Premise: Demonologist couple Lorraine and Ed Warren investigate a demonic possession that may be responsible for a murder.
On paper, this is a direction I hoped the third Conjuring movie would go in. They established a franchise that is nimble enough to try out many horror genres. It felt like a waste when the first sequel returned to the haunted house angle. The third installment, The Devil Made Me Do It, moves to the tried-and-true realm of demonic possession. That aspect is nice. Seeing the Warrens in a new type of conflict is refreshing. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga continue to be great in the roles. I'm so used to seeing horror cast lesser-known performers for budget purposes or verisimilitude. It's refreshing to see real movie leads getting their hands dirty in horror.
I wish they'd move off the "this really happened" angle though. I know that the Warrens were semi-public figures who investigated some weird stuff. Throw an "Inspired by a true story" at the beginning of the credits. That's all I need. After that, just throw me into the world where all of this is real. I know I'm watching a horror thriller. I'm three movies into the franchise at this point. I don't still need scenes where Lorraine proves her psychic powers. I also don't need to know that the defendant got convicted of manslaughter in real life and lives happily now. Frankly, by the time that note card showed up on the screen, I'd forgotten that any of this was supposed to be true. That update just threw me back into Google mode to question the fidelity of the story. It hasn't hurt The Nun or Annabelle not being tethered to reality.
The Devil Made Me Do It is a nice move toward the nimble franchise I imagined with the first movie. It's not the best demonic possession movie out there, but it hits enough of the right beats to work.
Verdict: Weakly Recommend
No comments:
Post a Comment