror since 2013 when James Wan crafted something containing what would be expected from a genre film of the sorts, yet centring it around the characters Ed and Lorraine Warren, who were very likeable which in some ways made it easier to buy into the spectacle. The film launched an entire universe of stories surrounding the lore of the totems collected during the Warrens’ tenure as paranormal investigators. Wan even returned to direct ‘The Conjuring 2’ in 2016, which is arguably even better than its predecessor. However, this go-around the film is directed by Michael Chaves; the same filmmaker who brought audiences ‘The Curse of La Llorona’.
The Devil Made Me Do It does so many things incredibly well. It’s build-up to the meat and potatoes of the main narrative, the court procedural structure pinning a seemingly innocent man against a cynical jury, ironic as it sounds. The constant battle this man along with Ed and Lorraine are having to maintain the physical being of the suspect from being torn apart by the demonic underworld. It has plenty to work with, well, that’s what you would think. With all of the many things this third instalment does well, it even more so delves into some areas that saddened me thinking the writers felt in order to keep the reputation of the series intact, they would need to explore the more cliché, expected studio tropes to satisfy their audience. More than ever before, each scare and build of intensity is paired with a roaring orchestra, often leading to a false outcome. The film incorporates plenty of moments completely separate from the structure of the story as if a subplot was desperately needed only to reach a certain runtime. Sitting at 1 hour and 52 minutes long, 20 minutes could have easily been stripped away to help it stay more focused. Somehow, even with a story as disturbing as a violent attack in which a man was stabbed repeatedly 22 times by someone who claims “the devil made me do it”, the film lacked focus on what should have been the undisputed central arc of the story.
That main plot, was sidelined by what seemed to be “The Many Adventures of Ed and Lorraine Warren.” Granted, the connection and bond between the Warrens is by far the most investing part of the Conjuring series and is the through-line that holds each film together. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson own these roles, portraying real people, but doing with them their own things that give them the titles of arguably being one of, if not the best duo in a horror franchise. But when the increased focus on them causes there to be a lessened core narrative, it’s hard to be fully on board. What this film seemed to be more concerned with is crafting a deeply rooted mythology that opens the door for Lorraine to unlock many more realms of her ability, while in the process excavating for cursed totems placed by a glorified witch doctor who seeks spiritual and blood sacrifice to complete her ritual. When it comes to horror, most of the time I would much rather keep the evil inferred. I could even be satisfied if the film decided to show the demon once or twice without directly dissecting its origin. Here, we are given a complete origin story of the demon; it’s humanized, and there is no shortage of direct encounters it has with both Ed and Lorraine. By doing this, it sacrifices any of the suspense it could’ve had and more so reminded me of a stretched-out episode of ‘Supernatural’. The terror is stripped away leaving an extensive amount of downtime. The serial adventures lead Ed and Lorraine Warren to plenty of checkpoints that bring mini episodic investigations, each feeling as though they come to some sort of minor conclusion but with the hint of an epic season finale. It’s odd to approach this film like a television show but with its structure, it very well feels like such.
Ultimately, however, is that the film just wasn’t scary. This isn’t a statement trying to show off my big boy horror pants, but an honest telling of my experience. Nothing about this film screamed horror to me. It felt like a sequence of long, drawn-out events truly lacking any soul. Plenty of moments in which my attention was held enough, but any attempts at a scare were seen from a mile away and not very well executed at that. The Conjuring 3 struggles from a massive identity crisis as well. Trying so hard to stand out and be different from its predecessors attached to the somewhat overdone haunted house sub-genre, it decides to explore as many other avenues as possible but loses sight of what made those previous two instalments special. Thriving in the simplicity, the previous instalments helped Wan think outside of the box to add complexities and use interesting techniques to an otherwise archetypal premise. It kept a story tight and stripped of all of the excesses that weren’t needed. Also, a major plus that helped drastically with the pacing is that it went directly into the haunting whereas in this newest film, after the opening sequence, there is too much time spent on more buildup. There is understandably, a need to establish a foundation, however, when that foundation is built on sand, the cinematic house is going to sink.
Is this to the fault of Chaves? Maybe he was doing everything he could to both please Wan and express his ability to successfully carry on the franchise. He could’ve easily gotten caught up in the process of trying to stand out and not be deemed “unoriginal.” Whatever it was, there did seem to be a massive James Wan-sized hole here. Wan is at the top of the food chain when it comes to horror and regardless of what he does, his work is recognizable. Playing with human fears, averting expectations, and the understanding that much can be achieved with very little. The Devil Made Me Do It, even with the biggest budget of the three, doesn’t seem to know how to utilize that budget effectively and ends up making the least impact. The heart just isn’t present here, the Warrens’ love story aside, and nothing it accomplishes feels earned nor necessary. While Michael Chaves directed one of the least offensive entries of the Conjuring universe, his overindulgent tendencies from that film inadvertently carried over into this one and it shows. This franchise can most definitely be carried without the direction of James Wan, but in order to succeed in that, it will take filmmakers confident in their identity as well as the strong suits of the universe that keep audiences engaged. Take David F. Sandberg and what he was able to do with ‘Annabelle: Creation’. He successfully built tension, naturally crafted a story incorporating our biggest fears to trigger our engagement, and completely embraced his filmmaking identity.
While The Conjuring 3 isn’t atrocious, it detaches itself quite a bit from the strengths of the previous two films, settling for bottom-of-the-barrel mythological scares. It contains an abundance of title-worthy subject material but wastes its potential leaving much to be sought after. The chemistry between Farmiga and Wilson as Ed and Lorraine Warren has never been stronger, but their characters are subjected to episodic mini-adventures which like the film itself feel very sporadic. Michael Chaves does his best, but the absence of James Wan is more than noticeable, and in the end, resulted in the most disappointing entry of the bunch that contains very little staying power.