"The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It" still effective with the Warrens around

"The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It" still effective with the Warrens around
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The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)

As it turns out, not every spin-off of a demonic entity that married Christian paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren have encountered can fare as well without them. Within the “Conjuring Universe,” each truth-based case involving the Warrens is always stated to be unlike anything they’ve seen before, which is bad for them and great for us. Introducing “the most sinister discovery of their career,” “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It” is based on the real-life murder trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson in which demonic possession was used as a defense in the court of law (inconceivable!). This may be the third canonical installment conjured up from the Warrens’ case files—and the first where James Wan hands over the directing reigns—but it still cares about this fictionalized version of the Warrens and their relationship as much as it is about scaring the devil out of you.

Opening with one of the more intense exorcisms that isn’t in “The Exorcist” (which does get a nod, and you’ll know it when you see it), the film begins in 1981 with 8-year-old David Glatzel (Julian Hilliard) being possessed. When Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga), along with assistant Drew (Shannon Kook), call for an exorcism in the Glatzel residence in Brookfield, Connecticut, David is saved, but only because Arne Johnson (Ruairi O’Connor), the boyfriend to David’s sister Debbie (Sarah Catherine Hook), selflessly asks the demon to take him instead. The exorcism also causes Ed to be hospitalized due to a heart attack. Months pass when Arne begins hallucinating and ends up stabbing his drunken landlord Bruno (Ronnie Gene Blevins) 22 times at the kennel where Debbie works and they live. As Arne faces death row and remains possessed in prison, the Warrens must discover what’s really going on. Who’s the Satanist cursing Arne?

By now, “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It” should look and sound snugly familiar—once composer Joseph Bishara’s score braaams over the studio logos, it’s time to buckle in—but the devil really is in the details when it comes to Michael Chaves’ assured direction. It almost feels like a missed opportunity for director Chaves and screenwriter David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (2018’s “Aquaman”) to opt out of telling a full-bore courtroom drama, which could have worked à la 2005’s “The Exorcism of Emily Rose." That approach is probably for the better, though, helping in terms of pacing and visual interest. Even if the Warrens ultimately overshadow Arne and the Glatzel family, the film refreshingly gets away from being another classic haunted house story and tells more of an investigative mystery involving the occult and satanic totems. The tease of Arne’s skeptical lawyer (Ashley LeConte Campbell) being invited over to the Warrens for dinner (and to meet Annabelle) is amusing, as is the payoff, but an actual scene could have been ripe for possibility; then again, we already had the “Annabelle” show.

No stranger to “The Conjuring Universe” after making his feature debut with 2019’s “The Curse of La Llorona,” Chaves applies the same rhythm in expertly crafting a set-piece with apprehension that James Wan has come to master. Within that pre-credits exorcism, director Chaves brings some subtly creepy touches amidst the high-decibel thrashing, like a demon’s hand subbing for a shower curtain hook. The pivotal sequence where a confused Arne is possessed under a spell and ends up committing murder in broad daylight, while Blondie’s “Call Me” keeps blaring on the radio, is startlingly staged with a lighting scheme of striking reds. There’s also the scariest water-bed moment since “A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master,” and a freaky lights-out sequence in a funeral home morgue, where Lorraine must connect with a corpse on the slab after hours. These might not be all-timers, like the hide and clap from “The Conjuring” and the shriek-inducing nun painting, but in the moment and for the night, Chaves does not leave one wanting for effective scare set-pieces.

Once again, Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are excellent and so intuitive as Ed and Lorraine, making their on-screen relationship feel lived-in and everlasting to the point that they are married and bust ghosts in real life, no questions asked. It’s saying something when even the Warrens’ downtime together as a couple of 30 years is lovely and just as worthwhile as their investigations; this time, Lorraine gets to recall their earnest love story from the beginning, back to when they first met at a movie theater that led to a kiss in the rain under a gazebo. Not only does their love shine through, but it’s their selflessness for always putting their lives on the line for other people. In supporting roles, Ruairi O’Connor is heartbreakingly conflicted as Arne, Martin Landau lookalike John Noble captivates and brings quirkiness and more feeling than expected to an obligatory expert role as Kastner, and Eugenie Bondurant (2021’s “Fear of Rain”) uses her height and angular physicality to cut a memorable antagonist as The Occultist. Sterling Jerins does return as Judy Warren, even after being recast in “Annabelle Comes Home,” but one wonders where Ed and Lorraine’s daughter goes off to when the couple is at home.

“The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It” may not be as scary as the previous “Conjuring” films or even as fun as “Annabelle Comes Home,” but it’s still an above-average chapter, and the devil did not make me say it. It’s tough when you’re the eighth film in “The Conjuring Universe.” There’s still just something comfortable yet nonetheless unnerving about following Lorraine Warren into a dark basement or in a crawlspace under a house (while Ed holds her purse). She’s like our trusty tour guide, being able to see and feel things that others cannot, and we know she isn’t going anywhere, but we scare anyway. One could watch Wilson and Farmiga play Ed and Lorraine for a weekly series. At some point, though, Ed and Lorraine deserve some R&R. A relationship drama would be just as compelling without the ghouls and witches. 

Grade: B

Warner Bros. is releasing “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Do It” (112 min.) in theaters and on HBO Max on June 4, 2021.