The Big Picture
- Ed and Lorraine Warren face a new challenge in the third Conjuring movie, The Devil Made Me Do It, as they investigate a murder case involving demonic possession claims.
- The Warrens uncover a sinister plot involving a human villain rather than a supernatural entity, pushing the franchise in a controversial direction.
- Despite the mix of fact and fiction in the film, the love and devotion between Ed and Lorraine shines through, leading to a surprisingly emotional ending.
Ed and Lorraine Warren, played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, have a devotion to their faith and each other that makes them a demon-ejecting power couple. In their first two films, they have put a stop to demonic entities haunting and terrorizing families. But demonic activity is just the first part of the problem in 2021's The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. This third outing for the Warren couple isn’t a retread of their usual chills and thrills. The Conjuring universe has been expanding since the first spinoff-prequel hybrid, Annabelle in 2014, so simply retreading old territory could end the series faster than it takes the Warrens to yell, “I condemn you back to Hell!”
The Devil Made Me Do It belongs to the main timeline and includes a first for the Warrens. Instead of putting a stop to a demon or an unholy possession, they have to prove it happened and find out why. There are big changes in this installment, but some things remain like the opening title crawl warning everyone about the horror that will unfold. This time, the opening passage declares the supernatural threat to the Warrens will lead them “to the most sinister discovery of their career.” Annabelle and Valak are scary, but a cunning and merciless new adversary brings the Warrens closer to danger than ever before. Here's everything that went down during that explosive finale.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
R
Horror
Mystery
Thriller
Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren take on one of their most shocking cases involving a young man accused of murder. Claiming demonic possession as his defense, the Warrens delve into a chilling investigation that uncovers a sinister presence and dark secrets.
- Release Date
- June 4, 2021
- Director
- Michael Chaves
- Cast
- Patrick Wilson , Very Farmiga , Ruairi O'Connor , Sarah Catherine Hook , Julian Hilliard , John Noble , Eugenie Bondurant , Shannon Kook
- Runtime
- 112 Minutes
- Writers
- David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick , James Wan , Chad Hayes , Carey W. Hayes
What is 'The Conjuring 3' About?
In 1981 Connecticut, a possessed eight-year-old David Glatzel (Julian Hilliard) is under the supervision of Ed and Lorraine for a night of mayhem. The Warrens help perform an exorcism that goes haywire. It injures many there, including Ed who suffers a heart attack. Arne Johnson (Ruairí O’Connor), who is the boyfriend of David’s sister, sees the demonic behavior happening to the young boy and makes a rash decision out of desperation. He demands the demon to transfer into his body with the hopes it will save David from experiencing further torment. Everyone believes the demon is gone, unaware Arne’s life and those near him are now in peril.
While Ed recovers in the hospital, Arne’s health is drained from seeing frightening visions. One day, he brutally kills his landlord and is taken into custody. The Warrens are at a loss as to what could've led Arne to commit murder, as is everyone else. They don’t see the typical signs or evidence that Arne is possessed; reading from the Bible and being near religious items do nothing to him. The Warrens take it upon themselves to find out what is going on to help Arne receive a lesser charge for his crime. From their search, they realize that someone has summoned a demon. Instead of an exorcism, the Warrens are dealing with a Devil worshiper.
Ed Warren's Health Takes a Turn in the Third Conjuring Movie
Seeing Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga back in these roles is always one of the best parts of this franchise. Their chemistry and how they draw strength from being a team is endearing to watch. In The Devil Made Me Do It, the supernatural isn’t the only threat to the couple -- Ed’s health is in bad shape. Earlier scenes see him unconscious in the hospital, and a worried Lorraine remembers happier memories when they first met in high school. A core memory includes a rainstorm that forced them to stay dry in a park gazebo. For 30 years, the Warrens have been together, and while their real-life relationship was toxic and scandalous, the on-screen couple is quite touching.
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But while demons can be vanquished, Ed’s bad heart is a more difficult ordeal. After he gets discharged, his fragile health sticks him in a wheelchair to prevent him from exhausting his body. He never remembers to bring his heart medication, which obviously foreshadows a point where he will need it most. This pushes Lorraine to use her clairvoyant gifts more. In the previous films, Ed's worries about her safety when she gets too close to demonic activity are justified. The Conjuring (2013) and The Conjuring 2 (2016) establish that connecting to the supernatural world takes a lot out of Lorraine.
In the Perrons’s backyard in the first film, she hears the creaking of the rope that a witch hung herself with, before seeing the rotting body. At the Amityville house in the second movie, she walks in the shoes of the man who murdered his family. The visions she receives of Ed’s possible death from Valak are so horrifying that they force her into self-isolation. The health problems of her husband in The Devil Made Me Do It give Lorraine no choice but to use her clairvoyance to uncover the dark secrets that led Arne to kill his landlord.
The Conjuring’s Power Couple Don’t Face the Franchise's Usual Monster
Lorraine’s psychic connection is what helps her find out who is behind the dark forces at work in this third installment. In the basem*nt of the Glatzel house, Lorraine discovers a witch’s totem. David and now Arne were not possessed — they were cursed. It helps her understand the visions she’s been having of the person who placed the totem. She taps into the POV of the Occultist (Eugenie Bondurant), a member of the Disciples of the Ram responsible for the Annabelle doll. Lorraine continues to access this psychic connection to understand what the Occultist plans to do next. Among the changes to the kind of plot fans may be expecting from a Conjuring film, Lorraine and Ed get involved in solving the case of a missing girl in Massachusetts.
The Occultist was involved in this murder, bringing misery and death onto innocent lives for her personal, satanic gain, as she has done in Connecticut. In past installments, the Warrens hunt ghouls like a dead witch and a demonic nun. Here, they’re trying to stop the supernatural horror of a human villain. This is a controversial addition that pushes the Conjuring film away from the claim it’s “based on a true story.” The creative liberties put into The Devil Made Me Do It are done to dramatize the "truth" and elude the fatigue of being a horror sequel. It becomes problematic when a real-life tragedy is sidelined to blame a made-up, evil-doing Devil worshiper.
‘The Devil Made Me Do It’s Mix of Fact and Fiction Is Problematic
Every Conjuring film isn’t factually accurate, especially the spin-offs. The “based on a true story” is the bare bones of an actual case the Warrens had been involved in to be crafted into a horror blockbuster. The Occultist is a fictional character that didn’t exist in the real 1981 murder trial, and it feels disrespectful when it aims to overindulge the franchise’s pro-Catholic message. The retired Father Kastner (John Noble) is another character that gets created to expand on the Occultist plot. His knowledge of the teachings and books associated with the Disciples of the Ram provides some answers for Ed and Lorraine. But the ex-priest dooms himself through his unholy research. Kastner’s basem*nt is a dark counterpart to the Warrens' room of artifacts that they keep blessed.
Lorraine is uncomfortable about the malevolent energy from the occult books and artifacts Kastner has gathered. In the final act, the elder, guilty priest admits the Occultist is his secret daughter, Isla, who was obsessed with her father’s occult room. Father Kastner’s role shows how he lost the protection of his faith after he violated his clerical celibacy, and his daughter kills him once he shares the truth with Lorraine. With very little time left, the Warrens infiltrate an underground lair at the Kastner residence to stop the Occultist. At the prison Arne is in, he is demonically possessed again to complete the blood sacrifice for the curse. The Occultist needs him to kill himself, and she will do this by any means necessary. To stop the Warrens, she puts a hex on Ed, forcing him to attack Lorraine.
The Warrens Get Another Happy Ending Before 'First Rites'
Their long-lasting romance is more powerful than their faith. Lorraine breaks through to Ed, and he destroys the Occultist’s altar, saving Arne’s life. Isla Kastner is killed by the demon she summoned, an entity that appears as Isla. Like how her father doomed himself by his actions, Isla sees herself when the demon collects her soul as she failed to complete the curse. When Ed begins to have issues with his heart, and with his medication nowhere in sight, Lorraine takes out a pill she’s kept in her locket necklace, the same one she treasures with a picture of their daughter. Scenes like this, that affirm their love and devotion to each other, can be cheesy, but Wilson and Farmiga always portray it earnestly. Because their on-screen love is so damn sweet, Ed has a gazebo built in the backyard for Lorraine as a memento of their first date.
The final scenes confirm Arne Johnson was convicted of manslaughter, but what isn’t revealed is what exactly the Warrens brought to Arne’s lawyer to help get that verdict. This isn't a courtroom or legal horror film like The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005). The relentlessly pro-Catholic message in the Conjuring franchise is content that evil is defeated. A new entry in another religious horror series did something different by replacing the Devil with the sins of the Church. Faith can be healing, but in this year's The First Omen, faith can be destructive too. For now, the Conjuring franchise prefers to keep it simple.
The Warrens seem to be at peace... for now. A whole other world of demonic and supernatural horror is in store for them with their next and seemingly final installment, The Last Rites. A release date for the film has not been announced.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is streaming on Netflix.
