The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It

The film is chilling, balancing its actually scary horror with a lot of heart, advancing the Warrens’ story and providing audiences with a change of pace from their usual cases.

Ultimately, The Devil Made Me Do It’s attempt to shake the franchise up with a new director falls short, and like the young man at the heart of its supernatural horror, it risks losing its soul.

The third and weakest chapter in the hit "Conjuring" series messes with the facts about a real-life case of demonic possession as a legal defense, but Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson as married demonologists know how to rally nerve-rattling chills to scare us senseless.

The Devil Made Me Do It proves that, with The Conjuring franchise at least, the devil you know is far, far better than the one you don’t. Chaves doesn’t quite manage to close the Warren files, but his efforts in the universe are now two of the weakest.

Fatigue has caught up with the Warrens, and the question about the franchise is not where it can go from here, but how much longer it can be sustained by humdrum deviltry.

The problem here isn’t the dramatic liberties, though. It’s that they’re much less, well, dramatic than the real events the film leaves curiously off screen: the sensational trial of one Arne Johnson, who made history (and headlines) by insisting in court that he was under demonic influence when he stabbed his landlord to death.

An eccentric local priest spouts nonsense, blood gushes out of the shower, bodies twist and contort at impossible angles, and creatures from hell crawl towards the camera. By the time the convoluted, shrieky finale arrives, it all blends together into nothing more than dull background noise. Your investment in the story will be indirectly proportional to its running time.

the conjuring 3 was a joke, i think it was a very bad horror film, the other 2 were much better, but a big failing grade from me

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It delivers with an interesting new twist on the evil in the film, but its lack of quality scares and corny nature makes it one of the weaker installments of the franchise.

A Sequel that has progressively became tediously boring. I enjoyed the original story and gave the 2nd one a passing grade although it didn't meet the level of the 1st. This was disappointing with an over used story line and sub-par acting performances.

I reviewed the first film in the Conjuring universe, but skipped the 6 subsequent entries. Thought I’d revisit the series with this new one. It still revolves around real-life husband/wife paranormal investigators (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), who encounter yet another demonic possession that they must investigate and overcome. Even though there are a few jump scares, this is pretty much a by-the-numbers haunting with creepy dark rooms and ominous sound design to telegraph every fright. The actors manage to convey tension, but it’s still just a lot of bumps in the nite. This linefrom my review of the original still holds true: “Maybe I’m jaded or too experienced with the genre, but I was never scared or surprised.”