The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is intriguing, provides few scares but opens another door in this
franchise.
With movie theaters getting back into rhythm, another successful series releases its new installment,
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It hits theaters this week. The Devil Made Me Do it is another
chapter to The Warren’s story and their battle against pure evil.
The story focuses on The Warrens (Patrick Wilson, & Vera Farmiga) and an exorcism that has taken a
hold of a small-town family. This time it wasn’t from a haunting but a curse that was put on a boy. The
Warrens are now on the hunt to find the origins of the curse. The chemistry between Patrick & Vera is
undeniable as the two investigate a paranormal possession of a young boy which later leads to a grisly
murder.
My friend and I were able to attend a private screening of the film with local actors Paul Wilson and
Eugenie Bondurant. Paul played Carl Glaztel, the father of the family while Eugenie plays The Occultist, the
villain of the film. They both did a wonderful job in the film and provided some insight into the filming
and reshoots that took place as late as February of this year. From the actor’s perspective, the reshoots
helped sculpt the third act into a cat & mouse game, which actually made the film even spookier.
The Devil Made Me Do it may not stand out like the previous entries to The Conjuring Series. The tone
and tension were on par with the previous two films however, the scare attempts were rare. Eugenie
Bondurant, who played The Occultist, was a formidable foe to go against Lorraine and was a welcome
human antagonist to go along with the looming paranormal presence. There was not a single
underwhelming performance as the entire cast fully committed to bringing their best. This entry tried to
move away from the haunted house and bring a fresh story however felt restricted by the true events of
the actual story.
All in all the film is an entertaining entry and in my opinion, will go down as one of the best horror
trilogies to date however this film alone doesn’t quite live up to the extremely high bar set by the
previous entries. I highly recommend it as a return to the cinema.
