Review | The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It movie review – the Warrens are back for third instalment of hit horror series
- The story centres around the trial of a young man who was charged with murdering his landlord in February 1981 – because he was possessed by a demon at the time
- The latest film in the franchise has plenty of squirm-inducing, watch-from-behind-your-hands moments – but it isn’t quite on a par with its predecessors
3/5 stars
Five years after The Conjuring 2 dragged them to the English suburb of Enfield, Ed and Lorraine Warren are back. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga reprise their roles as the real-life paranormal investigators for the first time since the franchise sprouted in multiple directions with spin-offs including The Nun and The Curse of La Llorona .
The heart of these films has always been the Warrens, and here they return for The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. The story centres around the trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson (Ruairi O’Connor), a young man who was charged with murdering his landlord, Alan Bono (renamed Bruno here), in February 1981.
The defence rested on Johnson being possessed by a demon after he was present at the exorcism – horrifyingly shown in the film’s opening scene – of the younger brother of his girlfriend Debbie Glatzel (Sarah Catherine Hook). As the evil spirit literally jumps from the boy to the luckless Johnson, he doesn’t stand a chance.
The Warrens uncover a disconcerting, skull-like totem lurking beneath the Glatzel family home, which allows for a (brief) moment of light relief. Just before Lorraine goes hunting in this rat-infested crawl space, she thrusts her handbag into her concerned husband’s hands.