With the Conjuring universe churning out film after film that achieves consistent box office success, it was only natural that Warner Brothers would greenlight another sequel to the Conjuring films. With James Wan not returning to direct, the sequel ‘Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It’ is helmed by Michael Chavis and is the eighth installment in the Conjuring universe.
Ed and Lorrain Warren are back, played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga respectively, as they investigate unexplained phenomena linked to the Glatzel family. With a devastating demonic force forcing Ed into intensive care due to a heart attack that he suffers whilst performing an exorcism, it is up to Lorrain to take the reins and thwart Isla, a satanist who wants to play a game of death and evil with innocent souls.
A new direction for the Conjuring films
The first two Conjuring films were set in haunted houses wherein an unsuspecting family arrives in a new home, only to find it possessed. A demonic spirit usually resides in the home and it attacks the children of the family first. When the nightmares become unbearable, Ed and Lorrain are contacted and they arrive to save the family. This was the effective plot of the first two Conjuring films.
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Wan and Chavis did not want to revisit these tropes for the third installment and this is probably why Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It feels a lot more fresh and original. The spirits and demons are present and they do torment the protagonists but they take a backseat to the main human antagonist who has garnered immense occult powers due to satanic rituals. The stakes are higher this time around and so is the body count with several gruesome murders occurring due to the malevolent powers of curses and demonic rituals.
By far the best thing about Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is that it changes its setting from suburban mansions to forests and the wilderness. In addition, the crippling injuries of Ed Warren also factor into the story and help make the narrative much more thrilling and disturbing.
Plenty of twists and scares!
The scares are there just like the last two installments and they are plenty. Another great aspect of the threequel is its continued celebration of the love story of Ed and Lorrain who find their marriage strengthening after each successful vanquishing of a demonic spirit. As Ed and Lorrain’s relationship is the bedrock of this franchise, it is refreshing to see the couple go from strength to strength as they find themselves facing the most dangerous case of their entire life.
All in all, Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is a potent threequel in the Conjuring universe and its superior quality of jumpscares and atmospheric tensions means that it comfortably sits within the top ten movies released in 2021 so far.