The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, released on June 4, 2021, is the third installment of The Conjuring franchise, but it failed to live up to the previous movies. The Devil Made Me Do It, or simply The Conjuring 3, was not able to rival the scare factor of the first picture. The Conjuring‘s popularity was at its peak in 2013, grossing over $300 million on a $20 million budget, and paved the way for sequels and spinoffs. Sadly, while The Conjuring 3 does have some indisputably powerful jump scares, it is not as frightening as the original. And while The Conjuring 3 is much flashier and more expensive, it still struggles to recreate the profoundly terrifying aura of the very first.
In the original The Conjuring, the notably frightening “hide and clap” scene is a fantastic example of how various components, such as the house’s structural proportions and the creeping suspicion that someone is prowling in the corners, have blended perfectly. The scares are precisely planned and produced, from the devilish woman on top of the cabinet, to the white sheet over the possessed during the exorcism in the ending scene, so that the audience is rewarded with a climax. Although there are lots of sophisticated visual effects and insights into the world of demons in The Conjuring 3, very few sequences can rival the eerie “hide and clap” scene –the most iconic scene of the 2013 original. This scene showcased two white lifeless hands emerging out of the shadow and clapping twice: once behind protagonist Carolyn in the haunted basement, and again in a closet in her room, where she was playing the same game with her daughter, sending Carolyn into a constant state of dread and paranoia because she knows something has infested her family home.
James Wan, the director of the first film, is so good at creating anxiety and portraying the final shock in such a restrained way that it just doesn’t appear like a normal Hollywood startle. The Conjuring 3, on the other extreme, conveys its shocks and skips through the majority of the crescendo so that the viewers know precisely beforehand what to expect. The loud boom may still make you jump, but it’s nothing like the actual dread experienced in the first The Conjuring.
The Conjuring‘s haunted house tale was considerably more focused, with quieter and more disturbing scares. The Conjuring 3 is the long-awaited comeback, following years of spin-offs such as the Annabelle films, The Nun, and The Curse of La Llorona. This is also the first time a core The Conjuring film has been directed by someone other than James Wan. Instead, Michael Chaves, who previously directed The Curse of La Llorona, was given the job, which could justify the stylistic and narrative differences between the third film and the first two Wan-directed films.
Overall, to some extent, this is a substandard investigative thriller and not a horror like the original. There are far too many perpetrators and distressing situations within traumatic incidents, because in the midst of the film’s puzzling tone, a strange serial murder case unfolds. As a fan of the franchise, it seems like this installment really doesn’t fit in The Conjuring universe due to its lack of a haunted mansion that has been integral to the other film’s plots. This film should have adhered to subtle and simple scares. If The Conjuring 3 was not part of this franchise, I would have liked it. However, as part of The Conjuring timeline, it felt out of place — like an entirely different and independent story, as the The Devil Made Me Do It favors jump scares over subtle horrors.
I am Priya Ghuman and I am a staff writer at The Cascade. I have a great interest in reading and sports, and I am a pianist as well. Lastly, I am an animal lover and I am always ready to volunteer and help anyone who is in need.
