The first Conjuring felt like a breath of fresh air. It was an exciting, grounded throwback to horror films like The Exorcist or The Omen that focused more on character than gore and told its story in a matter of fact way that made its more extreme elements that much more chilling.
It spawned a lot of imitators and its own spin-offs like The Nun and the Annabelle movies and by the time the second one came out it felt a little like the magic was gone. So much so that while I eventually got around to watching the second entry I remember none of it, other than I thought it relied too much on CGI special effects.
Sadly, the new film -- now in theaters and streaming on Netflix -- does nothing to enliven or shake-up the formula. It has a solid fast paced opener that has some truly creepy, unsettling moments, but even this exorcism scene doesn't feel all that different from ones you've already seen and yet again the movie resort to obvious digital effects that totally took me out of it.
In the horror genre you have movies that film you with existential dread like Midsommar and Hereditary, you have films with social satire like Us and Get Out and even fun gorefests like Freaky, and in comparison The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It doesn't have much too offer that's totally unique.
It once again centers on a supposedly true story for the case files of paranormal investigation could Ed and Lorraine Warren, played ably by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga. These two likable actors remain committed to playing it very straight which might be part of the problem.There are just a couple chuckles to be had in this film which could use a lot more. It'd be interesting to see them confronted with some real vehement non-believers in the supernatural or just people who think they're batshit crazy, but instead most of the people they encounter take them at face value and treat them with reverence.
This film is set in 1981 and does an ok-ish job evoking the period. Wilson is constantly chasing after Farmiga and worrying that she's in too deep -- just like in the other films -- but this time he is given the convoluted malady of a bum ticker. Meanwhile Farmiga has her visions of killings and her spidey senses help her solve crimes, which she does earnestly, taking periodic breaks to have wide-eyed freakouts.
The supporting cast doesn't have many standouts, and while nothing in the film is rendered horribly and some scares are effective, it all felt a little boring and routine to me. Now that this is a full blown franchise I never really worried for the safety of Farmiga and Wilson, and while there's an attempt at world building around the origins of their relationship, I didn't really feel like either character evolved.
The movie also doesn't let its scares build through tension as much like the original did -- this one features a lot more predictable jump scares and flashy camera movies that are more disorienting than disturbing. I watched it at home and so it may play better on a big screen with an audience, as most horror movies do, but the must-see wow factor is definitely done.
It's probably a bad sign that besides the opening few minutes the best part of the film are its closing credits, now a signature of the series, where the real life figures and audiotapes get blended into the events of the film and we see that actors side by side with the people they were portraying. And while not spot on and almost certainly exaggerated, the attempt at realism is appreciated and gives the movie a lot more credibility after its over.
Still, if the ongoing adventures of the Warrens is going to continue to be a thing -- and I suppose the box office performance of this third film will be a determining factor -- I hope they bring on a director with a new vision both visually and substantively, because right now this franchise feels stale and played out, which is too bad because it was really onto something with that first film.
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