Sean Parker
I was thinking the other day, how on Earth did we get three Annabelle movies before two Conjuring sequels? Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed all of the Annabelle movies in varying ways but somehow The Conjuring was able to breed a whole off-shoot trilogy before completing its own, not to mention two one-offs The Nun and The Curse of La Llorona. The Conjurverse is alive and kicking and many stories have been told about Ed and Lorraine Warrens’ collection of cursed items, but nothing, in my opinion, has even come close to the franchise’s tentpole stories from The Conjuring.
Opening in a very The Texas Chain Saw Massacre way, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It was unveiled this week introducing slow sequences from a terrifying waterbed scene for one young boy and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga) jumping through time in a forest. The trailer finishes off in a non-stop roller-coaster of images featuring a levitating man in prison, witchcraft, and John Noble, though the image of the child from the waterbed scene literally bent over backward atop the family dining room table is perhaps the one that has me the most intrigued. The trailer finishing with a vivid adventure scenario where Ed (Patrick Wilson) has to go full-body jump to save Lorraine from falling off a cliffside channels something from Brendan Fraser’s performance in The Mummy or Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones.
Like the other entries in the franchise The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is based on actual events. Though not as well-known as the Enfield haunting that was the basis for The Conjuring 2, the trial of Arne Cheyanne Johnson took place after the young man killed his landlord in Brookfield, Connecticut, in November of 1981. Johnson went on to use the legal defense “The devil made me do it,” and caused a media circus with another family saying that their eleven-year-old was also possessed and was the conduit that led to Johnson’s possession. The Warrens, who had garnered national attention at this point in their careers after investigating the Amityville murders, were brought in to aid in the exorcism of the possessed Johnson. The trial itself does not appear largely in this trailer, but the full story of the trial is extraordinarily interesting. There is even an episode of Discovery Channel’s A Haunting titled “Where Demons Dwell” that provides first-hand accounts from Johnson as well as David Glatzel, the young conduit.
Both Conjuring films have been a lot of fun so far and this R-rated entry rounding out the trilogy looks like one hell of a ride. Amassing my interest in both the paranormal vs. reality debate that seems to take place between the Warrens and the police and the Lorraine arc where she potentially goes too far with her abilities that had been set up for two movies now, this Conjuring film looks like it has the potential to make a quick turn and deliver something more unexpected and that is why it’s the trailer of the week.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is due to take possession of theaters and HBO Max on June 4.
So what do you think of the trailer for The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It? Do you agree with Sean that it looks like fun? Do you also think it will deliver something unexpected? Or maybe you just see something cool that we didn’t, let us know in the comments!
