Review of The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021) by Deborareis — 04 Jun 2021

The Conjuring has established itself as the most successful franchise in the horror genre. It was subtitled “The devil made me do it”. The first two films were highly praised by specialized critics, with an incredible 86 percent approval and the second with 80 percent.

The film features the story of Arne Cheyenne Johnson, the first defendant in the history of the United States who claimed to be possessed by a demon in 1981.

In the first 11 minutes of the film, the exorcism of a boy of just 11 years old, David, Debbie's brother, is shown, and it is at this point that Arne invites the devil to possess him. In the first scenes we have many references to classic movies like the exorcist.

Directed by Michael Chaves, the same director of The curse of La Llorona, The Conjuring 3 has many different aspects from the previous ones, mainly in terms of direction. James Wan was really missed in the film because it brought aspects that no other director can bring to horror movies in general. The film does not present what was promised, it lacked great memorable moments and hardly anyone will be afraid watching it, in the previous ones we have Nun Valak, Annabelle and even the crooked man different from these, the main villain of the story is not remarkable and will hardly win a movie for not be as interesting as the other characters.

The plot features Ruairi O’ connor as Arne, Sarah Catherine Hook as Debbie and Julian Hilliard with David who fulfill their roles well as the main supporting characters. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga return as Ed and Lorraine doing a great job again.

Warren's flashbacks are well explored here, bringing out how they met, which becomes an important memory in the development of the film.

The conjuring 3 is far from being the scariest of the franchise, it only shows part of the criminal investigation and even Arne's story at times is left only in the background, the ''scare'' attempts didn't work. It ends up becoming good for those who are already a fan but nothing interesting for those who are not a fan of the franchise. The first movie remains the best of the entire The conjuring universe, becoming a horror classic today.