The Conjuring 3: Movie Review (No Spoilers)

 

By Michael Momper

    Few series in the horror genre have a reputation as solid as The Conjuring, which as a series has been terrifying audiences for years with its chilling true stories from the cases of exorcists Ed and Lorraine Warren. Unlike other sloppily made and cheap-shock exorcism movies in recent years (see horrendous movies like The Devil Inside or Deliver Us From Evil for examples), The Conjuring movies are made with a sort of reverence- the effects are plenty spooky and certainly elaborate at times, but the deliberate pacing and sense of dread are what really create the chilling paranormal atmosphere. When these movies are really clicking, the palpable dread is so thick that it almost makes you want to look away or catch your breath. James Wan, who directed the first two movies, captures these true stories with a reverence not only to the real people at the heart of the story but also to the paranormal things they witnessed- these are earnest retellings that surely take some liberties but also convey a sense of belief in the supernatural things that occurred in these cases.

    Enter the newest installment, The Conjuring:The Devil Made Me Do It, which is the first in the series not to have James Wan at the helm. Naturally, as with almost every long-running horror franchise, this movie suffers a bit from fatigue, as there were a lot of scares that felt familiar. We've already had two frightening Conjuring movies that involve twisting body parts, ghoulish-looking women with glowing eyes and ragged clothing, and plenty of shocking self-harm. Add to that two Annabelle movies so far and naturally we find that there is a lot that is starting to feel familiar.

    However, this movie did bring some interesting and fresh new takes on the Warrens' stories, perhaps because it is in new hands. Director Michael Chaves did an excellent job. There are some great tracking shocks as well as some classic horror movie misdirects to provoke some effective scares. The pacing crackles along and Chaves does some great work with flashbacks, dreams/visions etc. that keep the viewers on their toes. It's got a stylish look and some interesting set pieces, as well as a beautiful color palette. One thing that felt quite fresh was the legal angle that was brought into the story. Because the story centers around a murder that takes place while a young man is possessed, the movie challenges people to think how exorcism can hold up in a court of law, and how much trust we can have in the stories of people like the Warrens.

    Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, who play Ed and Lorraine, are fantastic as always, and this series time and time again shines as it is vehicle for their enduring and faithful romance as much as it is for providing bone-chilling real life scares. These stories surely reinforce the danger of the demonic to those who believe in a world beyond ours, but I feel that even to those who are at best agnostic to that sort of thing, a lot of metaphorical truth can be excavated from the fight between good and evil portrayed here. Part of being human means experiencing, witnessing or even perpetrating some levels of evil in our lives, and to ignore that fact with all of the suffering we all witness would just be willful blindness. These movies are crafted with love for the Warrens and a belief in the awful things they have witnessed, so there is a refreshing earnestness to all of them that certainly continues with this movie.

    If there was any big weakness to me with this movie, it would be that it just didn't really scare me. Perhaps we can chalk that up to franchise fatigue, but I could see others poking holes in the writing as the reasoning for it and there might be some merit to that. I just felt like I had seen a lot of these ghouls and demons before, and they didn't have much of a fresh look this time around. The jump scares were naturally scattered throughout and were effective here and there, but nothing stuck with me like it did in the first movie with its building sense of despair and ominous atmosphere. This movie plays in my head more like a thriller, and in that genre I think it is even recommendable. The pace is fresh, the visuals are incredibly sleek and the Warrens keep us invested because they are just so easy to love. Multiple stories weave together by the end of things in a frenetic second half, so there is truly never a dull moment. It will be interesting to see where this franchise goes next; it might be tough to patch up some of the cracks from fatigue that are already showing, but if it can keep fresh twists and interesting true stories at the center, people just might come back- a true testament to the on-screen pairing of Vera Farmiga/Patrick Wilson, and to the legacy of the Warrens.

Rating: 75/100