I saw The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It on opening night at a dine-in movie theater’s 6 p.m. movie showtime and the most memorable moment was my boyfriend spilling beer all over his pants. I wish I could say a jump scare, or even that the devil made him do it, because both of those reasons would make for way better writing. Alas, it was just a classic overcarbonated beer can explosion. If you’re thinking I’m saying this was the most memorable moment because the movie itself was unmemorable, take a lesson from paranormal horror: things aren’t always what they seem.
First of all, let’s kick this off by celebrating with The Conjuring franchise on a successful opening weekend!
I think the film industry underestimated the public’s desire to get back to the movies.
— David Kuhne (@D_Khunne) June 6, 2021
Movie theaters are back, and the horror genre is killing the game. Sidenote: if you’re not on the horror side of Twitter, you’re missing out!
Before I get into my unsolicited, spoiler-free thoughts on The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, I think it’s important to answer this popular question:
Do you need to watch the first two Conjuring films before seeing The Devil Made Me Do It?
Nope! While paranormal investigator couple Ed and Lorraine Warren are at the helm of all three films, the main cases they are investigating in each are standalone and do not overlap. Naturally, the horror nerd in me is going to urge you to watch them all so you can appreciate the minor details, but it’s not necessary to fully understand and enjoy this one.
But as they say, the devil is in the details! If you’re interested in rewatching or getting caught up on all things Conjuring, the entire franchise can be found on HBO Max, and The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2 are also on Netflix.
Horror lovers recommend watching the films in this order to best understand the timeline:
These are the CONJURING UNIVERSE movies in the order they need to be watched in so you can understand the new CONJURING “THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT!” pic.twitter.com/Nao8iMYZ7v
— Where Da?Resides ✨ (@NotoriousNichie) June 5, 2021
- The Nun
- Annabelle Creation
- Annabelle
- The Conjuring
- Annabelle Comes Home
- The Curse of La Llorona
- The Conjuring 2
- The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
Alright, horror fam. Let’s get into it!
5 thoughts I had while watching The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It in theaters
I’m writing this spoiler-free review while rewatching The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2 on Netflix which is quickly confirming my initial five thoughts while watching the third film:
#1: I didn’t enjoy The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It as much as the first two, but it was still entertaining.
When it comes to horror, I’m fairly easy to please. Give me a good cast, a spooky score, and a couple jump scares or cool special effects, and I’m satisfied. I have to admit though, this film was definitely not my favorite of the series, and I have some theories as to why that could be.
Part of me wonders if my opinion was a little tainted because I was coming off a bit of a back-to-back horror high. I’ve seen three movies in theaters since they started reopening this year. Spiral: From The Book of Saw, A Quiet Place 2, and now The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (all horror, duh).
I saw both Spiral and A Quiet Place 2 in an IMAX movie theater, and both experiences were *chef’s kiss* exactly how I imagined going back to the movies would be.
I would have loved to see The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It in IMAX, but they weren’t showing it, so I settled for my second favorite choice: a local Silverspot dine-in movie theater. Aside from my boyfriend’s beer exploding, there were only a couple other distractions in the theater, but they could have played a part in ranking it third.
My second theory is the change in directors. James Wan directed The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2, whereas The Devil Made Me Do It was directed by Michael Chaves who also directed The Curse of La Llorona, the sixth film in The Conjuring Universe. I have nothing to back up this theory, it was just a notable difference between the film’s production.
And third, The Devil Made Me Do It had more of a true crime detective feel with a satanic twist, unlike its predecessors that fit in the haunted house, demonic possession, paranormal subgenres of horror like a glove. It was just different, and if you keep up with all things spooky, you were probably expecting it to be different because the producers announced it before production even began. While I personally love me some true crime, that genre doesn’t thrill me the way the paranormal does.
#2: The “scariest” scene was the waterbed scene.
I thought the waterbed scene was the “scariest,” and I put it in quotes because, in my humble opinion, it wasn’t really THAT scary. Now, this definitely could be due to the fact that I watched the trailer approximately 27 times, or perhaps it’s because The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2 set the bar extremely high. Between the clapping hands, Bathsheba, and glimpses of Annabelle in the first movie and then Bill Wilkins, The Crooked Man, and Valak in the second, the third movie struggled to compare in the spooky department.
#3: Vera Farmiga can do no wrong.
That’s it. That’s the tweet. Vera Farmiga is outstanding in all of The Conjuring films, but her performance (with the help of Patrick Wilson, of course) was the highlight of this recent installment of the franchise.
Also, I loved getting a glimpse into the lives of young Ed and Lorraine Warren in this film, and so did John Squires:
There are flashbacks in The Conjuring 3 to Ed & Lorraine as young lovers and I loved that stuff. Made me want a Conjuring: Early Case Files prequel with Taissa Farmiga as Lorraine Warren but then I remembered that Taissa was weirdly in The Nun as a totally unrelated character. ?♂️
— John Squires (@FreddyInSpace) June 5, 2021
#4: Call me Olivia Pope because red wine and popcorn are my new favorite movie theater snack combo.
My go-to movie theater concession order is a Dr. Pepper with popcorn, extra butter. However, since we were at a dine-in that serves alcohol, I decided to go for red wine instead of Dr. Pepper. I lowkey felt like Olivia Pope, if she had time to go to the movies. 10/10 recommend going to a dine-in theater next time you go to the movies.
#5: Despite several distractions, it was still worth seeing in a movie theater near me.
It would be a lie if I said that every single movie theater experience is perfect. Sometimes the popcorn is burnt, people are too chatty, or you have to go to the bathroom and (because there’s no pause button at the movie theater) you miss something important. And sometimes you spill your beer and have to continue watching the movie in wet jeans.
While that probably wasn’t the most comfortable experience for my boyfriend, we have been laughing about that moment all weekend. It happened during an eerily quiet scene. Why he decided to pop open his beer can while the whole theater was silent is beyond me. I couldn’t help but giggle at the immediate karma happening before my eyes. If that happened at home, we would have just paused the movie and he would’ve grumpily gotten up to change his pants. Instead, it was a golden movie theater moment. Also… what is it about not being able to laugh or having to laugh quietly that makes whatever happened THAT much funnier?
Bottom line: There is no comparison to seeing a movie in theaters, especially a horror movie. The spooks are spookier on the big screen — I don’t make the rules.
Buy movie tickets for The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It here.
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