The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It – Film Review

Paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) take on one of the most sensational cases of their careers after a cop stumbles upon a dazed and bloodied young man walking down the road. Accused of murder, the suspect claims demonic possession as his defense, forcing the Warrens into a supernatural inquiry unlike anything they’ve ever seen before.

Who would have thought that when James Wan released The Conjuring all the way back in July of 2013, that it would serve as the starting point for an entire universe of films such as main-series entries as well as spin-off films including Annabelle and The Nun? I certainly didn’t and honestly, I don’t think Wan and company did either.

After the immense critical and commercial success of that initial outing, John R. Leonetti followed up with the spinoff Annabelle, a movie that had a ton of potential to be extremely creepy but unfortunately ended up being a trope-filled, unscary disaster. I saw that film opening night with my best friend and we both agreed that the scariest part of that entire moviegoing experience was when a fire alarm went off in the theatre rather than a film that revolved around paranormal entities and a possessed doll.

But gratefully the franchise picked up steam again with the second main Conjuring film which is still to this day my all-time favorite within The Conjuring Universe. Something that I find extremely interesting with this cinematic universe is that all of the main entry films are incredible and the spin-off films are all terrible with the exception of Annabelle: Creation.

I’ll never forget just how excited I was to see The Nun in the theatre opening weekend. Not only did it star Taissa Farmiga who is one of my all-time favorite actresses, but the concept was amazing and the potential was insane. It’s a movie about a demonic nun taking place in the early 1950s in a gothic Romanian castle. That should have been the most terrifying and bleak entry in the entire franchise but sadly ended up being one of the worst of the bunch. Here’s hoping that the forthcoming sequel is good.

But seeing as how The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It was another brand new main entry film, I was genuinely excited to see it, even though James Wan did not return to direct this new installment. And while I can say now that it is the weakest of the three main Conjuring films, it still offers up some wonderfully creepy content and is a ton of fun to watch.

One of the biggest reasons why this movie is as fun and entertaining as it is is thanks to the performances of Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga. Ever since the first Conjuring film, they have always been perhaps my favorite element to the franchise. There’s something so wholesome and charismatic about the way they act together in these movies as Ed and Lorraine Warren respectively.

Not once do I see them as Wilson and Farmiga, even though I know who these people actually are. I always see them as Ed and Lorraine Warren when I am watching The Conjuring movies. There’s almost an unspoken level of warmth present with these two actors in each entry that will fill your heart with joy. Something you probably wouldn’t expect because this is a horror franchise.

But that is honestly one of the things that I love about this franchise – it may have a ton of scares and demons and paranormal entities, but at its core, it’s about love. The love that Ed and Lorraine have for one another is best explored here with some sequences that are genuinely tear-jerking.

I know that a lot of people are obviously going to go to this film just to get scared and I don’t blame you. I, for one, wanted to get scared or at least creeped out during The Devil Made Me Do It, and gratefully, the movie does mostly deliver on that front. There were some scenes where I was a little creeped out and there is a ton of tension present throughout, but I was never necessarily scared which was a bit of a bummer considering the fact that I was scared by the first two installments.

This film decides to take a more psychological thriller approach rather than the more traditional horror approach that its predecessors took. For some, this is not going to work. A lot of mainstream audiences may find themselves a little bored during this film because there aren’t a plethora of jump scares here. It’s a lot of tension and a lot of buildups, and I did enjoy that approach even if I wasn’t actually scared this time around.

And the story this time around isn’t as compelling or terrifying as the first two either. One thing that I do love about The Conjuring films is how they actually take real case files from Ed and Lorraine Warren and build a story around them. Of course, they can’t tell the one-hundred-percent unfiltered story because some stuff just wouldn’t be entertaining and wouldn’t make for a good movie. So they are able to toy around with some elements and make it their own thing but even still, this film’s story wasn’t as compelling.

That’s not to say The Devil Made Me Do It isn’t interesting or anything, because it certainly is. There were several parts in the story where I was hooked and I wanted to see what happened next. What I’m trying to say is that it all just feels a bit lesser this time around than it did before.

This didn’t really bother me though because of how well-crafted this movie was as a whole. Michael Chaves‘ direction is surprisingly good here too. He previously directed The Curse of La Llorona which turned out to be a total misfire and an extremely bland movie. Watching The Devil Made Me Do It, you’d swear it was a different director, but no, it’s Chaves. And he is surprisingly good behind the director’s chair here.

One thing that has been constant in every single Conjuring movie, even the awful spin-offs, is the cinematography. Each and every installment looks absolutely gorgeous and this third main outing is certainly no exception. Michael Burgess finds clever and creepy ways to set up his camera and frame certain objects or even people in a way that will send goosebumps down your arms and make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

Really, The Devil Made Me Do It is still an excellent movie and I think it’s safe to say that the main Conjuring films are still great. Although this one doesn’t quite live up to the extreme highs the first two managed to reach, this third entry is still filled with great performances, an excellent craft, and some creepy moments. Let’s hope we won’t have to wait too long to see more big-screen adventures with Ed and Lorraine Warren.