I will try hard to not give away spoilers.
My last review was Anything For Jackson, the horror movie made for horror fans.
Last Friday, June 4th, Warner Bros decided to put up The Conjuring 3 for rental for 48 hours. I watched it through Amazon Prime for $24.99. I imagine a lot of people paid the price to rent the third instalment of this franchise.
I am a BIG fan of the Warrens, I’ve always followed their cases as a paranormal enthusiast.
The first Conjuring movie was phenomenal. I had zero complaints, and it left me counting down to the next movie. I can’t remember waiting in such anticipation for a follow-up. It altered the horror genre at that point — moving from body horror and torture porn into more traditional horror. Truly scary, creepy, edge-of-your-seat horror. One of the best horror movies of the decade, hands down. I was also a big fan of the second movie simply because I’ve studied that Enfield Poltergeist case at length. I felt the movie did it justice.
Here were are at number three however: The Devil Made Me Do It. It’s important to note that this is the first Conjuring not directed by James Wan, although he did contribute to the story. Based on the true case of the 1981 trial of Arne Johnson in Connecticut. Johnson stabbed another man to death. His defense: he’s possessed. Yes, it was an interesting case, but there were more interesting cases involving the Warrens that may have made for a more exciting watch. The Snedeker house or the Smurl family haunting, for example.
The first 20 minutes of this film was good. It started strong with a few exciting scares. But then… it slogged. The pace went from breakneck to glacial. A few scenes felt like re-hashes of previous scenes in The Conjuring franchise. Some were way too long.
The film didn’t really explain the Arne Johnson case. So if you want to know more about that, you’ll have to do your own research.
I had questions about “The Occultist” character throughout. I couldn’t tell if she was a ghost, a demon, or a real person until the last quarter of the film. I felt like the story lacked flow. There were moments where I was left wondering if it was veering toward a romance movie.
The Conjuring 3 relied far too heavily on just a handful of creepy scenes and jump scares for payoff. Excessive CGI and loud effects clouded the fright factor in this movie. Is this an action or horror movie? It certainly didn’t flow with the previous two installments.
Despite having the largest budget of all three (!!!) and the magnificent build up from The Conjuring 1 & 2, this movie was a big let down. I’m only giving this movie 🔪🔪/5 and that’s being fucking generous. The one saving grace was seeing Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprising the roles of Ed and Lorraine Warren, these two have some of the best all-time chemistry and I love their sheer dedication to these roles. Without them, this movie would be a knife-less 0/5.
Did you rent The Conjuring 3? What did you think? Leave a comment!
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