Despite his recent forays into action-packed blockbusters such as Fast and Furious 7, Aquaman, and the Mortal Kombat reboot, James Wan is at his best when he’s doing horror films. In his return to the genre, Wan brings us the third entry into the Ed and Lorraine Warren case files-based Conjuring series (part of the larger Conjuring Universe), The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.
This installment of the series is pulled from the 1981 “The Devil Made Me Do It” case in which Arne Johnson used the claim mentioned above as a defense against murder charges. In the film, Ed and Lorraine Warren are called to investigate if a demonic possession of Johnson led him to commit murder.
Again, we know what Wan can do in the horror genre. The question is can he strike gold for the third time in the Conjuring series?
For this outing, Wan made two significant changes. First, the writing department no longer includes writing duo Chad and Carey Hayes and it is now solely handled by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick. Second, Michael Chaves replaces Wan in the director’s chair. Unfortunately, these modifications did the film no favors at all.
Johnson-McGoldrick’s script goes against the series's usual story structure of a classic horror film and is more of a whodunit. While that shift does provide a new angle to the Warrens’ work, it also left the film vulnerable to being incredibly predictable. After The Devil Made Me Do It finishes introducing all its key figures, the who/what did it is more evident than it should be. The latter portion of the film’s third act and its ending further adds to the damage done by not keeping the previous writing team intact.
Chaves’s turn in the director’s chair is an improvement over his last effort, 2019’s The Curse of La Llorona, but it’s not enough to make his replacing Wan justifiable. The lack of Wan’s expertise is most noticeable in Chaves’s use of the jump scare.
While Wan is a maestro at the placement and timing of jump scares, Chaves is still a long way from that and repeated the same mistakes he made in La Llorona. He gets overzealous in his use of the mechanism by placing them in spots they aren’t needed. Additionally, the pauses before the jump scares are so long that the viewer can telegraph when something will fall, break, or attack, which almost renders it useless.
The saving graces for The Devil Made Me Do It are Wilson and Farmiga. As they portray slightly more advanced versions of the Warrens, they continue to be sharp and occasionally witty as they play off each other during the investigation.
They both convincingly show the tolls their work has taken on them physically and emotionally. Farmiga stands out a little more as her character’s clairvoyant ability has grown stronger and gets displayed more. However, their chemistry is so strong that it keeps you locked in and even manages to take an ill-placed love story (courtesy of the script discussed earlier) and make it bearable.
The Devil Made Me Do It is easily the worst of the Conjuring film series. If A Quiet Place II was the perfect example of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” The Devil Made Me Do It is the perfect example of how too many changes can mess up a good thing.
It has some scares and the Wilson and Farmiga pairing continues to be first-rate. However, the changes in the writing removed much of the horror aspect that made the previous Conjuring films a good watch and the director swap robbed it of the well-timed jump scares that were its signature.
If you’re a fan of the series and the Conjuring Universe, The Devil Made Me Do It is bearable to watch for the sake of continuity. However, if you’re looking for something to shake you to the core, you’re better off listening to the angel on your shoulder telling you to watch something else.
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