Written by James Wan And David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick
Directed by Michael Chaves
Ed Warren: "The court accepts the existence of God every time a witness swears to tell the truth. I think it's about time they accept the existence of the Devil."
Usually things end in threes and this really could've been the end of both this part of the franchise or the entire franchise in general. It had a feeling of finality to it.
Once again, we're with paranormal couple, Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) but this time, we're not dealing with haunted houses as such. This one was definitely more about the possessions and a bout of occultism in the mix as well.
The movie started with a family's young son, David (Julian Hilliard) being possessed by a demon that Ed and Lorraine really struggled to get rid. In fact to up the ante, Ed ended up hospitalised and in a wheelchair for a bit of the movie. Of course that wasn't the only consequence of saving David.
David might have gotten the demon taken out of him but his sister, Debbie (Sarah Catherine Hook) didn't fare as well. The demon instead up residence in her boyfriend, Arne Cheyenne Johnson (Ruari O'Connor) and as a result, he ended up stabbing his landlord twenty two times and was sent the prison for his crime.
This film tackled the issue of demonic possession being claimed as a defence while also putting Ed and Lorraine through their paces. Along with their assistant, Drew (Shannon Kook) they worked on trying to save Arne from the death penalty while drawing a link to another case involving an occultist (Eugenie Bondurant).
Unlike the previous movies that were in spin off setting up mode, there's a good focus on the actual threat at hand. Isla/Occultist made for a good villain, the demon certain had both Ed and Arne act, Lorraine had more to do and there was a strong supporting role from John Noble as Kastner. I think this might have had the strongest third act so far.
- Once again we see items from previous movies and spin offs with voice over work filling in the gaps of the real life case this movie was based.
- James Wan co-wrote but didn't direct this one. His wife Ingrid Bisu had a role in this film as well.
- Standout music: Eddie Money's Baby Hold On and Blondie's Call Me.
- Chronology: 1981 in Brookfield, Connecticut as well as Dancers, Massachusetts.
I think I might have liked The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It the best of these movies so far. The story helped by being a little different from the first two. It's also the movie where I think the reshoots helped strengthen the actual plot and third act itself.
Rating: 7 out of 10
