YNOT at the Movies

Does it matter whether you believe in the devil? Of course it doesn't, if you can contain the devil in a fantasy world or inside a horror movie. You will just be scared and entertained in that fictional setting. But, if you are told that the ghost story is based on a true event, as in "The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It" (USA 2021 | 112 min.), then in order for the story to be convincing, you either have to believe in demons and exorcism, or you have to be persuaded by the story telling. Unfortunately, the movie fails the latter for non-believes and the entire episode of exorcising the demon becomes a ridiculous farce.

The film opens at night in 1981 inside a spooky house in Connecticut. Sitting in misty fog and looking like a typical haunted house, it's the home of the Glatzel family. Sure enough, the 11-year-old David (Julian Hilliard) in the family is possessed by the devil, and the demon hunter couple Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) come to the house for a session of exorcism. Powered by the devil, David unleashes extraordinary force as if a category five hurricane is passing through the house.

Arne Cheyenne Johnson (Ruairi O'Connor), the boyfriend of David's sister Debbie (Sarah Catherine Hook), bravely asks the devil to possess him instead of David. Sure, the devil takes the offer and makes Arne the new host. Soon later, Arne stabs his obnoxious boss to death. When he walks like a zombie on the road with blood all over him, he is arrested and charged with murder.

Ed and Lorraine offer their help to Arne's defense by trying to prove that the film title's claim is true. "If you cannot convince me, how are you going to convince the jury?" Arne's defense lawyer asks. Indeed, that will be a tall order to fill for the couple who claim to be able to trace the devil in all those typical dark and eerie places, perfect locations for jump scares.

Perhaps the film's target audience is those who believe in demons, because it doesn't make much effort to convince the nonbelievers. But even putting the devils aside, the film doesn't bother to make some details probable. When Arne lies in a jail's hospital bed, his girlfriend Debbie is able to sit next to him holding his hands cuffed to the bed frame. Is Connecticut really so prisoner friendly? And why is Arne mopping the prison floor at night? Ed needs a cane to help him walk after recovering from a heart attack; yet, he can run with Lorraine in a forest just fine and even rescues her from falling off a cliff. Oh, he can also swing an ax and smash things with spectacular force. Must also be the devil hard at work.

Maybe people don't really care if the devil exists, they just want to go see a horror movie and get scared. Too bad the film is not very scary either besides a few jump scares, no matter what the music and sound suggest otherwise.

"The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It" opens on Friday, June 4, 2021.